Visiting Paris in the Winter

Croissants, baguettes, cheese and wine were a necessity each day. We quickly found our favourite Boulangerie (bakery) and learnt how to order "deux croissants, si vous plait".

Whilst the weather was not that pleasant, this did mean there wasn't a line up at attractions, so our experiences at both the Eiffel Tower and The Louvre were much smoother than many people have in the Summer.

We climbed the Eiffel Tower rather than catching the lift mostly for our own sense of achievement, but the view is worth the struggle (and our sore legs for days).

The free walking tour around Paris was exceptional and a fantastic way to get our bearings, listen to the stories of French history and get handy hints from the guide on where to visit and how not to get scammed in Paris! This tour went for about 2 hours, and walked by the main sites in the centre of Paris. Our guide was very knowledgeable about the history of France, including the French Revolution and all the events leading up to it, pointing out different buildings of importance as needed. The Sandemans walking tours are fantastic value, being tip based so you give your guide the amount you desire - well worth the money, I say!

Our afternoon wandering around the Louvre was really interesting. The Mona Lisa was unimpressively small, but an excellent piece of artwork. The gallery, which was formerly a palace, is exquisite itself, but the great artworks of Da Vinci, Raphael, and Rembrandt make it even better. 3 hours later once our feet could not walk any further and our stomachs growled, we left the Louvre with a fond appreciation for art.

But we couldn't get enough and so took a visit to the Musee D'Orsay which displays the artwork of Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and other Impressionists for some work which was from a later time period and a completely different style. The Van Gogh exhibition was fascinating. We learnt more about Van Gogh and his turbulent life on our visit to the Montmartre area in Paris, where many Impressionist artists gathered and Van Gogh, Monet and Picasso habited for some time.

Montmartre was previously not part of the city of Paris and definitely has its own village feel to it, even containing vineyards, but as Paris expanded, the district of Montmartre was annexed to Paris in 1860. Nowadays it includes the red light district of Paris, and also the famous Moulin Rouge. We climbed to the top of the hill where the Sacre Coeur is located and the most spectacular view of the city can be seen. Montmartre is one of my favourite parts of Paris, having the character of an old village, artists in action and plenty of lively restaurants to visit.

Next on our agenda was the show "How to become a Parisian in 1 hour" coming highly recommended from our good friend Rob. French comedian Olivier Giraud explains the stereotypes of Parisians and how best to fit in in the city. After experiencing our fair share of rude waiters, this was a good laugh in a cozy theatre, and a great intro to the common situations you find yourself in in Paris!

The Catacombs of Paris were high on my list to visit, after I had previously lined up twice in my trip to Paris in 2014 without being successfully allowed entry! The Catacombs are underground ossuaries which hold the remains of more than six million people. The tunnel network was originally made when the limestone was dug out to help build the city as we know it, but once there was a high demand for cemetery space, the human remains from the cemeteries in the city were transferred to the quarries as a kind of underground mass grave.

Interestingly, once the remains were transferred, studies of the bones took place to determine causes of death and the age of the deceased, with the majority of deaths thought to be attributed to the Black Death. The tour through the Catacombs network only reaches a fraction of the actual underground cemeteries, with the rest of the tunnel network being out of bounds for the public. The visit to the Catacombs, after our chilly line up for over an hour, was well worth the visit and less gruesome than expected!

A visit to the Notre Dame De Paris is a must. Although I preferred the Cathedral in Reims, the site made more famous by Victor Hugo in his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a beautiful cathedral which now houses what is considered to be the actual relics of the Crown of Thorns. Some question the authenticity of the relics, but given the age of the specimen, it is impressive as to how they have conserved it whether you believe it to be the real thing or not!

Around the time of the French Revolution, the cathedral was going to be destroyed and torn down by the people, however it was by Victor Hugo's novel and his campaigning to keep it, that the Notre Dame de Paris remains in the city today.

Not far from the cathedral there is the Shakespeare and Co Bookstore which was the gathering place for Ernest Hemingway and other writers around the 1920s. Today, the shop continues to house aspiring writers and artists, with over 30,000 people sleeping in the beds between the books in exchange for assistance around the store.

We have not exhausted all the sites in Paris, but managed to visit many of the arrondissements of this beautiful city, keeping a few surprises left for my next stay! I cannot wait to come back to this beautiful city and explore more of the intriguing culture that we have learnt to value so much.

The pastries in Paris are sensational! I will have to come back to try some more...