Fifth day of the tour "Two poles of passion". Paris.
Paris in one day or "I know for sure the impossible is possible"
Rise at 7.30. Breakfast and departure at 8.50. The hotel is average - a tiny room, sloppy bathroom, but the bed was changed daily. However, to be honest, I don’t remember the hotel, I wrote it from my travel notes. But Paris is in front of my eyes, and despite the fact that, by and large, I'm not enthusiastic about it - it's not my city))) I liked Prague, San Sebastian and Barcelona more.
It was the day I prepared for. One day in Paris was, in my opinion, the only flaw in the program of this tour. And I really wanted to smooth it out somehow. For three days at home, I calculated the travel time, coordinated with the opening hours of museums, tried to figure out the metro map, chose, from the variety of what you can see, those points that you can really see. And everything seems to work out great. Now I can safely say: if we had not lost our program in the morning, having spent two hours on an unplanned review, we would have managed to do everything! And almost everyone did. And the rain knocked us down.
Paris met us with a downpour. We listened to the survey to the sound of drops and looked at the wet Parisian sights through the streams of water on the glass. Two standard photo breaks - near the Les Invalides and on the Trocadero were successful - the weather allowed us to quickly take a picture and drove us back to the warm and dry bus. At the Trocadero, they bought figurines of the Eiffel Tower, by the way, they are the cheapest and most different there. For example, near the Louvre - more expensive. Negroes sell, briskly run up to the approaching bus and shout in Russian: “come on, take it, it’s cheap” and bargain. It is necessary to bargain, the initial price of 10 euros eventually became 6. And now my daughter and I have towers almost in full size and smaller on the cabinets))) it’s convenient to hang jewelry on them))
The sightseeing tour ended on the embankment behind the Eiffel Tower near the Seine. Part of the group went for a boat ride. The downpour intensified even more, and we, from a cozy bus, went to "free swimming". It may sound sad, but in reality everything was great. The mood is great, not cold. There is enough time.
Describing Paris is useless: solid "oh" and "ah. " As a shopaholic, I really liked the variety of shops with brand names.
Walked up near the Eiffel Tower and through the Champ de Mars went to the Museum d * Orsay. At the foot of the tower there is a whole parade of multicolored Bears. Each country has its own. Near the Ukrainian Mishka we met fellow countrymen not from our group, just as wet and cheerful.
Distances in Paris are really not small. What appears on the map is deceptive. Wet in the rain, in front of the museum we went to a cafe to dry off and have a bite to eat. The served menu was not impressed with either the prices or the variety. We looked around the hall: the visitors had something more interesting in their plates than what was written there. They began to find out - it turned out that there is also a daily menu, which is written with chalk on a blackboard. Here are the prices and interesting dishes. Without trying to understand what and how it sounds in French, they ordered a meal in a barbaric way - poking at neighboring plates: this is for me, and this for me. And they weren’t mistaken - delicious)) I paid with a private card, by the way, it came in handy almost everywhere, it’s very convenient and less heavy stuff in my wallet.
The Musé e d'Orsay was in our program, as it were, a run, an hour was allocated for it. Judging that they had lost time on the survey, it was decided not to go into it. And we made a good decision - then, on the bus, we were told that the museum was closed. Behind the museum is just the stop of the red sightseeing bus in Paris. Ticket 27 euros for one day. Go!! ! They provided earplugs and a raincoat. Past all the sights, slowly. The rain has already ended, climbed to the second floor. There are not many people, it is convenient to take pictures, the audio guide in headphones tells the main points. So, after resting and taking pictures, we got to the Arc de Triomphe.
We walked. Further from there, a forced march on the subway to the DeFance district was planned - just a direct branch. Five minutes of fuss with buying tickets and we are in the subway. It takes 15-20 minutes to drive, part of the road in front of the business district passes on the surface. It is beautiful, like skyscrapers drawn under the ruler, smooth roads, the Defense Arch, fountains, photos, photos))) there are much fewer tourists here, people are in a hurry to go about their business.
From DeFans again on the metro to the Arch and there again on the bus. And then a city tour. It was interesting to watch how Paris changes in the rain and without it. Our next stop was on the Ile de la Cité . Notre Dame. Palace of Justice. And here they failed. For an hour. The Chapel Saint-Chapelle has already closed for the concert.
Then to the Louvre. It got dark outside. Luminous pyramid, square in front of the Louvre. Generally "oh" and "ah". Tickets for 11 euros. Almost running around the Louvre: "Nika", "La Gioconda", "Beautiful Gardener", Titian's "Woman in front of a mirror"... They were until the very closing and left, accompanied by a chain of caretakers.
After the Louvre, they looked at the clock and gasped - you need to run to the meeting point at the Moulin Rouge. We popped into the supermarket - stocked up on tomorrow's trip to eat. Fast on the subway. We have 6 more stations on one line, and 7 on the other. We did.
The Paris metro seemed not very difficult to us - the main thing is not to get confused with branches and directions, but we did not figure it out with buying tickets in vending machines. And here is an interesting touch - everyone helped us: the French, the Spaniards, the British... poking at the map and showing on our fingers what we needed, we bought tickets without any problems. Everyone helped, except... Russians. Twice a day, near the ticket machines, we ran into guides of Russian groups. The first girl took tickets, we stood behind her and asked for help. An indignant look and the answer: “let your guide buy for you”... the second moment was about the same - “no time”, at another station. The French themselves are super courteous people. When in the evening we circled the Ile de la Cité in search of the entrance to Saint-Chapelle, a young fellow, having left his business, ran along the crossroads and helped us find the way. And he didn't leave until he was sure we were in the right place. Not everyone knows English, but simple phrases in English are understood perfectly. Again, as in Strasbourg, it is difficult to pronounce them, especially with numerals. Often, the amount to be paid had to be asked to be written on a piece of paper or shown on the cash desk. Quite a lot of Russian-speaking people came across them in shops and cafes. We bought our first souvenirs under the Eiffel Tower from a Russian-speaking seller.
In the Moulin Rouge there is a huge queue along the houses. Ours is already assembled. From the group, only 4 people decided to go to the performance at 23.00. Someone has already been, someone decided to sleep. Galina saw us off "before" and met us "after". Many thanks to her for this. After a day of hustle and bustle on my own, it was nice to relax and just follow the guide. A night taxi to the hotel cost 35 euros for everyone.
But this is prose, but the performance itself... how great it is that we did go, two hours of pleasure. It was worth watching the performance, feeling the atmosphere of lightness and celebration. By the way, the dancers-soloists are Ukrainian. There are two bottles of champagne for 4 on the table. We went into the hall just before the start, we wanted to order at least cheese slices, but we didn’t have time. The menu was brought and then the lights were turned off. We never saw the waiter again. Only silhouettes with flashlights on their foreheads wandering around the dark hall during the concert. Well, okay - and it was fun. The place is simply magnificent, you can see everything and no one interferes. Sorry, photography is not allowed in the hall.
The hotel just fell. Champagne plus experience. Falling asleep, we discussed the day - only Saint-Chapelle and the Montparnasse tower remained uncovered. We did not make unrealistic plans. Night views of Paris flashed before my eyes and music sounded. It is such a light, weightless, a little imposing and without fuss somewhere flying melody that suits this city. And tomorrow - the road to the ocean.
