Weekend Getaway #3: Paris

Bonjour à tout!

Ça va bien?

Noooo, I won’t do this post in French, pretending I’m a proficient speaker or in an advance level of the language…I wish.

So, following my typical model of 3-day solo trip, the one I did to Paris was no different. It took place in Winter, freshly after the term of the semester’s exams. However, it was not my first time in the city. That one was almost 20 years ago, on December of 2005, when I was just six-years old. I’m sure you can easily guess what was the propose of that trip: Eurodisney, yayyy!

Day 1: I went to the airport, took an afternoon flight and arrived to Paris-Beauvais almost at 6 pm. That was my first mistake. It’s not because I wasn’t aware that Beauvais was not actually Paris (almost 100 km of distance), but due to the fact that was winter and the weather is kind of unpredictable: it was raining. From my experience when I went to London, I booked the bus tickets to Paris in advance and I choose a hotel close to the city center. Since it was Winter, I won’t see the Paris’ daylight on that day.

Day 2: Starting, it was a sunny day and I had to get the much I can from the museus, since it was a Sunday and on Monday they will be closed.

So I caught the metro to visit the first one (the mainstream one), Le Louvre. For this one, I bought the ticket on the day before (at 23:43 😂) and payed nothing since I was a EU citizen under 25 (great success!). Although, since the entry will be free, I did a “micro donation” for the museum: 2€. As I expected, the museum was very beautiful and very rich, artistically speaking. I spent around 2 hours there. Since there was a shopping center inside, I took the liberty to lunch there at….McDonald’s 😅

After that, I was straight to the Orsay’s Museu, as a hint of a friend of mine. Very nice as well. However, before I had the opportunity to get inside, I had to stay in the line for quite a while. One more time, free ticket.

At this time, I thought: “Well, two museums for today is enough, let’s take a walk around the city”. Said and done. Apart from that, I got to save some time to finish a group work regarding the photography curricular unit I was taking back then (my last post was about that in fact).

The rest of the day I stayed at the hotel, committed to finish that work.

Day 3: Since I remember, when I think about Paris, it comes to my mind Versailles as well. However, being on my own, I wouldn’t take the risk to go there all by myself. It is a little far from Paris, and wouldn’t have anyone to support me, in case of something happened.

By this time…you should asking: what about Eiffel Tower? Glad you ask. On that morning, I got out the hotel, and for my “surprise”, it was raining. Lucky me. I caught the metro as fast as I could, straight to the Eiffel Tower. Arrived there, I just watch it from distance. Right away, I went to the Triumphal Arch. But this time, due to the fact there wasn’t much people waiting, I just go for it. I visited the museum inside and when I arrived to the top, the views were breathtaking.

In the afternoon, since I got a significant portion of the group work remaining, I just went to the Notre Dame Cathedral. And it was that for Paris, for this time.