This trip came about almost by chance and thanks to a lucky series of coincidences... Work was taking me to Paris until Friday evening... Alitalia's Millemiglia programme let me get there at no cost... we found a convenient Mercure fairly central and treated ourselves to this cold French weekend.
In February it's still very cold and the days are rather short, but Paris really does have a magic that spreads through the streets and the lights.
As a city it's very expensive and the French don't like speaking foreign languages, but at least once in your life it's worth making a trip to Paris.
As part of the company convention, a short visit to the famous Palace of Versailles is included, although I think it's more enjoyable on a warm spring day, when the gardens manage to match the beauty of the interiors.
The guided tour is rather rushed and doesn't include the whole palace. We're stunned to discover that the king's throne is actually a cardboard reproduction, but we walk with our noses in the air along the Hall of Mirrors.
Accompanied by our faithful Lonely Planet, we wander through the city streets, discovering the many monuments that make it so famous and so beautiful.
- The majestic Opera, where you can also see the names of some famous Italian composers - Place Vendome, with the Column of Austerlitz - The Tuileries Gardens, very well kept, where even in February there's no shortage of jogging enthusiasts - Place de La Concorde, with the very tall Obelisk and its golden tip - The Pont Alexandre III, with the golden statues that watch over and protect it
We also decide to go up the Eiffel Tower... The view is worth the climb and the line, but the February cold doesn't let us fully appreciate the impressive structure and the view from the top. It's especially the last stretch, where the elevators are very small, that creates a long snake-like queue.
We end our tour with a metro experience (watch out for connections: sometimes to change trains you have to walk through long tunnels!!!) and a visit to Notre Dame.
For the evening we choose to go up to Sacré-Cœur and take a stroll around Mont Martre, the neighborhood of artists and painters.
If you want to eat well, in a "trattoria-style" setting, don't miss Mere Catherine.
Today the weather has definitely improved. So we decide to revisit some corners we had appreciated yesterday with the clouds, but to start with an extraordinary sight: the Louvre.
Given the limited time available, we decide it's not worth going in (we would barely have been able to see anything), but even just the courtyards, the pavilions and the glass pyramid are unmissable.
From here you can easily reach the Arc du Carrousel, the gardens, the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. A nice walk, but worth it, also to see how Parisians handle a sunny Sunday afternoon. In the gardens there are many people strolling, the bars and cafés set up tables outside, everywhere a swarming of people.
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