Matt and Lisa's Adventures

13 January 2025

We caught the 7 am train to Paris, luckily we were right next door to the station. We arrived in a very crowded Paris train station and had to work out the metro ticket system again. I would have expected by now that they would have moved beyond paper tickets but apparently no such luck and we still ended up with a stack of little pieces of paper. It was a couple of metros to our hotel where we were about to check in early. The room is quite large by Paris standards but the elevator was designed for only half a person at a time. 

First stop was Angelina tea house. We had enjoyed this twice on our last trip to Paris and Lisa had a hankering for some yums. Thankfully, being Monday morning there was no line outside and we could breeze in. We shared a vanilla Mount Blanc (the Mount Blanc is their signature pastry and we have enjoyed it previous  times). The vanilla one was not as good and did feel like a lot of cream. We also had an apple pastry which was delicious. I had their speciality hot chocolate which is served with whipped cream. I like my hot chocolates but even with the whipped cream it was too rich for me! 

From there we needed to walk to burn off a small fraction of the calories we had just ingested. We had a nice walk through the Tuileries gardens. Lisa had been a bit obsessed with going to Notre Dame since it reopened and so we set off in that direction. It was a beautiful walk along the river and we got some good views of the rebuilt cathedral as we approached. Thankfully the line to get in wasn’t that long (less than ten minutes). Inside it was very nice but not as visually stunning as some other cathedrals we had seen (like the one in Lyon yesterday). Mass was also being celebrated (two masses for me in two days) but they were still allowing tourists which felt a bit weird. There were some very nice stained glass windows lit up in the sun (blue sky for us in Paris is very unusual, normally we get grey and overcast days). 

We caught the metro up to the Arc De Triumph and then walked our way along Champs-Elysees. There were lots of people getting photos in front of the arch, so we did some people watching off that for a while. One girl in particular was there with her Calvin Klein bra showing through so she could look cool in her photos. Another couple were going to walk across the roundabout to the arch before thankfully common sense prevailed and they used the underpass. We watched the traffic on the roundabout and even after five minutes the rules still made no sense. 

We had lunch sitting it on the Champs-Elysees avenue, admittedly from McDonald’s which feels like it had been a constant of this trip. This was not going to be a healthy food day for us! 

We slowly meandered our way along the avenue then down through concord and through the Tuileries again before making it to the central island of Paris for our walking tour. Our guide was Patrick and he was good, however it was a very information dense tour and in my sleep deprived state concentration was hard work. 

• The city island was the original Roman settlement area in Paris. Over time the city expanded to the right back and then the left back of the river. One side is more cultural (universities etc) and the other is more financially focused
• The Romans were pushed out about 500AD by King Clovis who came from Belgium. He established the French nation
• The river used to flood regularly causing massive issues. Eventually they raised the level of the city and just built on top of the old buildings. This is why the river looks so much lower than the surrounding land. There are now archeological museums which expose some if the earlier layers
• During the Notre Dame fire there was concern that the wooden beams that held up the massive bells would catch fire and collapse which would lead to the destruction of the facade and ultimately the cathedral. Instead the fire fighters focused on preventing that (at the expense of the rear of the cathedral) so that the cathedral could be saved. Within 24 hours of the fire 850 million euros had been donated, which is very generous but a lot of money to spend on a church when there are so many other problems in the world.
• There were lots of ugly devil statues on the cathedral as the church was attempting to portray to people what would happen to them if they weren’t good Christians. There was also a Saint holding his head as he had been beheaded. 
• One of the French kings used the letter H as had symbol and his queen used two C’s as hers. The king was lucky as his mistress used two D’s which could easily be confused with the two C’s allowing him to get brownie points with both women.
• One of the French kings (I think it was a Louis) was so excited about the birth of his first son that he extended the City island by combining in with other smaller islands and then creating a new square on the new area. 
• The same King built a new bridge across to his extended island area. It is called the “New Bridge” despite now being the oldest still existing bridge. Earlier bridges were wooden and were liable to be destroyed when poor captains on the river hit the supports. Older bridges also included houses and shops (like Ponte Vecchio in Venice). This was banned on the New Bridge, which just makes common sense in any case

We were both shattered by the time we made it back to the hotel and couldn’t muster the energy to go out for dinner so it was an uber eats delivery meal of a Chipotle bowl which turned out to be just what we needed. 

