Best places in France

Love is trembling, longing and pleasing,
A warm feeling leading to complete freezing.
Love is more valuable than money and prestige.
Love is a walk in Paris.

It is not known who and when the rumor has spread that Paris is the city of love, but its glory has not been overshadowed by any other place in the world and Paris is the well-known city of love. Love makes you do crazy things, and we descended into an insane city rush sightseeing in less than a day.

Our plane arrived in Paris on time at 11:20 am, and our flight to Bulgaria was the next day early in the morning. Only with our hand luggage we headed in search of Ibis Hotel, located at Terminal 3, just opposite the train station, and the tour of the airport lasted as long as one flight. Charles del Gaulle Airport was huge and despite the clear signs, we still had to wait a long time and tour it almost entirely. However, the hotel was waiting for us and gave us a very cozy room under number 280. Without staying there even for a minute, we headed outside in an attempt to see this huge and beautiful city for the short afternoon that we had left.

We took a one-day pass for the train and the subway and headed directly to Nord Station. I had forgotten how beautiful the façade of this station was, erected between 1861 and 1864, today it was the busiest station in Europe in terms of serviced passengers, compared to London’s Clapham Junction station, which was the busiest station in Europe in terms of serviced trains.

Love is trembling…

We shuddered slightly as we left Nord Station. There was rain outside. The gray sky merged with the gray buildings, but our cameras still managed to capture beautiful landscapes, after all we were in Paris – the city of love and lights.

We walked to Mount Montmartre, where in Roman times there were two temples dedicated to Mars and Mercury respectively. Today there stood the beautiful cathedral Sacre-coeur (Holy Heart of Jesus), built of white marble in typical Roman-Byzantine style with round domes. The cathedral was completed in 1889, but consecrated in 1919, and in its bell tower, 83 meters high, one of the largest bells in the world was ringing, weighing 19 tons. It wasn’t easy to photograph. We had to go down the hundreds of steps so we could photograph the entire cathedral. Before that, however, we entered inside to hide from the heavy rain, and to warm ourselves from the cold wind. Filming in the cathedral was forbidden, so we soaked up the beautiful altars and lavish decorations with our eyes. Inside it was full of people, and almost everyone was completely wet from the rain.

Love is longing and inspiration...

Probably one of the most inspiring places in Paris is the Montmartre district, which is famous not only for its Sacré-Coeur cathedral, but also as the place of artists where Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Salvador Dali, Claude Monet and many others have worked. Here continued to gather and create contemporary artists, but due to the pouring rain I could not see them. The very name Montmartre came from the Latin words Mons Martyrtum, which meant Mount of Martyrs. The name was given in homage to the bishop of Paris and current patron saint of France, Saint-Denis, who was beheaded in this place more than 250 years ago.

The rain had intensified, but we didn’t have time to wait for it, martyrs or not, we came down the hill and walked along the narrow streets full of souvenir shops that took us to Place Pigalle, a nightlife center in Paris.

Love is a warm feeling…

We went into a café to warm up and dry, and went out full and satisfied with the choice of restaurant. We were served a sandwich with ham and yellow cheese in French baguette, fruit cupcakes, juice and tea, and all this in a combined menu for a price of 8 euros. Paris seemed to me cheaper than most Western European capitals, but also much dirtier. Even the rain falling from the heaven couldn’t wash it away. In the end, the sky seemed to have come to terms with this failure and again showed its beautiful blue color.

We just got to Molen Rouge and enjoyed the opportunity of good photos. This famous cabare had opened its doors for the first time on October 6, 1889, and its dance performance quickly became famous and very visited, especially with the performance of the Kankan dance, which was first presented here.

Love is a journey…

We took the metro and headed to the Montpernasse Tower, which was actually a skyscraper erected on the site of an old French railway station (SNCF) in the period 1969-1974. It was also the fastest elevator in Europe, taking 195 meters in height in 38 seconds.

