When I was in Paris, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to go to ALL the museums and art galleries but that didn’t stop me from trying. You can’t swing a cat without hitting a museum, an art gallery, or a bookshop in Paris. My partner and I stayed at Rue St Martin, which is located near Le Marias, which is a stone throw away from the Pompidou Centre. In fact walking out of the apartment building, the Pompidou is half a block’s walk to the left. It was really prime location. Perfectly positioned to do the city justice for my first visit.
I can’t remember the order of my cultural institution visits. All I remember is going to these institutions and being in awe. I remember feeling so taken by the history behind them and how they were preserved. I also marvelled how people respect museums and other cultural institutions in the city. You couldn’t help but be inspired by the way people embraced and basically bowed at these institutions. When we arrived at the Louvre, we were welcomed by the queue snaking out of the diamond shape triangle entrance, but since I was with a seasoned traveller, we had bought our tickets online, so we were able to skip the long ticket queue. It is hard to describe the feeling you get when you are inside the Louvre. You simply have to experience it. The experience of walking through the Denon Wing, the Richelieu Wing, the Sully Wing, seeing the Foundations of the Palace, and seeing the apartments of Napoléon III is almost an otherworldly experience. The Mona Lisa in the Denon Wing was crowded. It’s hard to get close to it. I was surprised how little the Mona Lisa painting is. It’s small. All around the painting people were taking selfies with the woman with the mysterious smile.
There is something magical in the Louvre. It feels like a sacred place, and I suppose it is. It houses some of the most important pieces of art in history. You can see the art. You can feel it. People travel from all over the world to go see the artworks in the Louvre. When you walk through the museum, you understand why.
On the cultural trail, we also visited the Musee D’Orsay. This is a much smaller museum but with an exquisite and important art collection. This museum is located in a beautiful neighbourhood, on the Left Bank of the Seine. The museum is built on a former railway station Gare d’Orsay a Beaux-Arts railway station. The neighbourhood is beautiful and I would later stay near the museum while visiting a lover-friend in Paris.
The visit to the Eiffel Tower was amazing. It is the quintessential touristy event in Paris and I relished every moment of it. The climb up the Eiffel Tower was also smooth, as we had purchased all the tickets beforehand. I really recommend buying tickets beforehand with all the landmarks in Paris. Avoiding queues will make your experience that much more pleasant. The views of the city of Paris from the Eiffel Tower are unparalleled. It’s simply a must do. Years later, I would do the Eiffel Tower again with my mother (a story for another post).
All in all, I had the time of my life in Paris. I had fallen in love with the city before I had set foot in it. Experiencing the city made me love it even more. There are places you connect with, places that are foreign in the passport sense of the word but are part of your DNA. Paris is such a city for me. After my first time in Paris, I have gone back a couple more times, and I have used all those opportunities to know the city better. I will always go to Paris. Even when I am not in Paris, I know that I will always have Paris. 😉
