Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Last days in Paris

After visiting the Eiffel tower, we had only few days left on our stay in Paris. Lots of time from those days were spent on CouchSurfing, to plan ahead our trip to Tours and Bordeaux. But we did take time to enjoy the beautiful city we were already staying at.

On Friday we discovered that there will be a CS House Party event happening in north-west of Paris on Saturday. Hoping to meet some great new people we decided to give it a go and take a look. The party itself was held in an apartment with two bedrooms and a kitchen dedicated to the party. There were approximately around 100 people attending, so no shortage of new people to meet.

We spent Friday evening with Everton, watching the opening ceremony of Olympic games. Was an interesting show, especially loved the part with Rowan Atkinson =)

Once we got to the party, we had a great time, chatting with lots of different people, about their travels or their life in Paris. It was great to see so many different views of life and the world. Although Parisians are told to be quite self-centered and not the best people to be around of, we found that it does not go about all of them. Most of the people who have moved into Paris from other places enjoy being sociable and having a good laugh. So there are good people to meet in Paris ;)

During Sunday we took a small walk in a Park that was close to Evertons last home. It was really a great and quiet place to spend time at. It had cool looking self-made mountains in it, even with a waterfall. Walking in that park was a nice and relaxing experience.

Our week long stay in Paris was an amazing part of our journey, thanks to our great host Everton, who we hopefully have a chance to meet again at some point. =)


CS House party in Paris

Cheese and jelly for breakfast - the brazilian way :)

Doing the Parisian face with Everton

Cool bridge in a park in Paris

Don't know what's going on there

Happy birthday Everton :)





Friday, July 27, 2012

Tour Eiffel

Salut l'amie :)

It was a hot Thursday morning in Paris when we got up early to climb to the top of Eiffel tower. After taking couple of metro trains from port d'Orleans to Bir-Hakeim (closest station to the tower) we arrived to see not too long of a line waiting at the stair access ticket booth. It took us just about half an hour to get our tickets and to start heading up the tower. Compared to what you would have to wait to get up using elevators, it's not that long.

There were a lot of steps to be climbed, but to be honest, it wasn't as tiring as you would expect. It didn't take us very long to get through the 695 steps to arrive at the second level. From there, the decision was to head straight to the elevator for third and last level. Lines to the elevators hadn't grown too long yet, so it took only perhaps 10 minutes to access them. Once in the top, an breathtaking view opened up before our eyes, as we looked over the grand city of Paris. Visibility was good up to the Montmarte hill. Hoping some of our friends and family from back home can see us, we decided to give them a wave.

Having enjoyed that amazing view from the top level for a while we headed back to second level, to enjoy the view with some more details. Some say, that the view from second level is much more enjoyable, but would say that they both have their good sides to them.

Walk down from the stairs actually felt to be longer than going up, maybe the adrenalin of getting up the tower makes walking up seem much easier. As we got back to the ground, we could see that the fountains next to the tower had been turned on, and as sun was getting pretty high in the sky by then, siting next to the pools and fountains seemed like a really good idea. Katrina filled her plan from Tuesday and even tested out the water, by jumping into the pools. Water wasn't that warm, but swimming next to the Eiffel tower is enjoyable even with cold water =)

Having stayed by the pools for a while, sun started to wear down on us. So we decided to head back to Evertons place to get some rest and work on the blog. Got some great pictures and videos to show you from the trip to this magnificent tower.

In the evening Everton took us out for a walk across Paris. Being already in awe from earlier visit, we headed back to the Eiffel tower, in order to take a look at this big structure at night from close by. In the beginning of every hour the tower will be filled by flashing lights, so we stayed until midnight and weren't disappointed, as it turned into a giant disco ball with small lights flashing off it. After enjoying this one of a kind view, we started to head back home, which was about 6km away. It was a bit tiring, but still enjoyable.

Note of the day: If you want to avoid the very very long ques to get up to Eiffel tower, get there early or buy a ticket online!

And that's the view from the top of Tour Eiffel :)

Enjoying the view from up high

Waving to everyone back in Estonia :)

Getting ready to get in

Aww, that's refreshing :)

A little sunbathing after swimming

Got to love hanging out there :)

On our way to see the Eiffel tower at night

Here it is, in it's night glory

On top of Tour Eiffel


Blogging and magical potion


A lot of walking in metro


Catching a train in metro

Parc du Champ de Mars in the evening

Tour Eiffel light show at night

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Discovering Paris

It is a really beautiful and sunny Tuesday. After having some good breakfast we headed out to discover the life in Paris. In the evening Everton is going to show us the nightlife of his city as well :)

Once out, we decided not to take the subway to the center of town, instead we just walked. On the way there were multiple parks and also the Luxemburg Gardens. All of them nice and quiet, great spots to spend a calm afternoon at.

After a while we made it to the Notre Dame, which looked impressive with its fine detailed facade. For now, we didn't go in, as the line was fairly long and the sun was burning down on us.

