Viva la Louvre.

Travel, Paris, Architecture, Art, europe, TheLouvre, Gallery

Waking up in Marais was a trip, the small window by my bed opened out to views of Notre Dame and the Tour Eifel in the distance. Today was the day I visited the Louvre. A half hour speed-walk on that chilly Monday morning had me flushed and guilty. I arrived at the Louvre at 930am and enjoy a seamless entry.

Descending into the famed glass pyramid, the underbelly of art opened itself up to me. Her three deep caverns scattered with humans. I was so eager I almost couldn’t help myself from diving right in. But I checked my coat and tried to do some planning. Eventually got lost, went in circles, dove right in, and honestly you can plan your day at the Louvre and you’ll probably cover some ground, but you’re never going to see everything anyway so why not fly by the seat of your pants…

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Versailles Ventures.

Architecture, Art, europe, Paris, Travel, versailles

J. Journeys

A short bike ride to Saint Lazare station showed me that it was going to be a beautiful day despite the weather I had been watching with dread for a week. Half an hour later found myself in Versailles. Though I had plans to explore the town and head to palace grounds before the Chateau, it seemed I was just too excited and shot straight for the palace grounds on my bike.

The vast land was bewitching, stories of times past, my imagination running wild. Before I realised, I was in the palace gardens, getting blissfully carried away shooting footage on my GoPro in the beautiful weather in that stunning place. Suddenly I was met by a very grouchy glare from a security guard. Oops! I quickly jumped off my bike apologetically. ‘Pardonne moi’ I muttered as I cheekily didn’t delete the footage and wheeled away quickly.

It was time…

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Paris Rip Off 2018

2018, Aging, Crayola 120 day challenge, humor, Paris, Travel,

kathy70

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I was fortunate enough to spend several days in Paris recently, this was before all the disturbances began. This was not my first trip there and I felt reasonably comfortable trying to navigate leaving the airport and buying tickets for the subway system. A helpful gentleman working at the airport directed me to another type of ticket. This was good for 1 week and valid on subway, buses and trains throughout Paris. Would reasonably get me from the airport to our hotel and everywhere we wanted to tour.

So we happily purchased the tickets and proceeded to board the next train bound for the city center towards our hotel. About halfway there the train stopped and they announced something in French which I could not understand. Then required all of the passengers to disembark. That train left with a number of announcements happening. Another train sitting on the next track…

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Le métro

life, metro, paris, city, transit, tips

Ellimaija

If there’s one thing you learn to use (and to hate) very fast when moving to Paris, it’s the famous métro. “Métro, boulot, dodo” (a French expression describing the Parisian lifestyle, that translates to “metro, work, sleep”) becomes very real, and it also becomes very obvious that it is the reality of millions of other grumpy Parisians as well.

Paris has a pretty extensive metro network, and when you first lay your eyes on the map, it can look a bit scary. How is anyone supposed to find their way in that labyrinth? And you haven’t added the RER (regional trains), busses and tramways to the equation yet. But don’t be too alarmed, because the truth is that the Parisian metro was made for idiots. Really. It looks complicated, but most of the time it’s super easy to navigate in those long tunnels, and connections between lines have been made…

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