We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport shortly before noon after a very short and direct flight (1 hour, 20 minutes, yeah!). Then we took a train from the airport to the Hotel Design de la Sorbonne. On the way there, Hubby and I had an ‘I was just thinking that’ moment – that in every city the train rides between the airport and the center always look the same. The hotel was located on a quiet street, rue Victor Cousin, facing the Sorbonne University. We had a nice view from our room #42, but I forgot to take any pictures of the view or even the room itself…. (These sites Hotel Sorbonne and Trip Advisor have some nice ones.) I loved the way the room was decorated in a funky French style which made up for the super tight space. Our room had the smallest bathroom I’ve ever seen. Imagine a closet with a toilet, a tiny sink, and shower. I later discovered that shaving long legs was nearly impossible and flooding the floor was a given.
For lunch, we wandered around the corner from the hotel to Place de la Sorbonne, a lovely square in front of the university with cute cafes and gushing fountains. We had a fine seat at Café de l’Ecritoire facing the square. The weather was wonderful, with no humidity compared to Italy. After many months of anticipation, planning and research on my part, we were finally in Paris!
We visited the Cluny museum, The National Museum of the Middle Ages. The courtyard/entrance area was ornamented with seashells, indicating the building’s former use as a Roman bath. Inside, we saw the six wall-size Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries, five of them depicting one of the five senses. We saw the remains of a Roman frigidarium (cold room with pool) with 40-foot ceilings, the best preserved Roman interior room in Paris.
We found the stone heads from Notre-Dame. They have an interesting history… They were sculpted around 1220-1230 and were once upon the bodies of Judah’s Biblical kings adorning the Notre Dame. Revolutionaries thought they were the Kings of France and in 1793 beheaded the statues. The heads were buried in a backyard and not found until 1977, two centuries later! (adapted from Rick Steve's Paris 2009)
We then walked down Boulevard St. Germain past Napoleon’s Tomb to the Rue Cler area. Here, we perused the market scene and equipped ourselves with our dinner picnic: a crusty yet soft baguette, brie cheese, strawberries, and of course some French wine. We continued on to the most visited monument in the world…the Eiffel Tower. It’s cliché to say it’s breathtaking, but it really was, and I couldn’t take my eyes, or my camera, off of it. After some typical tourist gawking, we spread out our sheet in the grassy Champ de Mars Park, uncorked our wine, and munched with other locals throughout the evening, gazing up at the Tower. One neat thing that I noticed while we were picnicking was the prevalence of what I will call the “Potluck Picnic”. Parisians would arrive armed with a similar fare to ours – a blanket, a baguette, and wine. They would stake out their spot with a view and begin the socializing. Other friends would arrive, bringing dishes ranging from salads to cheese to meat-on-a-stick (insert Phish reference here – Time for the Meatstick!). They would join their group and the social circle would expand. It was a delightful glimpse into a typical Saturday evening with friends. I would love to do this with our circle of friends back home, though I’ll admit I’m a bit jealous of the Paris scenery.
After dinner, we walked closer to the Tower to check it out up close. Its size when viewed from far away, like from the park, was deceiving. It appeared so close, but we had to walk a little distance to actually reach it. We passed on climbing up, the lines were ridiculous! Instead, we found tasty crepes and camped out along the grass on the other side of the tower near Trocadero square. We waited out the sunset and then at 10pm, we were part of the audible “ahhhhs” from the hundreds of onlookers gazing up at the dancing lights.
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