"Eiffel" in "Louvre" with Paris (Part 1): Arc de Triomphe, Eglise de la Madeleine, Catacombes de Paris

- Dec. 16, 2017, Saturday.

Prologue and some important pre-travel tips:

- Europe has always been "distant" to me, not only geographically, but because I am not particularly inclined to Europe as I am to Asia. Despite that, I still always find the itch the go to Europe just to see what it's all about; let's just say I'm always up for learning new things about new places. For the winter holidays, I decided for the family (yes, I sometimes have that authority despite being the youngest,) that we'd go to France and Italy. We decided to travel alone, because it's easier to do that these days, and especially in tourist-flocked places like these two countries. Also, we'd be spending 4x more per person had we joined a travel group for a journey with the same amount of days. Not only would we tire ourselves from constantly moving from one country/city to another, but we'd also be constantly rushed by the tour guide to hop from one place to another. For France and Italy, I told my family that language barriers won't be a problem as people there - especially in the cities - would know functional English, and that I speak both good-enough-for-survival French and Italian.

- I only had a month or so to prepare for this two-country trip since we were only able to finalize our schedules at the last minute. Apart from the visa, plane, and hotel bookings, which we had some help from a travel agency, I arranged everything myself. One important tip when traveling to either/both Italy and France would be to PRE-BOOK TICKETS FOR ALL IMPORTANT LANDMARKS. I am not usually a fan of pre-booking as I want to have a degree of flexibility when it comes to my time, but just remember that France and Italy are two of the most popular countries for tourists in Europe. These countries see high numbers of tourists all four seasons, and so it is best to pre-book entrance tickets. Tickets may be bought on-site, but do prepare for a long long long queue that can last for hours, particularly at the most-visited sites like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or say the Colosseum in Rome. According to my research, Europe sees the highest number of tourists during the summer (June-August,) so expect the queues to be longer and more unbearable due to the humid temperate summer heat. Pre-booking our tickets saved us A LOT OF TIME when we were in Europe.



The trip itself:

- We departed Manila in the afternoon of the 15th of December, and arrived in Paris the dawn after. My family and I flew with Qatar Airways; it was our first time with Qatar Airways and as expected, the airline was good. As it is winter, it was still dark despite not being "dawn" anymore; we grabbed a cab to our hotel, Hotel Ares Eiffel. As the name suggests, it is just a 15-20 minute walk from the hotel to the Eiffel Tower. It is located near La-Motte Picquet Grenelle metro station, which is just 2 metro stops away from the Eiffel Tower.

- After checking in and having breakfast, we rode the metro to Charles de Gaulles Etoile metro station to see one of Paris' main landmarks - the Arc de Triomphe along Avenue de Champs Elysees. This is located in the 8th "arrondissement," or 8th district; Paris is divided into 20 arrodissements and I arranged our Parisian tour in such a way that we'd be visiting one or two arrondissements per day. (With only 4 days to spare, we weren't able to go around all the arrondissements, just the main touristy ones, or the less-touristy ones but with a landmark we'd like to see/visit.)

REMOVE ALL THE PHOTOBOMBING CARSSSSS!!!! :(( :(( :(( :((

Taking a photo at this roundabout is really difficult!!

The face I make when a student submits a ridiculously bad essay.

Whenever I see elaborate sculptures like this one, it always makes me wonder how the artist was able to do it.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

- The Arc de Triomphe is, well, obviously an arc, that was made in the early 1800s in honor of those who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Later on, more names and plaques were added for those who fought in latter wars like the 2 World Wars, the Korean War, and the First Indochina War, and so on.

Names and more names.

From the underside of the arc.

Napoleon. (My bicorne hat is actually a pirate hat I wore backwards. Would have bought a real bicorn but this one is foldable and is easy to pack in my luggage.) 

For those who fought in the Korean War.

For the Indochina War in Southeast Asia.

- People are allowed to go up the arc, but we didn't do that anymore since we felt that it would be more interesting to see the arc itself, rather than the view of Paris from the arc. Separate tickets are needed to go up the arc, while it is free to go around the arc.

- From the arc we walked along Champs Elysees (read roughly as "shangz-eli-zeh.") The avenue is filled with branded stores, souvenir stalls, and restaurants of different cuisines. We found a random restaurant that served French food, and of course I just had to try their snails ("escargot.") The snails were cooked with oil and herbs. Although the snails are served only as appetizers, I would not mind eating more of it and eat only that for lunch!!

