Paris January 25, 2020
Planning
We wanted to take a short one week trip somewhere in Europe, so we started tossing ideas around…. Paris, Rome, Vienna, Athens. In the end, we decided on Paris, mainly because we had heard that it was beautiful in the winter, but also because we found great rates to fly over there. We used Google flights which has a feature that shows all destinations along with prices given your dates of travel. Paris was by far the most reasonable flight that we could find with a round trip cost of $487 per person.
Now that we had our flight locked in, we started looking for a place to stay. We knew that Paris was in the middle of a rail strike, so we wanted to make sure that we stayed somewhere within walking distance of the places that we wanted to see. Assuming that all of the trains were running, we wanted to be near the St. Michel Notre Dame Metro station. This gave us access to RER B (airport) and C (Versailles) without needing to make a transfer.
We settled on an area in the Latin Quarter on the border of the fifth and sixth arrondissements. We looked at a few VRBO rentals in the area, but decided instead to stay at the Hotel Cluny Square. In our mind, the Hotel Cluny Square was in the perfect location for us, at the intersection of Boulevard Saint-Germain and Boulevard Saint-Michel and a 3 minute walk to Place Saint-Michel. There is an entrance to the Cluny Metro station right outside the door and it is connected by an underground walkway to the Gare De Saint-Michel Notre Dame Metro/RER station. This was convenient on several of the rainy mornings where we were able to catch the train without getting soaked.
The Hotel Cluny on the second floor up a flight of stairs
We flew into Charles De Gaulle airport at 10:00am. We were tired, but knew that we had planned a full day for ourselves. Hopefully, if we lasted the day without a nap, we would be so exhausted that we would be able to avoid the jet lag that we knew was coming. We had done a ton of research on how to take the RER back to Paris but we were pretty tired and didn’t want to try to figure it out. It seemed easier to just take a cab. There were signs all over the airport to only take the cabs outside of door 24. Apparently the airport had incidents where tourists were scammed by non-legitimate taxis. As we followed the signs to door 24, we spied a tourist desk. We had hoped that we would run across it before leaving the airport since we had read in several websites that this was the place to buy your passes. There was no line when we walked up and we were able to buy our museum passes, costing us 78 Euros for 6 days of passes. We knew that we would need to adjust our schedule a bit in order to have the attractions with fees scheduled for the days that we had an active pass. We were also able to buy our Disney passes at a discount, so we felt like we were all set. There was no line for taxis and we caught one into Paris for 62 Euros.
We arrived at the hotel 45 minutes later, each of us carrying a large suitcase and a laptop bag. The hotel desk was on the second floor, up a flight of spiral stairs. It was tough dragging the luggage up the stairs, but fortunately, we would only need to do it once. The Hotel Cluny lobby consisted of a Front Desk, a few couches at the top of the stairs, and a dining area in the back. It felt very European. Check-in was at 2:00 so the front desk person let us store our bags… basically stacking them with a bunch of other bags behind a movable partition behind the stairs. That didn’t seem safe, but we didn’t want to insult him by asking if someone would always be on duty to watch the bags. We didn’t have much of a choice, so off we went, hoping that we would have luggage, and laptops when we got back.
We walked over Pont Saint-Michel and headed toward Notre Dame. We could see from the bridge that the entire area around the cathedral had been fenced off for the ongoing construction from the fire. As we walked up to the cathedral we could clearly see the work being done. There was scaffolding and cranes set up all around the cathedral. It definitely hit home when you could see in person all of the damage that was done from the fire.
Notre Dame under construction from the fire
From there, we made the short walk to Saint Chappelle. You first went through a security check, which had a short line. We were able to then skip the ticket purchase line since we had our museum pass. This is one of many occasions where we were able to save time by not having to purchase tickets. When you walk into this gothic chapel, you’ll be impressed by the beautiful ceiling and walls. You’ll also notice that they’ve set up gift shops along one edge of the chapel. If you start to wonder why everyone raves about seeing Saint Chapelle, then walk up the stairs that are to the left of the entrance. That will take you to the upper floor, where the royal family worshiped. When you exit the stairs, you’re guaranteed to gasp at the site of the over 1000 windows of stained glass that encompass the chapel. Saint Chapelle is one of the largest collections of 13th century stained glass in the world.
Beautiful stained glass at Saint Chapelle
Next to Saint Chapelle, is the Conciergerie. The Conciergerie was at one time part of the royal palace and was also used as a prison, having held Marie-Antoinette before her execution. There was no line, so we wandered in. There were a few interesting rooms that were supposedly prison cells, but not much more than that. It was a small investment in time to check it out, but not really that interesting. On the wall of the Conciergerie, next to the Pont au Change, you’ll find the oldest public clock in Paris. This clock was built in the 1300s by a German engineer. Since we had seen the old town clock in Prague, this was especially interesting for us.
