Day 5 - Paris

The second morning in Paris we learned that Parisians living in the Quartier Latin do not wake up very early and do not serve breakfast before 8:00am. We had to forget breakfast if we wanted to make it to the metro stop before rush hour. Around 6:30am, we made it to the RER en route to Versailles. It was about an hour long commute and the temperature had dropped significantly since the day before. Luckily, in my bag I had extra scarves and mittens. As we exited the RER and on to the platform, the first thing that I noticed were the soldiers carrying huge machine guns. I had been told about these guys, but it still was a little freaky.

We made our way out on to the street in search of the great palace of Versailles. At first, we were afraid that we wouldn't find it and we wondering if we were going the wrong direction. We saw an elaborate fence and building along the way. It wasn't Versailles, but it was still a cool looking building.

The front of the building said that it was the Hotel de Ville, but it was definitely not the famous Hotel de Ville because we saw that one closer to Notre Dame. The architecture on the buildings in Paris just amazes me every time I looked at them.

Louis XIV

After passing the Hotel de Ville, we saw the street that lead to Versailles and we realized that you can't miss it. You can see the golden fences from several blocks away.

The first thing that Snoopy told me about was that every room (except the chapel) is dedicated to Louis XIV. We saw him first atop a horse just before entering the courtyard of Versailles.

Louis XIV was the first king to settle in Versailles. He also moved the government away from central Paris and forced nobility to spend time there each year in an attempt to keep them from forming regional power against him. He worked very hard to distance himself from the regular Parisians. Louis XIV spent most of his time expanding the palace and shaping what we see today.

We made it to the front of the ticket office and met up with a few fellow Americans who were also waiting in line to see the historic palace.

Exterior courtyard of Versailles

Exterior courtyard of Versailles

Golden Gates of Versailles

Chateau de Versailles

Interior courtyard 

Once we made it inside, we could clearly see that Chateau de Versailles was the epitome of the extravagance.

Chapel - only room not dedicated to Louis XIV

Staircase - Versailles

Every staircase, every hallway and every room was enormous and was by far the biggest structure I had ever been in. All of the hallways floors were marble and the ceilings were covered in cherubs rolling in the clouds.

Luckily, Snoopy and I had gotten there so early that we avoided a lot of crowds and were able to snap pictures without people's heads.

Louis XIV

When we first began the tour, there was a sitting room which contained paintings from wall to wall. Each painting was of Louis XIV in a different color wig. Sometimes he was with his wife, but most of the time it was just him.

The furniture was made of solid gold and wood with extremely detailed embroidered upholstery.

The only room in the entire palace that was not dedicated to Louis was the chapel and rightly so!

Chapel - view from second floor

Closed side door to chapel

Ceiling in one of the rooms in Versailles

Versailles Fireplace

King's Bed chambers

Even the ceilings...

Huge Windows 

Queen's bed chambers

The biggest wall painting that ever existed

The longest hallway that has ever existed

Beautiful gold trimmed columns

Hallway of statues

After we finished wandering through the palace, we made our way out to the gardens. The gardens were built to be like a playground for the French royals complete with canals meant to feel like Venice. To say the gardens are expansive is an understatement. We couldn't even see the edge of the property! We did know that a 45 minute drive would take us to Marie Antoinette's cottage and where we could find King Louis' hunting cottage.

It is plain to see that the gardens usually have more flowers but since we came in October, most of the flowers had been replaced with greens for the winter. I was a little bummed out about that, but it was all right.

In the picture on the right, you can see the people walking through the gardens for a perspective on size. We were at the top of a hill near the palace looking down on the entrance to the gardens.

Walking down to the gardens, view of Versailles

Venetian Canals in Versailles! 

Snoopy and I did take a few minutes to wander through the maze of hedges. The hedges were about 15 feet high and 2 feet thick. We sat down on a bench simply to admire the peaceful gardens after spending days in the hustle and bustle of the big cities.