Another challenging shot: taking a photo from the very narrow pedestrian area in the middle of the avenue!!

I can hear Joe Dassin's "Champs Elysees" song. If you've taken a French language class, you must have heard of this song, I am sure of it. (I did not take formal French lessons, but my friend who did shared this LSS-able song to me!!)

ESCARGOTTTTTTTT. (The wine was not mine by the way.)

- After lunch we continued our stroll along the avenue until we reached Place de la Concorde at the southeastern end of Champs Elysees. This plaza or "place" in French, is where one can find the famous and often-photographed ferris wheel. A few more blocks from Place de la Concorde later, we found our next stop - Eglise de la Madeleine.

Passed by Grand Palais (Grand Palace), an exhibition hall built in the late 1800s. Today, is still an exhibition hall for different kinds of arts, and can also be a function hall for art-related events too.

Place de la Concorde.

- Eglise de la Madeleine is an interesting church, mainly because this mid-1800s church was made to look like a Roman temple. The facade was based on the Maison Carree in Southern France, which is one of the best-preserved Roman temples in France. It was built to honor Napoleon's army, and I suspect that the Roman influence was also brought about by Napoleon's fascination for the culture of the ancient Roman Empire.

Part of the church was being renovated.

Churches in Europe are generally amazing. 

Mary Magdalene (therefore, the name of the church - MADELEINE.)

Closer view of Mary Magdalene.

Walls of the church.

Candle offerings.

- Eglise de la Madeleine has a metro stop of its own, conveniently named "Madeleine," and from there we rode the metro - a long journey - to Denfert-Rochereau Station at the 14th arrondissement in southern Paris. Our mid-afternoon destination was not for the faint-hearted and for the open-minded - the Catacombs of Paris (Les Catacombes de Paris.) I know that a visit to the catacombs isn't exactly "Christmas-y," but with the place itself having a good reputation as a tourist site, and with my fascination for death, death rituals, and the afterlife (no I am not depressed or whatever, don't worry,) the catacombs was an un-negotiable item in my Paris itinerary. As we did not buy tickets beforehand to see the catacombs, we had our first experience of falling in line to buy tickets. Gladly, it wasn't the peak season so the line was not as long as it would be during the summer, and the line also moved quite fast. We got inside within 30 minutes.

The bodies were carried to the location in the late 1700s, and the catacombs itself was established in 1810.

To be surrounded by the bones of 6 million people.

The only think making me not afraid of the catacombs was that we were with other tourists, and each main part of the maze was supervised by a staff member.

Bodies from a cemetery that were brought here in 1859.

Endless bones.

Some of the bones were arranged to make some sort of chapel.

- The catacombs is actually an underground maze of tunnels, as this place was a mine before being converted to mass grave in 1786. They converted the mines into a mass grave as the cemeteries of Paris back then cannot accommodate more bodies. The unorganized storage of bones were later "designed" in the 1800s to the way they look today. Now I am not an expert on death rituals and religious laws, but it still baffles me that the authorities were allowed to "tamper" with the skeletons and turn them into religious art. 

Greek.

More skulls.

Literally surrounded by bones. Rows and rows of 'em.

Bone art.

- From the catacombs, we took the train all the way to the 7th arrondissement, where our hotel was (and where the Eiffel Tower was.) We wanted to check out the small Christmas market at the base of the tower, since the bigger Champs Elysees Christmas Market did not open this year due to the organizers not renewing their permit. Since sunset was really early in the winter (around 4:30 to 5pm,) the lights of the Eiffel Tower were turned on earlier too. True enough, the tower glittered like gold with its homey yellow lights. After dinner we strolled around and through the Champ de Mars, the big park in front of the tower, on the way back to our hotel to rest.

A surprise in one of the small streets.

Right behind.

Down under!!

From Champ de Mars.

- Our first day in Paris was eventful despite going straight to exploring from our almost-a-day flight from Manila. I was also happy to know that even after one day in France, I could tell that the Parisians aren't as rude as people say (or as others would tell me "not as rude....anymore") especially when you practice common courtesy. Though they speak good (or better?) English, I also observed that they really appreciated people who were attempting to learn/speak their language and trying to understand their culture and society (well, this I observed in many places I've been too though.) That night we had to rest early as we needed to head out at dawn the next day for a royal, religious, and racy day in France!!

- Don't forget to read about my other Eurotrip adventures during the holidays here!!

France: Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here!!

Italy: Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here, Part 8 here, and Part 9 here!!