We were settling in our new hotel for the night (and only that night). I had finished my conference for the day, but I didn’t want to waste the evening.
It was raining and wet.
We went out and dinner for our anniversary.
We decided to see Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe at night and see if we could get better pictures.
When I decided to go to Japan for the 30th Annual leopard meeting, so many thoughts were going through my head. I thought I would be doing it alone, but Jasmin wanted to come along. She did good because she is great at planning and research.
I didn’t want to make the same mistakes as my previous times (focusing on cars only) and she planned many other things to see and experience.
We arrived to Narita airport and took some quick pictures.
We jumped on the Skyliner to get to Ueno Station and then took a Tokyo Metro subway train to Akihabara station, where we were staying for 2 nights (Thursday and Friday night).
Jasmin figured out the train system, while I just followed her lead. I didn’t pay attention to the different lines.
Finally at Akihabara.
Noisy Le Grand is outside of Paris. It is where my 2 day conference was held. Initially we were gonna stay near Noisy Le Grand, maybe in the same hotel, but realize that we would rather stay in Paris itself.
In that sense, I had to learn how to get to Noisy Le Grand via train. I found out the RER A goes that way. I would have go to Auber station, go underground and get to the RER A platform.
This is where I realized I jumped on the right train (RER A), but it was going to another location.
I got off the train and looked at the monitor (or light board). Once the train I was on left, the next train’s destinations were would light up, in my case Noisy Le Grand – Mont-D ‘ Est.
Mont D’Est station, leading outside. I didn’t need to go that way as I found out that this station is at the bottom of the local mall, Les Arcades. Holiday Inn is next door.
It’s the Louvre. It is the biggest museum in the world.. It houses soo much art and history… Very famous works.
First off, the Pyramids are the main entrances. But there are other ways to enter such as the Carousel across the street. We had Museum pass and that helps if there is a long line as you are fast tracked to a not as long line.
After coming down the stairs, there are lockers that are available. They are pretty cool as they are digital and free (availability pending).
EVERYTHING ABOUT THE LOUVRE WAS IMPRESSIVE. Architecture and how everything looked.
Goddess of Victory, Nike. The sculpture : Winged Victory.
The Mona Lisa… infamous. So much that there is always a crowd infront of her.
I was super annoyed with this couple that seriously were upfront and didn’t want to leave. The lady took a shit load of selfies and then 10 minutes later without moving, asked people to take pictures of her.
Seriously, within a one mile radius, of each other, there are so many museums available in Paris. It was hard to choose which ones because it is so overwhelming.
One we did decided to visit was Musée D’Orsay.
1 Reason – Van Gogh. Everything else was a plus.
Having the Museum pass helped as we bypassed the normal line, which was long, into s shorter line in which the security guard took forever letting in people.
Once in, we searched for Van Gogh and found it! The rooms were slightly darkened and they asked no flash photography. Of course phone cameras do a mediocre/decent job without flash. There were tons of people in the room.
After that, we went up to the 5th floor where the temporary displays were available. Money was one to check out!
There was a really fancy cafe right before the exhibit entrance!
According to France Travel Planner (https://francetravelplanner.com/go/paris/versailles/marche.html), this market is one of the best in France. I read that the open market was going on during certain days (Sunday being one of them), so we made sure that was a day we came out.
The market is a few blocks away from Palace of Versailles.
The center is like a 4 way stop with buildings outlining it. During the Sunday we went there, the roads were closed off to the market and there were tons of open stalls.
I was very impressed with the produce available. I should mention I am not a cheese person… but a vendor gave me a slice to Tomme Truffe and I couldn’t believe how delicious it was!
The only thing that sucked about buying stuff was that we still had to go back to the Palace of Versailles and Garden and I had to carry these items.
The market was super amazing and tons of great food!
The Palace of Versailles is huge!!! I learned a few tips from a Jay Swanson’s Youtube videos. (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=jay+swanson+versailles+)
Tips:
After getting off the RER, we ate a cafe right next to Starbucks.
We then walked down the street to the front of the Palace of Versailles. Immediately, you can see the line. Not to mention more than 60 tourist buses!
We planned to come here on Sunday, because the market up the street is well known. So we decided to go there before attempting to go inside the Palace of Versailles.
After going to the market, we came back to an even longer line that zigged zagged. I went up to one of the staff members and said we had a Paris Pass and she said to fall in line.
I just took pictures of the gate. I didn’t want to wait for an hour to get in.
Since this was already in the late morning, we decided to see the Garden behind the Palace. The Garden is HUGE and can be a whole day exploring and enjoy itself. The views were spectacular.
Jay noted in one of his videos that the Fountains are not always on… this was true on our trip.
As I said in my tips, it didn’t seem worth the time (unless you plan a day out here) to come out here. I wasn’t fully disappointed because I enjoyed the gardens and market.
At the East of Avenue des Champs-Elysees is Grande Roue De La Concorde. It is a transportable ferris wheel.
The current location is called Place de la Concorde. In the center of this roundabout type structure is the Luxor Obelisk and Fontaine des Mers.
From our place in Strasbourg- Saint Denis, we jumped on the Metro 8 to reach the Invalides station. This is where you jump on the RER C (trains that go outside of inner Paris).
We took some stairs and got to the RER part of the station (different hall and platforms).
The RER trains are 2 level compared to the metro (at least the metros we used on this trip).
If you can see on the far bottom left of the station map, our stop was going to be Versailles – Chateau/ Rive-Gauche stop.
A good 45 minute ride (if that) and we are here.
Arrival!
This is a replica of the Flame that is on top of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
The tunnel below is also where Princess Diana was killed in a high speed car chase.