14 January 2025

We woke to the news that sadly Oma had passed away. Very sad to hear that from mum. She has made it to 95 years old and so she had had a great innings. 

Our guide for Versailles was Vladina who was very good. 

• The palace of Versailles was built by Louis XIV as he wanted to move away from the Louvre palace in central Paris. A huge amount of money was spent on building the palace and it is very extravagant. 
• Interesting chandelier in the main staircase, very modern compared to the rest of the palace. It was made by a jeweller and is meant to look like a necklace, which makes senses
• Louis XIV was a very vain man and tried to portray himself as beautiful and powerful. In reality he lost his hair when he was 19 which led to him wearing wigs – often very extravagant wigs. We were told that this is where the phrase “big wig” comes from.
• The King used paintings as propaganda to show himself as different from real life and as more physically perfect than he was. 
• The palace was broken down into one wing for the king and one for the queen with the another massive area for all the courtiers and then another one for staff
• There was a lot of weird ceremonies associated with being the king including a ceremony for him waking up and another for when he went to sleep. We saw the kings bedroom where the ceremonies would take place but he didn’t sleep there, after the others had left he would sneak out a side door to a more comfortable bed room
• Anyone was allowed to come to Versailles to see the king so long as they had a hat and a sword. There would be people outside the palace who would rent you a hat and sword if you didn’t have them on hand
• The hall of mirrors is the most impressive room. It was an add on to the palace and enclosed a previous long walk way. It has giant windows along one side of the room and mirrors along the other with massive chandeliers the middle. The mirrors were made by Venetian glass masters who had been tempted to move to France – a nice call back to our previous trip to Murano in Venice. The room is most famous as being the location where the Treaty of Versailles was signed that ended the First World War with Germany
• The King and Queen were at Versailles when the crowds came from Paris during the first French Revolution. They were forced to move back to Paris and after trying to escape they were imprisoned and then eventually executed. 
• The wife of Louis XIV was Marie Antoinette. She was Austrian and struggled with adapting to France. The ceremonies and expectations were foreign and too much for her. She ended up having her own palace at Versailles down the other end of the garden. The theme of princesses/queens who struggle with their roles seems to be recurring with Marie Antoinette, Sisi in Vienna and of course, more recently, Diana. 
• The palace had a large garden but we only had a very quick walkthrough as being winter it was very cold and the fountains were all turned off

Lunch was at a little cafe in Versailles and was very nice. We then headed into Paris and Lisa went shopping while I went to Les Invalides. Les Invalides used to be a large hospital for military veterans but is now largely a military museum that includes Napoleon’s tomb. There was so much to see here that I only really covered the Napoleon era and missed out on the details about the two world wars. 

