Day Three

My intention for my third day in Paris was to bike to the Palace of Versailles, but it turned out Versailles was closed that day. I still signed up to use the bike-sharing in Paris, but I biked back to the Louvre instead of to Versailles. It was not a trip without issues, though, because while riding my a pedal fell off and a tire became flat. I was lucky to find that a very nice Parisian who said that I could use the bike he just dropped off because he no longer needed it, and it was working fine.

Back to the Louvre

I toured some around the paintings area and even saw the Mona Lisa. The painting that was across from the Mona Lisa was more impressive, at least to me. Below are the photos I took of that room.

Look at all the people!

A closer image

And the photo that was across from it

There was also some very impressive artwork on the ceiling of which I included some pictures below:

The more exciting stuff again came from the historical part of the museum. There was a Sphinx in the Ancient Egypt part of the museum. After looking around, I discovered that the Sphinx I saw would have been The Great Sphinx of Tanis. According to the Wikipedia page, it has been dated back to the 26th century BC, which is about 4000 years ago, so it is very old. I have included a picture of it below.

Another fascinating thing was the exhibit talking about the Louvre's history and showcasing the old walls of the Palace. I have displayed some pictures of those old walls below.

I also toured the Ancient Greek exhibits. There were many toys, bowls and glass. Below I have included a few photos of them.

Here are some glass bowls that were in Greek and Roman Exhibits

Below are some of the toys

Arc de Triomphe

After the Louvre, I visited the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was built before Arc de Triomphe, and it is smaller. There are many interesting features on the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and a good blog post was written by someone else detailing many of them. An excellent resource to learn more about the Arc de Triomphe can be found here: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arc-de-Triomphe. The photos that I took are included below.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

Arc de Triomphe

After seeing both Arc de Triomphe and eating some food from the Christmas Market I made my way back to the hostel so that I could rest up for my day at the Palace of Versailles.

Day Four: Versailles

The size and grandeur of the palace are ridiculous. It is enormous, and the gardens around it are also massive. While the building and gardens by themselves are great attractions, there are also historical exhibits and a self-guided tour that is handed out at the start. The self-guided tour consisted of a headset which explained some of the interesting stuff in the palace.

One of the more interesting things is that the lives of the royals were bizarre. It was common for people to wait outside the king's bedroom door waiting for him to wake up. Some people watched the royals eat, and there are even benches where people sit while watching the Royals eat. I have shown them below.

A full overview of the weird ceremonies and such that took place through the day are listed at the following link: http://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/history/key-dates/day-life-louis-xiv#evenings.

The most impressive room in the palace was probably the Hall of Mirrors. The Hall of Mirrors was built to impress visitors and show off the French Economy. Mirrors at the time were expensive, and the mirrors are placed so that the gardens, which are opposite to them, can be seen. I have included a few of my photos below (they do not do the room justice).

The gardens of the palace are also huge and fantastic. There were many fountains and sculptures scattered throughout the gardens. Below I have included some photos from the gardens.

I also saw another interesting sculpture of a monkey riding a goat. A short description of that sculpture can be found here: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/699661. Below I have included a photo of it.

The last city on my trip was Paris. It was quite nice, which was a bit of a surprise to me as Paris never really sounded like a city that I would enjoy visiting. It turns out that there is a lot more to Paris than what everyone continually talks about (Romance and the Eiffel Tower mostly).

First Day

Step one, when I arrived, was to get all of my crap to the hostel. As this was my last stop, it was all my stuff (the previous night I had stopped in Ghent to pick all of it up). My stuff was hefty (had about 24 Belgian beers so that added weight), and I was struggling to lift my stuff up a big staircase. Luckily a nice French man saw my struggle and commented on what I think was 'very heavy' (only spoke French), and I said 'Oui'. The nice man then proceeded to help me carry the bag up the stairs. I was very grateful for the help, and now thinking of it, I should have offered one of my Belgian beers for helping me.

Eventually, when I got to the hostel, I asked if I could drop my stuff off and check in later. As usual, they said yes, and they proceeded to help me put my things in their luggage room. I then asked whether the subways would be operational, and they replied that the subways are, but the police may later lock down public transport. The reason the police may do such a thing is that it was Saturday and yellow vest protestors were starting to pop up. Given this, I decided that it might be best to walk to the Notre Dame and tour it and walk back to the hostel.

