You will be tired in the end of the day, said my friend Shelley, when I showed her the plan for our first full day in Paris. We walked 15.6 km on this day and accomplished even more than we had originally planned. Overall, it was a very fulfilling day.
Day 3, Friday, June 5: Paris
We started the day by visiting one of the most iconic landmarks of Paris, the Notre Dame Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris). To get in it’s free, but it’s recommended to book a reserved time slot. Just before our departure from Seattle, Steve booked it for 9 am. That meant getting up early. We didn’t mind, since we hoped to beat the crowds.
The metro (Line 4) took us very close to the cathedral. We found ourselves in the heart of the city, on Île de la Cité, the island in the river Seine. The Seine bisects Paris into the Left Bank and the Right Bank. Our plan was to explore the island and the Left Bank today, more precisely the Latin Quarter, one of the oldest parts of Paris, in the 5th arrondissement. There are 20 arrondissements (districts) extending out in a spiral around the city, making orientation quite easy.
To our surprise, we were allowed to enter the cathedral 15 minutes before our time slot. Notre Dame is impressive! No wonder; it’s the finest example of French Gothic architecture.
We learned that it was commissioned in 1163, and was completed at the beginning of the 14th century. A devastating fire in April of 2019 almost destroyed it, but after 5 years of renovations, the cathedral shines again in its former glory.
(Even though there are some parts still under re-construction.)
After Notre Dame, we walked the quiet streets of the neighboring small island, Île Saint-Louis, then visited the iconic Left Bank booksellers. They’ve been a Parisian fixture since the mid-1500s. We couldn’t resist buying a vintage postcard from one of them.
Right across from Notre Dame, in the Square Viviani, by a 12th century church Saint Julian-la-Pauvre, stands the oldest tree in Paris. It’s a black locust tree (Robinia Pseudoacacia), planted in 1601.
The nearby famous Shakespeare & Company Bookstore, which opened in 1951, didn’t disappoint. There were queues to get inside, but it was worth the wait. It’s not allowed to take photographs inside of this English-language independent bookstore, only to marvel at the arrangements of the books on the floor-to-ceiling shelves.
Next came a leisurely walk along the Seine, taking in all the views.
Our timed ticket to the Sainte Chapelle was for 12:30 pm. We had to start standing in line half an hour earlier and go through a security check. Fifteen minutes after the designated time, we were finally marveling at the Gothic architecture, the colorful light, the beautiful stained-glass windows that show 1,113 scenes from the Old and New Testament. In the 13th century, it was King Louis IX’s private chapel.
This place is extraordinary!
Guidebooks about Paris state that the city is very walkable and many of its sites are best seen on a walk. Keeping this in mind, we decided to walk to the highest point in the Latin Quarter, the Panthéon.
But first, a late lunch and some relaxation was in order. The buckwheat crêpe with goat cheese, at a creperie, was amazing!
The Panthéon, a neoclassical monument, is a spectacular space.
It houses the replica of Foucault’s pendulum. In 1851, Parisians were ”invited to come watch the world turn.” The physicist Léon Foucault got permission from Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to carry on an experiment in the Panthéon. He installed a 67 meter long steel cable with a bass sphere hanging from it. With it, he demonstarted Earth’s roatation. The replica of the pendulum was permamently installed in 1995. The original is at the Musée des Arts at Métiers.
The Panthéon is also the burial place of famous people, like Rousseau, Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, and my favorite scientist, Marie Curie, among others.
It was only 4 pm when we decided to add a visit to the Eiffel Tower to our plans for this day. Because this unmistakable symbol of Paris is located in the 7th arrondissement, not in the center of the city, from the Panthéon we first walked to a metro stop, took the metro (Line 4 and Line 6), then walked some more (about 11 minutes) to the tower.
The Eiffel Tower is impressive, especially when you stand under it. It was constructed in 1889 for the Exposition Universale exhibit as a temporary structure. We didn’t want to go to the top of it, just enjoying the view and do a lot of people watching.
Back in the hotel by 6 pm we were ready to relax. But the adventures of the day didn’t seem to end. There was a big water leakage in our bathroom, which resulted in a room change. So, instead of relaxing we had to move from room 507 to room 505, fortunately on the same floor. On our second night in Paris we slept in a different room. Remember that this hotel had the tiniest elevator we had ever seen? The new room had the tiniest bathroom we had ever seen! We knew immediately, that after they fixed – as they promised – the water leakage the next day, we wanted to go back to our original room.
Needless to say, we had a full day today!
