Paris Trip, 1st day
Friday, April 20th, 2007
To
see closely Eiffel tower was one of my wife dreams. One month ago,
Thalys news letter was in my mailbox and advertised red day promotion,
to Paris only 19 euro one way. Regular price vary from 30 to around 80
euro. I booked the ticket, but the some reasonable price hotels were fully booked since it was holiday, fortunately one was available for us.
Tuesday 3 april 11.45AM we headed to paris using a high speed train, Thalys. Travel time from Brussels midi/zuid station to Paris Gare du Nord is normally 1 hour, 22 minutes, for a distance of approximately 300 km Peak speed of thalys is 300 km/h on a dedicated high-speed railway track.
After arrival around 12 o’clock, I bought one-day
ticket for transportation in Paris, it’s around 8 euro, for three days
around 18 euros, but your need photograph required. In the locket you
can also ask for free map.Then, we went to the hostel to put some bags. It is located near place monge metro station so easily to reach.
From
hotel by foot the first site visited was Pantheon but nothing special,
then we reached Notre-Dame de Paris. Notre Dame de Paris is a Gothic
cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in Paris, France.
It is widely considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic
architecture. It was restored and saved from destruction by
Viollet-le-Duc, one of France’s most famous architects. It is also
famous by story of The Hunchback of Notre Dame the novel by Victor
Hugo. We’re nit interested to go inside, juts taking pictures and rest
around one hour there. Around there you can find also Ile de la Cite, La Conciergerie, Saint Chapelle, Musee National du Moyen-Age-Thermes de cluny and Hotel de ville.
Since
limited time we took metro number one to Charles de Gaulle etoille,
where Arc de Triomphe located. Planned by Napoleon as a military
monument to his military prowess and designed by Jean Chalgrin in 1806,
it stands over 51 meters (165 feet) in height and is 45 meters wide.
Beneath it you can find eternal flame in the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier. Remember, to reach the arch don’t cross the street since it is
a busy intersection of 8 roads, use underpass located in the
Champs-elysees. You can also reach the top. It is suggested to walk
along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, the traditional end of the last
stage of the Tour de France. But we didn’t have time for it.
After taking several ‘evidence’, metro number 6 brought us to Bir Hakeim station, few meters from the famous tower.
At
the first sight, nothing special like what we imagine in Eiffel tower,
just a pile of iron. The Eiffel Tower (La Tour Eiffel) is an iron tower
built from 18.000 metal section on the Champ de Mars and one of the
tallest structures in Paris and possibly one of the most recognized
monuments in the world. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave
Eiffel, it is the most visited monument in the world. Including
the 24 m (78.7 ft) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1,063 ft) high
(since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional
building. Constracted in 1887. The structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs
7,300 tons. There are 1,665 steps (360 to the first level, another 359
to the second).
Walking around it and taking pictures spend our last energy. Long line of people want to go up made us cancel to see Paris from the top of Eiffel. There
are three levels, first levels you can reach it by climbing the stairs
about 5 minutes. I didn’t go there since I brought small kids. Second
level you have to use elevators. The third level is the highest one,
but not recommended except its clearly day. To
get nice picture, we walked to Trocadero, but we stopped in the park in
front Trocadero since my wife energy was vanished. But finally we could
make nice pictures from it using our tripod.
I promised to Aisya and Danish that we will take boat trip along the Seine river in Paris. The
seine runs 774 km /481 miles and was used by 700 Viking to invade
Paris. Around 7 PM we took the trip although the sun started hiding.
There are several boats, we choose the one with English guide and pay
10 euro/person. Also long line to get inside the boat since it can load
more than 500 passengers. The trip take around 1 hour. It was very
nice trip. You can see the most beautiful part of Paris from the boat
such as Musee du Louvree, ancient and modern bridges. After jump off on
the dock we saw the golden Eiffel.
Many
people say that Eiffel tower in the night when every girder is
illuminated is gorgeous, that is true. But you better to see it with
sparkling light in very hour. We were so exhausted then we went to hostel to take a rest.