Love is looking at the world through rose-colored glasses…

The view from the panoramic site was very beautiful, with the Eiffel Tower, Notre d’Ames quite clearly visible, and subsequently we also distinguished the Arc de Triomphe and a bunch of other landmarks. Paris was fascinating. The sky was beginning to dawn and made us a wonderful gift in the form of a rainbow that enveloped the French capital. Paris has always been one of my favorite cities, and there were so many things in it that I had never seen.

This was my third visit to the city, and it was as if I had seen it for the first time. For the first time I entered the Sacré-Coeur Cathedral, for the first time I climbed the panoramic platform of Montpernasse, and now I was about to enter the Lafaet store for the first time.

Love is a treasure trove of happiness: the more we give, the more it remains.

We took the subway and got off at the Madeleine stop, where the Madeleine Church was located, resembling more of a Greek temple than a Catholic church. Without entering it, however, we passed by the even more beautiful opera house and from there we entered the Lafaet store. This store looked more like a gallery than a shopping mall, and as we looked at the various goods, our eyes were turned more into the beautifully painted ceiling and decorations. The store was a treasure trove, and the more time we spent in it, with the more groceries we got out of there.

Love is a ray of light even in the darkest days.

It was already dark outside, and the city of lights showed us its midnight glow. We shot the opera again, this time lit with lamps, and I wanted to go inside, where the interior, as hard as it is to believe, was even more beautiful than the exterior facade.

There is only one love and thousands of imitations…

Night Paris was just as beautiful as the sunny one. We decided to take a walk further by heading to the famous Champs-Elysees Boulevard – undoubtedly one of the best boulevards in the world. The name Champs-Elysees meant the Elysian Fields and was associated with the kingdom of the dead in Greek mythology. Today, however, there was a boil of life and cars here. Built in the first decades of the 17th century, the boulevard was part of a park with a lake, and a favorite place for a walk for all Parisians. Today it was 1,910 meters long and 70 meters wide, starting from Place de la Concorde and ending in Place Charles de Gaulle.

Love is like an hourglass, while the heart is full, the mind empties.

We walked only halfway through this famous boulevard, looking for a metro station, from where we took the metro and headed to the other treasure of Paris – the Eiffel Tower.  During the subway trips we passed the Eiffel Tower several times, but only now we went specifically to see and photograph it while it was illuminated with thousands of lights. It was radiant and beautiful, and its reflection on the wet asphalt also shone.

The Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889 as an entrance arch at the International Exposition in Paris. On several occasions the French have considered removing it, but gradually it has become the symbol of the city and for several centuries it has attracted millions of tourists. It was made of iron and weighed 10,000 tons. The height of the tower was 320 meters, which was about the size of an 81-story building.  The tower had three levels accessible to visitors, with 360 steps leading to the first floor, which rose 57 meters, then another 380 steps for the second floor, which is 155 meters away, and about 1,062 steps for the top floor, which is 300 meters high, but the highest level could only be reached by elevator. There was an elevator for the other levels, and the same always moved full of tourists.

Love is life, and if you miss love, you miss life.

However, we did not climb the Eiffel Tower this time, but were content with photographing it from a distance. Paris was the capital of nightlife, but tired of the long walk and ride through the main attractions, we decided to head to the hotel. We came home shortly before midnight, leaving the packing of hand luggage for the morning.

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT PARIS:

Location: Paris is the  capital and largest city of France. It is located in northern France on both banks of the Seine River.
Area: 105.40 sq.km
Population:  2 240 621 people
Official language: French
Altitude: 28-131 m
Climate: moderate continental climate

TRIP TIPS FOR PARIS::

Best time to visit: all year round
Typical food and drinks: French  cuisine is sophisticated and fast food restaurants are not recommended, the same somehow do not fit into French culture. If you still need to eat something quickly let the same be a baguette sandwich (French baguette) of course with the famous French cheese, and why not Pain au chocolat (chocolate bread) or melting in the mouth macaroni. For breakfast, try the light croissants and crunchy waffles. Your stay In France will not be full if you do not try at least one glass of French wine or champagne.
Places to visit: There are many attractions in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Sacré-Coeur Church, the Tuileries Gardens and many more.