Paris in words and pics

I haven't really bloged about Paris yet. Kind of been disappointed on the low comment rate lately and decided to start posting pics on Facebook first. I guess most of you've already seen them. For once I'm writing in English - this is for you, Mary! I've seen what google translator does to my text and I don't like it :) Swedish people - I know you know english and if you need to you can use google translator this time... just be ready for lots of weirdness!

Thursday
We arrived in Stockholm only one hour 20 min late. Met up with Ninnie and had sushi lunch with her. So nice! Plus I have to eat sushi when I can get really good sushi... miss a real sushi place in Skellefteå. Please, someone, open a proper sushi bar!

We took the bus to Skavsta airport, checked in my bag and had lots of time left before the plain took off.

Arrived in Paris pretty late, took the metro to the wrong station, walked around trying to find our way to the hotel and finally found it around 10.30 in the evening. It was a really small room, but good location and pretty cheap for Paris.

Went out to buy some water and snacks. Took it easy on the room, making plans for...

Friday!
Got up early, went to Louvren, had a baguette outside in the nice weather. Felt excited about being in Paris. Great feeling! Went inside to see Mona-Lisa, Venus di milo and a few more famous ones. However, we didn't want to be inside a museum all day and also most of the paintings were boring. Hahaha - too old for me and many of them were religious or from Napoleons' war.

We walked along Seine, over the bridge Pont-neuf. Which is the oldest bridge in Paris, eventhough the name means "new bridge". I didn't know that before reading my guide to Paris, that's why I need to tell everone else every time I mention the bridge.

Kept going til we got to Notre-Dame. The building is interesting from outside but really beautiful inside. Wow!

Had lunch outside.

Strolled around the Latin quarters.

Went back to the hotel to rest before dinner.
Had dinner at a restaurant close to the hotel.

Saturday
Started the day by going to the area of the Eiffel tower. We had lunch at a nice place in a cute street. Took lots of pics all the way there. Spent some time up in the tower. The view was great + I love going up to high buildings. We took the elevator up and walked down the stairs. On the first floor they had an ice rink where you could go skating if you wanted to. Crazy french people! We had pain au chocolat and cafe doblado in stead of ice skating.
I really enjoyed going up there. You really really have to do that if you ever go to Paris!

After walking the stairs down the eiffel (plus walking all friday) our feet were really tired. We still decided to go to the arc de triomphe. Luckily, we just hade to pop our heads up from the metro station to see it. Snap, snap - pics taken and the tourists Pia and Mattias could move on. Good one!

We decided not to go back to the hotel before dinner and went straight to Montmartre. When we got off the metro we just had to walk a short bit before seeing the Sacré-cœur. We walked towards it, but stopped for some snails and red wine at a restaurant before going all the way up there. Snails were good! Plus they were on my to-do-list.

We took the stairs to Sacré-cœur. Wow! They were tough! This church (basilique) was much more pretty on the outside than on the inside - no need to go in there! :) It was also a great view of the city from up there.

After sacré-cœur we went to see Moulin Rogue - the building, not the show since the show was too expensive. It was a chock to us that the whole street, except for Moulin Rogue, was porn shops, strip clubs and xxx cinemas!

We had crepes for "dinner". Mine was nutella banana and Mattias' was ham and cheese. Mine was sooo good, just a bit too sweet at the end.

Sunday
We enjoyed Paris on sunday. We had already seen the things we felt we really had to see. So we mostly just walked around enjoying our surroundings. Started off with coffee and croissant at a place in Montmartre, below the sacré-cœur. It was the best cup of coffe I've ever had! Great view of the basilique didn't make it worse :)

Walked around in the Montmartre-area. Saw people carrying baguettes, old buildings, interesteing doors, Moulin de la Galette (the only windmill left from Montmartres village days), another church, street art etc. The weather was really great. Clear blue sky, sun and +14'C.

Went to the Bastille, looked at the memorial "stick", walked all the way back to Louvren. Did some, but not that much, shopping. Had lunch at a french place. I had baguette with chevre and Mattias had croc monsieur.

Went back to the hotell to rest, do some packing and get ready for dinner.

Had a great dinner at one of the islands in Seine. It was fixed price. You could have as much wine as you wanted, which you got straight out the barrel and when you got there they put a basket with veggies on the table! Wow! It was a fiest for the eye :) Also there were really yummie bread with dijon aioli and a salads bar with french sausages among other things. After finishing that they made us meat where we could choose from lamb, beef or chicken. Mattias had the lamb and I had the beef (entrecote), we both had medium rare. After meat there was cheese and fruit and after that dessert... wow! I promise that we didn't leave the place hungry! Too bad we went there the last night though...

Monday
We went home and it took a loooong loooong time...
Only high light was meeting my sister for dinner in Stockholm, which was really nice. Guess what I had for dinner? That's right - sushi! :D



Random thoughts about France:

Lots and lots of homeless people and beggars
People carrying baguettes all the time - it's true!
People being rude to non-french speaking tourists - false! (we only met nice people)
Metro is stressful with lots of people - true, but an easy way to get around Paris
Paris is best in the summer - we really wouldn't know, but we had great weather and didn't have to stand in long lines... so I can recommend Paris in January as well.
Expensive - yes
Lots of stuff to see - yes
Barrets - yes
High heels - sure, but not on everyone
Rollerblades - quite a few - first one we saw was a 65 y o lady!
Military guarding monuments
Policemen wearing funny hats (not as funny as in England)
Can we recommend it? YES!

It was a great way to celebrate Mattias' 30th birthday!

Ok - I was planning pics to go with this entry but I have to postpone that!
I need to rest before going to bed :D

Good night!
/Pia Paris


Kommentarer
Postat av: Emma

I will go along with the English... It sounds like u had a great time Pia. Paris is one of the towns on my have-to-see-before-I-die list and now after reading about your trip I'm even more exited. I didn't know about the skate rink in the Eiffeltower, crazy but a bit fun.



Lots of kisses!

Postat av: Johanna

Gud vilken härlig resa ni verkar ha gjort. Och så mkt ni hunnit med!!! Jag har ju kikat på finfina bilder på fejjan och konstaterade att Paris måste vara en toppenstad för den fotointresserade!

2011-01-26 @ 11:29:22
URL: http://johannaagnes.blogg.se/
Postat av: Mamma

Paris kan aldrig vara fel! Och jag tror det var smart att åka under 'lågsäsong'. Tänker att sightseeing funkar bättre när det är inte är så varmt och lagom med turister. När jag var dit för länge, länge sen, var det +30 och massor med människor! Fast det var ändå en resa värt allt.

2011-01-30 @ 11:32:11

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