Oldest public clock in Paris
It was past 2:00 so we decided to walk back to the hotel to check in. The elevator took us up to the 4th floor, and as we got out, we realized that the hotel was pretty small. The corridor was short and our door was only a few steps away. All of the rooms on that floor had doors on this small circular hallway. Walking into our room, we noticed that it was definitely smaller than American hotels. We assumed this, but now we knew. There wasn’t room for our suitcases on either side of the bed. There was more room at the foot of the bed, and that’s where we dropped our luggage. There was a small sitting area, with a desk near the window, so that’s where we stored our laptop bags and all the other bags that we would accumulate through the week. It also became our charging area since it had several plugs under the desk. The bathroom was simple but functional with a shower stall, but no bath. We did notice that we could open the window to our room. There was no balcony in our room, but you could lean out and take a look down Boulevard Saint-Germain. Off in the distance we could see the Eiffel Tower which wasn’t that impressive during the day, but at night when it was all lit up, it was a special treat for us.
Window overlooking Boulevard Saint Germain
Amazing views from our room
It was still early, and the weather was holding out so we decided to venture back out. We decided to go see the Eiffel Tower as our first stop. After all, we were in Paris so we wanted to see something Iconic to get our week off to the right start. We thought about using the Metro, but decided to check to see how well Uber worked in Paris. As it turned out, it worked really well, and we ended up relying on it much more than we thought we would. The Uber came quickly and we made the drive over to the Eiffel tower in about 10 minutes. The line to go up the tower was very long, something that we didn’t expect in the winter, so we passed and instead walked across the Seine to the Trocadero. According to reviews, the Trocadero was an excellent area to view the Eiffel Tower. Sure enough, despite the crowds, the elevated viewing areas were a great place to see the tower. Another great viewing area was on the bridge as you walked across the Seine.
Views of the Eiffel Tower
By now we were tired, so we caught an Uber on the street behind the Trocadero. We decided to have dinner so we had the driver drop us off at Cafe de Flore. In all of our reviews of Paris, there was always a mention of Cafe de Flore, one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris and known for all of the famous people who used to hang out there. Yes, it was touristy, but that’s what we were in Paris for. The restaurant had a huge wait, so we walked over to Cafe Deux Magots, which was also on our list of touristy places to eat. They were able to take us right away but unfortunately, it was 5:30 and they didn’t serve dinner until 7:00. They were out of their lunch “plate of the day” so we ended up just having sandwiches. This became a theme of our stay, as most restaurants did not serve dinner until 7:00, but we were usually exhausted and ready for dinner by 5:00.
We made the short walk back to our hotel and happily fell asleep without much of a problem. Looking back on the trip, it’s hard to imagine that we were able to pack this many activities into our first day. We were definitely running on adrenaline, but we were hopeful that our busy day would allow us to sleep through the night… which it did.
Day 2
The Hotel Cluny had a great breakfast that we took advantage of each morning. There were simple items like cereal and toast on the table, but don’t dig into those because after a few minutes of sitting down, they will bring you fresh croissants and pastries. It was definitely enough food to keep us going until lunch.
We decided to start our day by walking across the street to the Cluny museum. We wanted to see the Lady and the Unicorn, a series of six tapestries woven from wool and silk, and considered to be one of the greatest works of art of the middle ages. There was no line at all for the museum, and we walked directly over to view the tapestries.
We next walked over toward the Seine to see the Shakespeare and Company bookstore. It was closed but we were able to peek inside and take some pictures from the outside.
Next on our list of things to do for the day was to head up to Montmartre and to visit the Sacre-Coeur. As with most of our destinations, I had the metro route all planned out. The route would unfortunately come with a walk up the hill, or a ride up the Funicular. As was the theme throughout the trip, we decided that it was too cold and we should just catch an Uber instead. The Uber conveniently dropped us off at the top of the hill, right in front of Sacre-Coeur. The view from this area was amazing and we spent several minutes taking pictures. They were having mass inside the church, but we were still able to go inside and walk along the side, and back of the basilica.
Sacre-Coeur
If you walk around the side of the Basilica, you can stroll through the Place du Tertre, a famous area where artists hang out and a great place for tourists to pick up something as a souvenir. Even in the winter, we were able to find several artists who were painting here and selling their work. If you take the cobblestone path down Rue des Saules, you’ll find La Maison Rose, a famous little pink cafe known for attracting local writers and artists. A bit further down the cobblestone path is Paris’ only vineyard.
The only vinyard in Paris
We went back up the hill to have lunch at Moulin de la Galette, a restaurant named for the windmills that populated the area. This is another restaurant known for the famous artists who used to dine there, including Renoir, who painted Bal du Moulin de la Galette from what is now the restaurant’s courtyard. The food was excellent here, and we were able to try their famous Parisian dessert called millefeuille.
