Our Paris travel story, continued...
The following day we had reservations at the Louvre Museum for 9:30am. After having our breakfast, we walked along the Seine once again to find our way there. It was supposed to be a cool, rainy day and we were happy we weren’t going to be outside.
We arrived there a few minutes before the scheduled time, and after a short wait, were allowed to enter.
Choosing earlier hours was a good move as there weren’t many people, and we immediately followed the directions towards the world-famous Mona Lisa, hoping for the chance to admire it without being rushed.
Well, everyone else had the same thoughts as the crows made a bee-line for the room where the painting was displayed.
The museum was undergoing some renovations and a good portion of it was closed on the day we were there, which resulted in a lot of backtracking. We found no air (A/C) in the museum that day (not sure if it has any to begin with), and it was a bit too warm in there… I can’t imagine visiting it on a hot day.
Mona Lisa was still in the same exhibit room, left on its own, as the other works have been moved. Seeing the Mona Lisa though was quite the experience: much different than what we’d imagined.
Apart from the craziness of people and staff pushing us through, the painting was underwhelming: small and too far to view properly. I completely understand the measures taken to secure and preserve it, but there was no way of admiring or studying it: just a quick glance and maybe a selfie and that was it as we were pushed out of the room.
We next visited the Aphrodite or Venus de Milo, as well as the other incredible sculptures in the same exhibit, before moving on.
Up and down we went on the same stairs as we moved from one floor to another and back (under normal circumstances the visit flows as you enter and move one way).
Nonetheless, the collections in Louvre were breathtaking and I could have spent a whole day just admiring the Royal Palace rooms, especially Napoleon’s and Marie-Antoinette’s, along with some of her personal items. That part of the museum was certainly fascinating to explore. Note: Did you know that for hundreds of years, Louvre was the Royal Palace for France’s kings and emperors?
I definitely think that Louvre should be visited over the course of several days in order to appreciate and observe the details of the incredible art it houses - if you ever have the chance, do so.
For size reference. Louvre, Paris
It was almost evening when we left the museum, and once outside, we realized that it was raining. We tried shielding from it by visiting a few stores on our way back, but it was non-stop and we arrived at our hotel soaked.
The next day we visited Musee D’Orsay and Musee de L’Orangerie (with tickets bought in advance), which were much less overwhelming than Louvre.
D’Orsay, once again, had a good portion of its exhibits closed for renovations but we were able to admire many of Monet’s and Van Gogh’s works, along with other famous painters before we headed to the L’Orangerie to see the famous Water Lilies by Monet.
Because we were done early, we strolled aimlessly, until we came across the vendors along the Seine. There we added two more oil paintings as souvenirs to our collection from Paris (the first one was bought by my husband on his first trip there, way before he met me).
The next day we attempted again to reach Sacre Couer, which stands tall, somewhat on top of Paris, offering great views of the city… about our experience there, I touched upon here.
View of Sacre Coeur from The Louvre
Our last two days in Paris were spent visiting Notre-Dame one more time, and finding it a little more open, aka, some of the fencing removed and road unblocked so we could get a bit closer for photos.
We also had an impromptu picnic by the Seine, got lost some more on the streets of Paris, finally visited Jardin des Plantes, which was close to our hotel, as well as Luxembourg Gardens, where we once again got soaked by the rain.
Lost somewhere in Paris
Luxembourg Gardens, Paris
Dark rain clouds, a common occurrence during our stay in Paris
To sum it up… I guess I had bigger expectations from Paris, this city that is almost idolized worldwide for so many reasons.
I found the people to be “cold” (we found friendlier [local] people in London than in Paris), and even rude at times, with very few speaking English, especially in places further from the tourist spots. For these reasons and the ones I enlisted here, I dare say that in my opinion, Paris is overrated. Of course, it has things to offer, and it deserves a visit, but maybe… tone down your expectations, so you don’t get disappointed like us. If your expectations are met or exceeded, know that Paris is your “cup of tea”. I just figured it’s not mine quite.
I do have to mention that we had a good experience at Charles de Gaulle airport. Even if so large and “split” so many ways, to us it seemed organized, especially since we encountered several “attendants” offering directions when we were lost - that was much better than many other cities we visited during our 4 months in Europe.
Getting to the airport though, was a whole other story.
Same as in London, we used the Booking.com taxi service and booked a car in advance to take us to the airport. We booked it for 9am and two minutes before the set time, we were waiting in front of our hotel only to wait… and wait… and wait… Needless to say that we were getting frustrated and annoyed at the situation, as well as nervous about getting to the airport on time.
Around 9:15am, my husband called the phone number provided to us at the time of our booking, to only be told that our taxi driver was not coming, and no one else was assigned at that time to come get us. We were utterly shocked at the situation. We asked the hotel to call a taxi for us, and it literally arrived three minutes later. We made it on time to the airport but were already so stressed and upset about this experience, as well as the fact that we had to pay additional money to get there (on top of what we already paid online, and yes, the taxi driver scammed us by adding some extra 4 euros in there, on top of the tip we gave him). We were in a rush and didn’t notice that until we were on the plane.
You bet we filed a complaint with Booking.com. It took them a whole month to give us a refund, saying that they have investigated the issue, and having received an unsatisfactory response from their French partner, refunded us our funds. That was the only bad experience we received using this service… and of course, it had to be in Paris...
Have you been to Paris yet? If so, what was your experience?
Until next time.
xoxo,
Em
