Quick Getaway to Paris

With a long President's Day weekend coming up, we decided to take quick getaway.......to Paris!  Nope, not Paris, Texas,  not Paris, Maine and not Paris, Tennessee.  Paris in France!

Here's how much it was to go from SLC to Orlando:

That's a pretty good price!  But why settle for Orlando when we could go to Paris for less than that.

Now, just in case you decide to go to Paris in our winter, it's their winter too, and it's cold.  Highs during the day topped out at 42 and mornings started out at around 32.  But we knew that and dressed appropriately and for the most part, stayed warm.  

We traded this........

and this.........

For this

Nobody between us which helped make the 10 hours more comfortable

We stayed at this Hyatt before and it's a pretty good one and close to the train, subway and bus

I booked a normal room on points (aka FREE) and thought we might get a normal upgrade. We were VERY surprised however, when we found out we were upgraded to the Presidential Suite!  Top floor (32nd floor) where the main feature was the view.

Here is the room tour:

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For normal people paying money for a room like this, it goes for $1500 a night!  So our stay was worth more than $4500, but of course, $0 for us.

Here is a map of the floor.  Our room, #3214, is in the top right - it is as big as five other normal rooms!


We got to the hotel pretty early, about 10am and they let us check in early, which was nice, as we needed to "refresh" after flying 10+ hours.

After a 30 min nap, we headed out to explore. Our first stop, was the Arc de Triomphe - a 10 minute walk way.  This this is huge when you get right up to it!
This famous monument honors those who fought and died in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.  Around the monument are names of all the French victories and Generals.  At the center of the monument, is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WW1.
  The Arc sits in the middle of a huge round about with 12 roads all converging on it:

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We then took the subway to the Petit Palais.  The Petit Palace (Small Palace) is a free art museum and was built in 1897.  On the way there, we walked through the very and extremely wealthy shopping area (Champs-Elysees) with high end store after store after store.  One of those, was this Louie Vuitton building that looks like a giant suitcase.

The Petit Palace was extremely ornate and decorative

Thought this would have been a good place for a geocache, and I was right.

We then walked to the Tuileries Garden about 10 minutes away.  On the way, we passed one of the Luxor Obelisks.  There are two Luxor Obelisks which are over 3000 years old. They were built to guard the entrance to the Luxor Temple during King Ramesses II reign in Egypt.  They were carved from a single piece of red granite.

In 1799, a General in Napoleon's Army, saw the two obelisks as they were conquering Egypt and wrote a letter to Napoleon letting him know the obelisks would be an amazing sight to bring to Paris to celebrate France's victory over Egypt.  Well, only one of the two ended up making it to Paris in the 1820's.

The Tuileries Garden is between the Louvre and the Obelisk. The garden was created in 1564 and is huge.  In the spring and summer, it's beautiful with fountains, ponds, flowers, trees, benches, sculptures and manicured gardens.  But, being winter, it was not so green, but still had it's beauty.  One thing we found interesting is how busy the city was despite being 40 degrees out.  The garden was pretty busy with people everywhere.  Some even having picnics.

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We passed this square last time we were in Paris and happened on it again!  Locals spontaneously dance and have a great time. It was very fun to watch. 

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YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM

After walking about 10 miles, (even with taking the subway), we ended up back at the hotel and enjoyed this amazing view.  It never got old.  And these photos aren't even close to how breathtaking it looked in person

VIDEO: The tower sparkles the top of every hour

The next morning was still hazy as we started the day early

The walk inside the subway station revealed they probably should cover up these wires...seems a little too easy for someone to cut the power to the subway station

Our destination was the Marche Richard Lenoir - Bastille Market.  This is the largest outdoor market in Paris held every weekend

Pretty much 90% of everyone shopping were locals getting food for the week. It was pretty amazing the variety of all the food and stuff for sale. And it was so fresh and everything looked good!

I think the big eggs in the middle were ostrich eggs

No egg shortage here

    

A short ride on the subway took us to the Montmartre area of Paris.  Montmartre is on one of the few hills in Paris and is known as the art district, once home to Picasso and other famous artists.  Also the Sacre-Coeur Basilica is located here on the highest hilltop in the city, and was BUSY!

From the top of the hill, the view from Sacre-Coeur overlooks the entire city of Paris and is the 2nd most visited site in Paris after the Eifel Tower.  The Basilica is beautiful, free to enter and totally worth a stop

Being the "warm" sunny day it was (40 degrees) the steps were packed with people just sitting and enjoying the sun and the view

Right next to the basilica, there is a "tourist train" that takes you around the Montmartre area for about a 45 minute drive

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The streets were narrow and this is how close we were on both sides to parked cars

After the little train tour, we walked around the area to the 'Rue Sainte-Rustique' - one of Paris's oldest streets, and walked through the 'Place du Tertre' where local artists show and sell their work every weekend

Yep, 40 degrees out but all the sidewalk cafes outside were full

How does this sound?