From Notre Dame we started heading west along the Seine river, twoards the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way there was Stravinsky Fountain and Champs Elysee. On the later we found some car dealerships / showrooms belonging to Mercedes and Citroen (pictures below). Arc de Triomphe looked pretty impressive, although we decided not to pay to get under it. As we had a bigger goal in sight, seeing the tip of the Eiffel tower over the surrounding buildings. So we set out in its direction to get a closer look ;)

To get to the tower we took probably the most scenic route by heading to the Trocadéro from Triumph Arch. Once there we had our first view of the Eiffel tower in its full size, one of a kind view. While walking past the fountains below Trocadéro the tower grew larger and larger. After a few hours of walking along Seine river we finally had arrived to the pride of Paris. It looked even more impressive from up close. As we had gotten there in the afternoon, we decided to leave going up for another day, too long lines and tired feet.

Having taken a look at most visited tourist attractions, we decided to head back home and prepare some dinner. Just a simple "dish" of fried potatoes and some bean sausage sauce on them, along with some nice French wine. When Everton got back from work and we all had had our dinner, we headed out again, this time with Everton with us. Our destination was Montmarte, a hill in the north of Paris that is known for its original Parisian street scenery and for being a great spot to have some good time during the night hours without having to pay for expencive bars or nightclubs.

Way up to the Montmarte can be a little bit tiering, as it's on a hill, specially with a long walk behind you from the day. But it was well worth it. It is high enough to show the full skyline of Paris, and in the night, it is just amazing. We had some more wine and Belgium beer, while gazing at the lights of Paris at night. Even saw Evertons house in the distance although it is on the other side of the town, or atleast the one next to it, for it has a big bright blue sign on top of it.

Getting back from Montmarte turned out to be quite an adventure, as we stayed there long enough to just barely miss the last metro train. Only option besides from walking home was to catch a night bus. But walking to the bus station gave us a chance to go past the Chat Noir and Moulin Rouge. At the station we just caught our bus. At first it seemed to be just a regular trip on a bus in the night, but soon we found out it was something more. Because suddenly, from one of the stops, a large number of people came on and it felt like we were on one of the main lines at the rush hour. Brought back some memories from Tartu. After what seemed to be a fairly long line of stops, we got off the bus right in front of Evertons home.

It had been a great day full of some iconic sites and burning hot sun that ended with an relaxing evening with Everton, another great person we met thanks to the CouchSurfing project, and us enjoying a view over Paris skyline at the night. Great way to start our stay here.

Highlight of our second day in Paris was the visit to the Louvre Museum. To our surprise, the entrance was free, as it is to all young European Union citizens with age of 25 and under. There was a lot to see in this massive structure that holds the museum. Everything from ancient antique relics to the 15-19 century European art. To visit all of the areas open to public, it took us a bit over 3 hours. Long, but very eventful walk.


Note of the day: If you are 18 or under, most of museums and educative spots in Paris are free to access!



Having breakfast at Everton's balcony

Look a turtle

Cool fountain

Jardin du Luxembourg

King of palm trees

Finally back under palm trees :)

Notre-Dame

Stravinsky fountain

At the Louvre

Cool car

Cute little car

Something for you Risto? :)

Arc De Triomphe

Tour Eiffel

Jardins du Trocadero

At the Eiffel tower like a boss

With Everton

Let's head to Musee du Louvre


Furry walls

Cool statue on the table

A sword I guess :P

Someone's fancy room

Checking out art

Lot's of art

That's what I call a big painting

Napoleon's (tiny) bed

See, we even have a map

With Mona Lisa

Nice hallway

Read that

With Hercules

Want that in my living room

With Athena

With Ramses


Outside Louvre

Sunset at Everton's place

Heading to Montmarte in the evening

By Montmarte at night



The red light district

Lot's to see in Louvre


Awesome paintings in Louvre

Paris :)

After 4 hours of hitch-hiking and being dropped off at a shady neighborhood, we finally arrived happily in Paris. Must say it's pretty awesome here :)

We got in town quite late in the evening, so we spent only a couple of hours walking around town. Everton, our great host in Paris, got home from work around 20h, so we made our way to his place around 20:30.

Everton is a really cool guy. :)

I think we must be doing atleast something right, because we keep getting really awesome hosts. They really make this trip awesome. Without them it just wouldn't be the same at all.

So in the evening Everton cooked pizza for dinner, which was very delicious, and we also had some wine (can't be in France without trying out the wine. That would just be wrong =P). Also had a good time chatting with him and playing with the cat :D

For now off to bed to be ready to discover Paris tomorrow :D

Note of the day: Marocon guys are a little crazy, but really helpful and nice - if you find the right one!

Nice bike

Breakfast

Reloading supplies

Paris here we come

RER train in Paris

A little posing on the way to Everton's place