• There was a chapel for veterans. When a battle was won the flag of the enemy would be bought back to this chapel. Most of them had been destroyed over time but there were still a lot of flags displayed. It reminded me of all the different banners from Game of Thrones which is obviously based on what happened in real life. 
• There is a massive building holding the tomb of Napoleon along with other famous French military leaders. His coffin is massive. There was an amazing tomb for field marshal Foch with a statue of soldiers carrying his coffin
• In the museum they had a fantastic section that covered the period from Louis XVI through to after Napoleon III. There were hundreds of exhibits but more importantly lots of information boards which explained how the army worked, historical events and the campaigns/battles. 
• They had Napoleon’s horse stuffed. He was an Arabian white horse, which I know is the best after playing Red Dead Redemption 2 
• The museum covered the French victories in a lot of detail but there was very little information about French losses. Mostly these were barely acknowledged and it made following the story a little difficult as the French army went from stunning successes to falling apart without understanding the details of why.
• There is a lot of repetition in the Napoleon’s history. There were seven coalitions that fought against the French with different groups joining each time but largely the same players. They really just needed to get together and get the job done rather than having to keep going back time and again. 
• It is a similar story with Napoleon. After he was defeated he was exiled but for some reason still allowed to be in charge of the island he was exiled to – why they would do this makes no sense to me. Although apparently he did make some good improvements. He returned to France and this led to another round of fighting before his final defeat at Waterloo. It would have saved a lot of trouble if they had just killed him after the first loss or at least done a better job of exiling him. After the hundreds of thousands of people who died in the Napoleonic wars it seems bizarre to spare him as just one other man.

We met up again in the Latin quarter of Paris and had a drink before finding a nice French restaurant for dinner. It was a very French dinner with onion soup, beef stew and then chocolate mousse. To make it feel even more French it was crowded and the wait staff were horrendous. The waiter basically didn’t say a word to us all evening and it took three attempts to be able to pay the bill. Lisa got very steamed up which I quite enjoyed, even if perhaps I shouldn’t have. 

15 January 2025

We had a three hour guided Louvre tour for today. We were running a bit late so ended up with a quick breakfast from Starbucks after arriving in the city centre. 

Our guide for the tour was Miriam and she was very good. It was hard as we had a group with a few slow people and there were quite a few stairs to climb. We also had people who drifted off at times. It was going to be difficult to get through the masterpieces in the allotted timeframe with a group like that. It did feel like a lot of pushing to keep everyone moving. 

• The Louvre is built on top of an old fortress. Some of the fortress is still visible below the Louvre. There are symbols (such as hearts) on the bricks. This was used to know who was responsible for each brick so that they could be paid accordingly.
• Saw an awesome sphinx which is thousands of years old. Miriam did a great job of describing the sphinx and its importance. As soon as she finished one lady went up to her and said “so what’s this thing then?” – there really is no helping some people! 
• Interestingly most of the Greek statues in the museum are not original. This is because the originals were generally in bronze which was then later melted down to be used in other creations (or weapons). Venus de Milo is the exception to this as it is an original statue and not bronze.
• Amazing statues of the different Greek gods. The Roman gods are the same as the Greek ones just with different names – e.g. Zeus for the Greeks is the same as Jupiter for the Romans.
• Statue of an attractive young woman lying on her stomach until you go around and then suddenly surprise! It’s a hermaphrodite!
• The amazing Nike, the winged victory. The statue was found in hundreds of pieces and had to be reassembled by the Louvre staff. 
• It doesn’t come out well in the photographs but many of the rooms have fantastic painted ceilings. Often they are just as interesting as the art work the rooms house
• Several masterpieces by Leonardo led us into the Mona Lisa. As always a massive crowd for a painting, which is very nice, but just not that stunning
• Opposite Mona Lisa is the feast at Canaan by Veronese which is one of my all time favourites. It is just such a stunningly impressive work particularly because of its size which the guide pointed out was many times later than the average Parisian apartment!
• There was a Renoir painting that was purchased by a Japanese art lover for an obscene amount of money. He has stated that he wants to be buried with the painting. This raises some interesting ethical questions – should the world be deprived of a masterpiece because of one dead person’s wishes? And who owns the painting once he is dead, and can they override his wishes? Seems unbelievably selfish to me
• It was planned to finish the tour at Napoleon’s apartment so that we could explore these on our own. However the normal path to the apartments was blocked and so Miriam took us on a roundabout path through some areas of the Louvre I had never seen before, or even knew existed
• There were some amazing statues and art works from early civilisations I had never heard of. Would have loved to have had more time to explore these, but that would have to be for a future trip
• In the end it turned out Napoleon’s apartments were closed entirely. So that led to more walking through the museum to help people find the main exit

Lunch was in the Louvre cafe, same one at last time. After the quick breakfast and all the learning we definitely needed the sugar hit of lunch and soft drinks to keep us going! 