The first thing that I got to see on my way to Notre Dame was the yellow vest protesters around the Place de la République. I took a few photos from République, and then on my way to Notre-Dame, I encountered what looked like a peaceful yellow vest march. At the end of one street, I saw the police were starting to put up barricades, and I decided I should leave the area. Below I have included some photos of the protests and République, and later I will talk more about the effect of the yellow vest protests that I saw.

The protests as seen from Republique

The march I saw before the riot police showed up

I did eventually get to the Notre-Dame Cathedral and for those wondering this blog post took place in December 2018, so I saw the Cathedral before the fire on April 15, 2019. It is a magnificent building, and first I will show some photos and describe them.

This is a head-on look at the Notre-Dame

These are some of the statues that line the front of the Cathedral. If I remember correctly they are previous kings of Israel. It is called the Gallery of Kings

This, of course, is one of the beautiful stained glass windows of the Notre-Dame. These windows luckily survived the fire [1,2].

These are some clothes that I am guessing are worn by the

Here are some interesting treasures that were inside the Cathedral.

Here is a statue inside the Cathedral

These are a few more stained glass windows

Here is an interesting set up depicting a nice little town.

Seeing the Notre-Dame Cathedral was a great experience. I was sad when I heard it was burning, and I hope that it can be restored to its previous glory.

I toured a small market that was next to the Cathedral before heading back to the hostel. Once at the hostel, I checked in and moved my stuff to the room. Then I went done to cook up my supper, and I met an interesting woman. She was about half my size, but apparently a lot braver than me. She took a video of herself in the middle of a yellow vest protest. Contrast her bravery with me taking a photo from a couple of blocks away and trying to maintain that distance of a couple of blocks at all times 😂😂😂.

After eating and having a local beer, I went off to sleep.

Day 2

On the second day, I took advantage of the 5 euro breakfast at the hostel. After eating and visiting for a while, I made a be line back to the Notre-Dame cathedral to catch the free tour of Paris.

The tour started at the Notre-Dame cathedral, but we did not go in because it would take a while. However, the tour guide did say some interesting things about the cathedral. She said that the statues on the front of the cathedral were all previous kings from the bible except for one, which is of the sculptor who redid the statues after the statues had their heads cut off during the French revolution. She also said that the middle door of the Notre-Dame was made with 19th-century technology. Now I have been having trouble finding references for these claims online, but it is good stories.

The guide also showed a clock that was made by a drag queen king. The king would walk around in women's clothing, and even though people disapproved, they could not do anything since he was king. This clock is the Concierge clock, and I have included a photo of it below. I have had trouble finding a reference to back up this claim, but the tour guide told it with such vigour that I will go on believing it is true.

The clock

The guide then took us to Pont Neuf. The guide said that the statues with horns were the husbands of wives that the current king was sleeping with. This is another claim I could not verify. The next place was the 'Art Bridge' that connects the art university and the Louvre. Readers may think of the 'Art Bridge' as the Love Bridge because many couples placed a padlock on as a symbol of there love. Over the years, the padlocks became too heavy for the bridge and produced aesthetic issues for locals [3]. Eventually, the padlocks were forced to go, and now it is illegal to put a padlock on the bridge. An outstanding history of this cultural phenomenon can be found at the following link:https://www.thetravel.com/pont-des-arts-can-you-still-do-love-locks-in-paris/.

The last stop was the Louvre. The guide explained to us its history of being a fortress, and that Louis the XIV did not like it there. She then told me what door I should go into so as to avoid the lines. The entrance is below ground in a fancy mall. On top of that, I also did not need to wait in line for a ticket, because I was a European University Student and my ticket was my student ID.

What I found most exciting about the Louvre was the history. I got to see the Code of Hammurabi. There were also Sarcophagus, and I learned that the Egyptians and the Phoenicians used them. The ancient history part of the Louvre was much more profound than I expected, and I encourage the reader to check out more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louvre#Collections. I would talk more about the exciting stuff that I saw there, but it has been about a year and a half since I've been there, so my memory is not entirely clear.

Here is a selection of photos from my tours of the Louvre.

Code of Hammurabi

Winged Lion Men from Assyria

Sarcophagi

After touring the Louvre, I went to the Christmas Market to get something to eat. I then proceeded to tour around the Christmas Market, before I set out to the Eiffel Tower. I walked around the Eiffel Tower and took a few pictures while cautiously looking at what people were selling in the street (don't want them to catch your eye). I then decided to go and find an ATM so that I could withdraw some money. Finding a more usable ATM was more difficult than expected since many were broken or devoid of cash because of the Yellow Vest protests. Eventually, I did find a workable ATM, so I withdrew some money, got more food and went back to the Hostel.

Christmas Market