Paris for a Day

On Friday afternoon, I took the plane from Bordeaux to Paris and arrived at the same time as my little brother. I was so happy that he decided spontaneously to come and spend the next 40 hours with me in Paris. 

After checking in to the hotel, we took the train to downtown Paris to meet one of my best friends for dinner.  Franzi lives and works in Paris and it was so good to see her and catch up with her. Plus, the Indian food was pretty good too. 

Because of the winter weather in Paris that week, the roads were very slippery and the Seine river still continued to rise. 

After a good night's sleep, my brother and I put our walking shoes on and bundled up -the snow had stopped and it was sunny but very cold (36F/2C) -and took off toward city center. First up some breakfast:

We had no real plan of what we wanted to see or do so we just went along and stopped here and there, paused to eat some delicious foods, walked some more and enjoyed spending the day together. The first attraction we went to was Montmartre, a neighborhood in the North part of city known for it's artist district and the white-domed Basilica de Sacre-Coeur on its summit.

Sacre-Coeur:

           

View over the city: 

We stopped at Galeries Lafayette for some desserts and an assembly of lunch items, which we devoured near Place de la Concorde. 

 

From there we walked thru the Tuileries Garden towards the Louvre. We didn't want to stand in line for hours at this museum so instead, as per my brother's request, we went to Musee de la Magie. It is a small museum featuring cool artifacts from the beginning of magic and illusion: antique props and gadgets, optical illusions, and even a little magic show.  

 

 

After that, we walked by Notre Dame de Paris. I have been to Paris multiple times but never seen it covered in snow. It was very pretty, albeit quite slippery on those old cobblestone streets. 

We definitely needed to sit down for a while and took a break at a typical small French cafe, eating crepes and drinking cidre.

Then, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower...only to find it closed due to the wintry conditions. But we still took a few good picture of this famous wrought-iron tower from 1889. Prior to that, we went to Tour Montparnasse, a modern tower, where one can enjoy a panoramic view over the City of Love 210 m above the ground. But again, the lines were too long so we abandoned that mission.  

 

 

We didn't came to Paris to shop but that didn't prevent us from walking down Champs-Elysees at dawn towards the Arc de Triomphe. 

Our last stop was a tiny, authentic Vietnamese restaurant, where we ate delicious Pho soup (I had a different soup and it was perfect) and then headed back to the hotel. 

I truly had a great time exploring for more than 12+ hours this magnificent city with my little brother. We walked 13.4 miles that day and were exhausted when we got back to the hotel. But it was so worth it!!! The next morning, we had to hug each other goodbye as one headed off towards the US and one towards Germany...until we will see each other again. Au revoir!