I have to admit that I was sad to leave the gardens at Versailles only because we barely scratched the surface. We still had a lot to see in Paris.

We hopped back on to the RER and made our way back into the big city.

We had skipped breakfast that morning since the residents of the Latin Quarter do not like to get up early, so we were famished by the time we made it back into Paris. We stopped at this great little cafe in Montmarte that we immediately fell in love with. I mostly fell in love with their ham and cheese panini. To this day, I long for that simple ham and cheese panini.

After our lunch, we began our Montmarte walk. Montmarte is a neighborhood of Paris that I fell in love with immediately and I felt like I belonged there. It was much more quiet than the rest of Paris and it had the beautiful cobblestone streets and steep hills. Our mission was to make it to the top of the hill and I was more than happy taking my time just soaking in Montmarte.

We climbed stairs, walked a block over and climbed more stairs. Then there were even more stairs! When we reached the top of the hill, we meandered through a crowded street market with artists painting pictures of curious tourists and waiters aggressively making their way through the crowds with trays of delectable desserts.

Snoopy guided me to a quaint little church called St. Pierre de Montmarte. This church was the first church that I saw that had pews instead of chairs. Still, even after visiting many grand churches, walking into the nave of the churches still filled me with awe.

St. Pierre de Montmarte is the lesser known of the churches on this hill, but it has a bigger claim to fame. It was founded by Saint Denis (remember the guy who carried his own head?) in the 3rd century. Also, the church is the location at which the vows were taken that led to the founding of the Society of Jesus. 


This was not our main sight to see so we did not spend a lot of time inside this church. 

We walked out of the St. Pierre de Montmarte and turned around the corner to another crowded street. To the right, we could see all of Paris off into the distance. We were at the highest point in all of Paris. To our left, we came across our main sight, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, or better known as Sacre Coeur.

Sacre Coeur

Sacre Coeur was beautiful. It was breathtaking.

Sacre Coeur was strict on its no photography rules so when we went inside, I put my camera inside my bag just to make sure I kept the peace as much as possible. Inside the basilica was just as a grand as Saint Paul's in London with the high chapel donned with Jesus Christ and the sacred heart for all to see. I made Snoopy sit down in full view of the high chapel just to take it in. When you visit Sacre Coeur, you do not just go to look, you experience it.

View of Paris from Sacre Coeur

Paris from Sacre Coeur

After we left Sacre Coeur, I just could not stop looking over at the view of Paris. Paris was better than I had ever imagined and there is an electricity in the air that cannot be described. I felt like I belonged there. I felt like I was home.

Snoopy had to make a pitstop at the nearby public toilets, so I made friendly conversation with a local with an adorable cocker spaniel. I was flattered when he asked if I was from Spain and the gentleman's mother was stunned that I spoke Spanish. They insisted that I was of Latin descent and when I told them I had family from Mexico, they said that they knew it and were finally satisfied. My Spanish is not that good, but I guess it was good enough! I ended up getting water at a discount rate because I did not speak English.

We left the lovely neighborhood of Montmarte, down all those stairs, and made our way to Jewish neighborhood of Marais.

On our way to Marais, we visited the Bastille. The Bastille was once a prison and was torn down during the French Revolution. All that is left is a single column in the middle of a very busy street.

After we gazed upon Place de la Bastille, we continued over to Marais. Marais is a sleepy neighborhood that Snoopy fell in love with immediately. Marais was the old Jewish quarter and current holds a strong middle-eastern influence. When you walked through the alleyways, you could smell fresh kabobs and schawarmas filling the air. This neighborhood was, as expected, targeted by the Nazi's during World War II. We stopped by the Holocaust Museum in Paris, but it was closed on this afternoon so we made plans to return the next day.

We did make another trip to see the Eiffel Tower, but when I realized that my camera had no battery left, I told Snoopy that we had to wait. There was no way I was going to go to the top of the tower without my camera.

We wandered through the city back to our hotel and called it a night. One more day in Paris left.