A print of the famous painting hanging at the Moulin de la Galette
One of the famous Paris desserts served at the Moulin de la Galette
We continued down Rue Lepic and passed the apartment of Van Gogh. Nothing too special, but a great place to take a picture. Follow Rue Lepic all the way down the hill and you will run into Moulin Rouge. We made our way to the middle of the boulevard where you can take the best pictures.
Walk to the center of the boulevard for nice pictures of the Moulin Rouge sign
There were two more places that we wanted to visit that day. The first was Musee Jacquemart-Andre. We caught the metro from the Blanche station, right next to Moulin Rouge, and took it to the Monceau station. From there, we made the 10 minute walk across a scenic park to Musee Jacquemart-Andre. This museum is interesting in that it was once a private home and now houses the art collection of the owners. Our last stop of the day was the Arc de Triomphe. It was a 15 minute walk from the museum, but it allowed us to walk for a bit along the Avenue Champs-Elysees and look at all of the high end shops along the avenue.
With the Paris museum pass, we were able to skip the ticket purchase line, and move straight to the entrance of the Arc de Triomphe. We looked around a bit for an elevator, but didn’t see one so we headed up the spiral stairs. 280 steps later we reached the top. We were exhausted but the climb was worth it, as the views from the top are breathtaking. You can walk around the viewing area at the top to see the entire city. My favorite views included looking straight down the Champs-Elysees, and of course, the view of the Eiffel Tower.
Spiral steps at the Arc de Triomphe
Great views from the top of the Arc de Triomphe
We walked to the George V station and took M1 back to the Chatelet station and walked back to the hotel. The second day jet lag had kicked in and we were exhausted. There were several crepe stands on the way back to the hotel, so that was our dinner for the night.
Day 3
Day 3 was mainly dedicated to visiting the Louvre. We knew that in a perfect world, we would spend several days there, but with our short schedule, we only had the day. It rained pretty hard, but luckily, this was a day when we would mainly be indoors. As was becoming our routine, we started the day taking an Uber to the Louvre. In the summer, it would have been a nice 20 minute walk from our hotel, but in the winter, the Uber ride sounded like a much better option. There are two main entrances into the Louvre. The one that all of the videos that we watched told us to take was accessed from the mall downstairs. The line was still about a 45 minute wait, but at least we were indoors. The alternative, as we could see as we pulled up, was a long line near the pyramid, where we would need to wait in the rain.
The long line off in the distance near the Louvre Pyramid
Our first stop was the cloakroom where we were able to store our bags and coats in a locker. The room will look very crowded, but don’t be dissuaded. The process is all “do it yourself” so once you make your way through the crowd lingering at the door, just find an open locker and follow the instructions to open and lock it. There are restrooms conveniently located near the entrance of the cloakroom so this is a great place to take a break before heading into the halls.
Locks at the Louvre Cloak room are keyless and convenient
The Louvre is divided into three sections: the Denon, Richelieu, and Sully wings. If you only have a limited amount of time, like we did, then the best bet is to do some pre-planning. Find out what you want to see the most, then plot your path through the sections to get to where you want to go. For us, our highlights included The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and Liberty Leading the People but there were certainly other famous works of art that we came across as well.
Venus de Milo
Liberty Leading the People
The room for the Mona Lisa was very crowded. The Louvre has organized things a bit, so that there is now a single line that makes its way to the front. If you’re rushed and a view of the painting from a distance is fine, then you can just walk along the side to the back of the room without a wait.
Huge line to get an up close view of the Mona Lisa
As you walk from hall to hall, you are also treated to the incredible interior decor of the Louvre. We had the opportunity to visit the Hermitage in 2013 and like the Louvre, it was also originally a palace before it was a museum. So, we were not only able to view beautiful works of art, but we were also treated to the elegant interior of the Louvre.
We only had one other activity for the day, and that was the L’orangerie. The museum is home to several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings but we were headed over to see the permanent exhibition of Monet’s Water Lily murals. The l’Orangerie was a short walk from the Louvre through the Tuileries Garden. The Garden, and all of its statues were beautiful, even in the winter.
We walked through Tuileries Garden to get to the l’Orangerie
There were only a dozen or so people in line, so we were able to get into the museum after only a few minutes. The exhibit was contained in two large oval rooms, with the paintings wrapping around each of the rooms. Both rooms had a large sitting area in the middle allowing you to just sit and enjoy the paintings.
Two rooms containing Monet’s murals
As we exited the museum, the rain started to pick up again, so we took an Uber back to the hotel. It was still early, but we were tired so we decided to find something for dinner. Since it was raining, we decided that something close made sense. During our research, we had noticed a highly rated restaurant down the block from our hotel called Le Corner Saint Germain so, umbrella in hand, we briskly walked over. The food was really good and the desserts were great. As mentioned earlier, this was one of the few restaurants that we found that served dinner before 7:00. It became our “go to” place when we needed an early dinner, which we did pretty often during our stay.
Great desserts including profiteroles at the Corner Saint Germain