We did a self walking tour which led us around the neighborhood and once we left the artists market, it was much less crowded

This lunch spot was busy!! It was cold outside but that doesn't stop the Parisians!

We visited the 'Wall of Love' with 612 tiles all saying 'I Love You' in 250 languages

Heading back down the subway resulted in 4 flights of spiral staircases and went on and on and on.  I felt like we were in the Silo.

We headed to the 'Galeries Lafayette' which is a HUGE department store, think almost as big as a normal mall.  And it's fancy.  And expensive - you probably should bring 2 credit cards if you go here.  And it was PACKED!!

In the center of the store, is a huge stained glass dome which has become one of the most iconic architectural monuments in Paris.  Directly under the dome, is the "glass walk" which takes you directly under the center of the dome.

Here is a video that is much better than any I could take to give you an idea of what it's like:

Here are my videos:

On the roof of the Galeries Lafayette is a rooftop view area which offered amazing views of the city

We saw this huge building across the street and wondered what it was.  We found out is the 'Palais Garnier' - Paris Opera House. The setting for Phantom of the Opera was the Palais Garnier.

We walked down to the front of the Opera House to see if we could get tickets, and they were sold out for the day and closing soon anyhow. So, we will try and see if we can get in tomorrow.

After walking around 10 miles today, it was time to head back to the hotel.

VIDEO:  The view never gets old......

The next morning we headed out early to go to Notre Dame to avoid the crowds. Although free to enter, there is usually long lines with about an hour wait. However, we knew if we got there before 8:30, lines should be minimal.   Shelley wasn't mad in this photo, she just happened to look up exactly as I was taking the pic right before she smiled

Construction of Notre Dame began in 1163 and was finished in 1260 with many modifications, cleanings and restorations since then. Notre Dame has long been the symbol of Paris and France as a nation.  A fire in 2019 destroyed some of the cathedral, mostly parts of the roof,  and it was closed for 5 years as it was restored, cleaned and repaired and was re-opened just 2 months ago in December of 2024. 

In 1238, a Latin Emperor of the East, who had possession of "Relics of the Passion" needed money and he sold some of the items to King Louis IX from France.  King Louis brought back the items from Jerusalem in 1239, which consist of the Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus, part of the cross Jesus was nailed to, and one of the nails used,  and they've been kept in Notre Dame ever since.  Of course, the public doesn't get to see them.   

As expected, we had minimal lines - actually no lines. We walked right in

Amazing, beautiful, religious and stunning.  The size and arches inside reminded me a little of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona 

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Our next stop was just a 7 minute walk away - Sainte Chapelle which was the King Louis IX private chapel where he and his family worshiped which was built between 1238-1248.  When the chapel was completed, the Crown of Thorns, piece of cross and nail were held here for many years until they were moved to Notre Dame. 

There are two levels to the chapel -the bottom level was used by solders and service personal to the King.  The top level which is where the relics were kept, was only for the King and his family worshipped.  

The King's Chapel is what you go here to see.  There are 15 huge bays of stained glass which were mostly created in the Middle Ages (13th Century) . There are 1,113 stained glass windows which all tell biblical stories from the Old and New Testament. You could spend hours in there looking at all of the stories.

During World War 2, the stained glass was removed so it wouldn't be destroyed and then put back in after the war

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Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle along with other landmarks in Paris, are actually on a small natural island with the Seine River on both sides

   
Along the river, is a UNESCO World Heritage "site" - the Paris booksellers.  They've been selling books and art here along the river for over 450 years and the tradition still continues today.  There is an 8 year wait list to be able to become a book seller!
  

Our next stop was guess where!  The Paris Opera house - we got tickets.  It was built in 1861 and seats 1,979 people inside. The building is extremely ornate and beautiful inside.  It's considered the most famous Opera House in the world.  It was one of the most expensive buildings ever built in Paris

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Our last stop of the day was a river cruise along the Seine River. 

We managed to walk around 10 miles again today!  Weird that it kept being 10 miles every day! That was not planned.

Well, that's it for the long weekend trip to Paris. We definitely made the most of the time we had and was totally worth it! What else were we going to do over the long weekend?  Sit at home and watch Netflix I guess would have been the next best option.  This was better and I still got to watch movies on the plane!