All Things Touristy

Written by bookwormsandtravelbugs

Our second day was dedicated to the main attractions in Paris, Le Musée du Louvre (The Louvre Museum), La Tour Eiffel(The Eiffel Tower) and Arc de Triomphe de l’Etoile(The Arc De Triumph). After a fabulous start to our trip…I was ready for all that Paris had to offer.
The Louvre is the world’s largest museum, and can I say the prettiest too!! We walked to the Louvre while appreciating the other beautiful landmarks and bridges along the way.

The Pyramid at the Louvre.

This former palace was converted into a museum by Louis XIV when they moved base to the Palace of Versailles.It is so huge that it takes about 15 minutes to walk from the gigantic gates to the centre of the courtyard where the entrance is located. We stood in a really long but fast moving queue to enter the Louvre.We spent this time taking pictures with the famous Louvre Pyramid and the other baby pyramids scattered around in the courtyard. Travel Tip: Plan ahead and purchase skip the line tickets.I did not get a chance to return later at night to see the louvre pyramids lit up at night, I have heard they look beautiful.

You can spend a week in the Louvre and not see everything it houses. We had a couple of hours and we saw a very small selection of the massive art collection that the Louvre houses. It has around 48 must see artworks and we managed to see about 8-10 of them. We rented audio guides and immediately entered the Denon gallery section which houses the famous works of many Italian painters. . Travel Tip: The Louvre does not have guided tours on Sunday.You can either book a private guided tour or visit another day. I must admit, it is not easy to navigate the Louvre on your own. Though it is fun to explore the museum and find interesting art pieces in the process, it can very quickly turn exhausting.It was an experience in itself to navigate inside the museum using the PS3 converted into an interactive navigation device.

Mona Lisa/La Jaconde!

The top two of all Italian paintings are The Mona Lisa and The Wedding Of Cana(The Last Supper). The Last Supper is in fact the largest painting of the Louvre. Apollo’s Gallery is another interesting room that displays the sun’s path from sunrise to sunset.

Jesus during the Last Supper

The Last Supper – The biggest painting in the Louvre.

Lock Bridge Paris!

We took the metro to get to The Eiffel Tower.It takes about 20-30 mins to get there. On our way to the metro station, we passed the Lock Bridge. Young lovers lock love locks on the bridge and throw the key in the Siene to signify eternal love. We did no such thing. A lock shall signify our love not! While we were looking around for a place to have lunch, we came across Punjab, an Indian restaurant. They were quick and the food was delicious. We were in an out in less than 30 mins.

The Eiffel Tower can have crazy lines taking up to four hours and we were glad we planned in advance by purchasing easy access tickets here. Our guide was entertaining and funny and gave us some interesting info and trivia and then sent us up with our passes. Definitely go to the top of the Eiffel. Now hearing about the Eiffel and seeing it in reality are two different things. It is a splendid structure and almost got taken down by the Parisians. It is interesting to hear it’s journey from a eyesore to the Parisians to being a symbol of Love that it is now! It was first yellow and then red and is now currently brown.It takes 8 months to entirely paint the tower and there is a booth on the top where you can vote for the next color.It has expansive views of Paris and we were given a sheet where in we could identify all the famous landmarks from the top which added to the fun. We walked over to the Trocadero Gardens to take in the Eiffel from a distance. And again, it was beautiful.

The view of the Trocadero from the top.

The tallest buildings/famous monuments of all the countries are marked here!

Eiffel – Can you imagine it red or yellow?

The Eiffel was built to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the Storming of Bastille and was the main symbol of the World Exposition held in Paris.

Later that evening we visited the splendid Arc De Triomphe and Champs Elysees . It is beautifully lit.This monument honors all the people who fought for France and has their names inscribed on its walls. Here burns an eternal flame in memory of all the people who fought and were not identified in both the world wars. Now this is definitely something you should only see at night. It is huge and magnificient.The India Gate in New Delhi, India is said to have been inspired from this.

Arc De Triomphe

The Eternal Flame at the Arc

Beautiful Carved Ceiling of the Arc

Outside Lido

Champs Elysees as seen from the Arc

We strolled along The Champs-Élysées, the street of high fashion. We came across a couple of cafes and realized we were famished. We had dinner at a roadside cafe at around midnight and walked to the end of Champs Elysees. Finally we headed back to the hotel after a fun touristy day.

Travel Tips: The Eiffel and the Louvre both have apps that you can download and use .Definitely explore them while planning. You can maximize your trips with all the information that they provide.

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