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A Day in Paris, France
How do you do justice to a city like Paris in just one day? Obviously, you can't!
However, a day was certainly enough for us to get a feel for the city and fall under its charm. We saw many of the famous landmarks, but still have plenty to do when we next visit.
Eurostar was a great way to arrive. In our case, at the Gard du Nord (as the name suggests, this is the major station on the northern side of the city).
We planned to use public transport for our sightseeing, so purchased a daily Paris Visite from the Gard du Nord. We planned to stay in the central area, so only needed a zone 1-3 pass. The RATP website will help you decide which pass is best for your needs.
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Our first stop was a short walk from the Gard du Nord- Sacré Coeur Basilica (Sacred Heart), the fabulous white basilica perched on the top of the Montmartre hill which was built in the 1870s. We had a look inside and also enjoyed the panoramic view from the steep steps that lead up to Sacré Coeur (we took the easy way and caught the Montmartre funicular to the top - the trip was covered in our Paris Visite card).
A very short walk from Sacré Coeur is one of my favourite spots - the Place du Tertre. This is where the Parisian artists meet and you can watch them at work. More than likely, they will try to interest you in a painting. Before we realised what was happening, we were surrounded by artists who were quickly doing charcoal sketches of us! Each artist had their own style - you have to barter over the cost, but we ended up with a unique souvenir from our visit.
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Our next destination was the Arc de Triomphe - we walked down the quaint narrow streets of Montmartre, passed the Moulin Rouge (the famous nightclub) and then took the metro down to L'Arc de Triomphe. The traffic around the Arch was as chaotic as ever - with 12 avenues all convering on the one round-about, it is a marvel to stand and watch the traffic going around! The Arch was built by Napoleon to celebrate his victory in the battle of Austerlitz. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is buried under the arch.
The most well-known boulevard in Paris is the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It is home to many luxury specialty stores and cafes.
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From the Champs-Élysées we walked down to the Seine River and crossed over to the rive gauche (the left bank of the river) - we could see our final destination, le Tour Eiffel. The Eiffel Tower was built for the Universal Exhibition held in 1889. We had to queue for a while for the lift to the 2nd level. We had planned to go to the top, but the weather was not great (it was almost sleeting and the view was not clear). On a clear day you can spot most of the famous landmarks.
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Here's some of what we didn't see this visit before we made our journey by Eurostar back to London:
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