Then it was off to Montmartre for a walking tour with Anna. We started by Moulin Rogue which is just around the corner from Place de Clichy where we had stayed on previous trips. It was nice to get back to the area even if it is littered with adult shops. 

• The Moulin Rogue’s famous windmill had been damaged in a storm a while back. It was temporary fixed up for the Olympics but now they were doing the proper job of fixing it up
• Montmartre used to be a small village outside the city of Paris. It was mainly agricultural and a lot of quarries for the gypsum that was used to create plaster for building. There used to be lots of wind mills that were used to crush the gypsum. Today there are only two windmills left. 
• There used to be a wall around Paris that defined the city borders for tax and export purposes. Montmartre was outside of the borders which made it cheaper for alcohol. Therefore lots of bars sprung up alongside cabarets like Moulin Rogue to exploit this financial loop hole.
• Montmartre was very popular with painters and other artists. Van Gogh lived there for a while and painted what he could see out of the window of his flat. Interestingly his flat was for sale when we were there. The view will have charged a bit since Vincent painted it, I would think
• We heard about Louise Michel who was a female protestor during the time of the French Revolution. She was very determined and didn’t want to be treated differently because she was a woman
• In France there is a famous short story book that includes a story about a man who could walk through walls. He eventually lost this power half way through a wall and became stuck. There was a sculpture depicting this which was very cool. We saw French tourists who came to pose with the statue. There was also a statue of a singer that was very popular with the local tourists. Everyone touched her breasts and so they were the shiniest part of the statue
• There was a statue of Saint Dennis. He had his head chopped off but then just picked it up and carried on. At one point he stopped and cleaned his head in a fountain. Eventually he did die and that is where the suburb of Saint Denis is. Saint Denis is where the Stade de France stadium is located
• At the top of the hill is the basilica. It is very new having just celebrated its centenary. It was very controversial when it was built and the Parisians were not big fans – this seems to be a common thread as they also weren’t big fans of the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre pyramids when they were built either

We went into the basilica and lit a candle for Oma. The view wasn’t great from the top as it was a very overcast day but we grabbed the obligatory photos. Dinner was in Montmartre but further down the hill at a nice French restaurant. Lisa had the croc monsieur that she had been craving for a while (and was so disappointed by in Lyon) and I had a cheeseburger. Best of all was that we got a side of fresh vegetables with was delicious after our lack of vegetables over the past few weeks. 

16 January 2025

We headed to the pantheon for a quick walk by and then onto Luxembourg gardens which were very nice. Then it was off to Saint Germain. For Christmas my parents had purchased us a chocolate and patisserie tour – thanks Mum and Dad! We were the only people on the tour and so it was essentially a private tour. Our guide was Catherine and she gave us a lot of history and information about Paris while supplying us with sweet treats.

• We went to several chocolatiers where we were served by people wearing white gloves. The chocolate was very nice, although Lisa was still a bigger fan of Whittakers. 
• We learnt about the symbol of Paris which is the sailing ship and pays homage to the river Seine and its importance for trade and commerce in the city. The symbol is shown on schools, buildings, seats etc across the city. Sometimes there are simple versions and sometimes much more complicated coats of arms. 
• We passed the building where the treaty ending the American War of Independence was signed. It was meant to be done in the British Embassy but Benjamin Franklin wouldn’t agree to that so they moved a few buildings down the road. It was a very nondescript building. A far cry from the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles where the treaty of Versailles was signed
• We came across a museum for Delacruz who was a famous French painter who painted Liberty Leading the People that we had seen in the Louvre yesterday. It was also a puzzle Lisa had completed and I had given up on, which Lisa likes to remind me about.
• Much of the city of Paris was torn down in the late 19th century under Napoleon the third so that they could rebuild with wider avenues and better hygiene. This was led by the architect Haussmann and while painful at the time it tremendously helped the city in the longer term. 
• Haussmann also designed the basic outline for most of the new buildings which follow the same Parisian pattern with white stone and pretty balconies. These all follow a similar approach of shops on the ground floor with the shop keepers living on the first level.  Level two was for the rich people and had higher ceilings and was liked because there wasn’t too many stairs to climb. The next few levels got progressively worse with more stairs. The servants lived in the attic which was very cold in winter and very hot in summer. These rooms were also terribly small – 9 square meters. Most houses did not have elevators and the attic to for could only be accessed from a separate staircase to keep the help away from the owners. Nowadays people rent these rooms but they are still not great.
• Lots of cafes had put flowers up after Covid to attract people back in. Being a few years on most of the flowers are looking a bit tired, but they still made the places more attractive.
• We had a chocolate mousse which was very nice but I only ate half as it was a big serving (with chocolate both before and after it). I had the 100% chocolate option but Lisa went for the Christmas spices option, a poor choice in my opinion.
• We went to a spice and aromatics shop where we could smell various spices. This was really interesting and illustrated how much of a taste is because of the smell. We could smell a spice and then immediately envisage the food. 
• We had a galette cake made out of pastry and almonds. The cake part of a weird French New Years tradition where a trinket is placed inside it and whoever gets the trinket is made king (or queen) of the party. They can then appoint someone to the other role. It sounds like a weird idea to me
• We saw a house that was used by a leader in the French Revolution. He was a newspaper publisher and rang a bell when the paper was ready. He suffered from a skin condition which meant he spent a lot of time in the bath. One day a woman snuck into his house and stabbed him in the bath, a horrible way to die. She was then promptly guillotined 
• Learnt that straight croissants are made with butter and curved ones are made with margarine. Little bit of useless trivia.
• We had a macaron from an award winning shop. It was ok but didn’t have a lot of flavour. I just don’t think I really get macarons. 
• Went to an olive oil and balsamic vinegar store where we did some tastings. Slightly weird to have olive oil by itself but it was actually quite nice. 
• Finished with tastings at a jam store – of much more interest to Lisa than to me. We were given blind taste tests and then had to guess a flower and fruit from the jam. We only knew roses as a flower – which did not impress our guide!

No lunch as we were so full from the tour. I love my chocolate but it was too much even for me! We ended up doing a lot if walking today (22km) so hopefully we burnt off at least a little of the sugar. 

Next up was the Eiffel Tower, taking the standard photos as we went. Unfortunately after having nicer weather earlier in the week it was an overcast day for our photos. We then just went for a wander. Lisa tried to use one of the free toilets available in the street but had real issues with getting the door to close. It worked fine for me! 

We ended up walking down Champs Élysées again and through Tuileries and around the Louvre – it’s just such a beautiful walk to go from arch to arch. Along the way we ran into a weird art installation, I won’t include what Lisa thought the flowers looked like. There were also a million police vans with their lights and sirens going but nothing appeared to be amiss. In the end, we just decided they were having a bit of fun with their training. At one point there was a whole group of guys taking photos of a Bugatti that was parked up and roped off. It looked like a nice car but they were a little too enthusiastic about it. This was just off Champs Élysées  and you could tell this was an area with money and very fancy hotels – definitely not where we are staying! 

We eventually made it to Les Halles which had a Westfield shopping mall. I was trying to get shoes for Oma’s funeral (unsuccessful) and Lisa was trying to get a gift for Emily (success). We then had our classic rigmarole trying to find a dinner place. We walked past lots along the way that looked promising but when we returned to select one they all had issues. Lisa was getting hangry and I was starting to get worried. Eventually we compromised and made a good selection. Lisa had a croc monsieur (again) and I had steak and chips which was delicious.