Detailed Photo Review of Paris and London Trip in June 2019

[deladane]

2 hours ago, cft8 said:

Great review! We flew Denver to London on Norwegian in premium class last summer and we enjoyed the experience, although I agree about the food! That said, the seats were great and we found plenty on the entertainment channels to occupy us. I hope that they stay in business; we are hoping to use them again next year! I'll be bummed, though if we don't have lounge access, although it only applies for us at Gatwick because Denver doesn't have a lounge they can use.

 

What app do you use to add the painting/sketch effects to your photos? I've been meaning to get one!

 

Thanks for reading!  I hope Norwegian can pull through the financial difficulties they seem to be having because I would definitely fly with them again too!  I use Spark Post to make the first photo of each day with the text on the photo.  For the first few photos at the beginning of the review, I used an app called Sketch Master... I've been using it for years, but there are a lot of other apps out now that do the same thing.  I just started playing around with Prisma and I think I like that one even better!  All of these are free apps so you can play around with them and see what works best for you 🙂

 

[deladane]

We kept walking along that street until we reached Pont Saint-Louis, the bridge connecting the two islands in the Seine.  As we were walking across, I looked back towards Ile de la Cite for a beautiful view of one of the Haussmann-style buildings.  I just loved the look of these buildings and couldn’t help but take a photo every time I saw one framed nicely by trees or a bright blue sky!

 

 

Ile Saint Louis is the smaller of the two islands in the Seine and is known for it’s beautiful (read: expensive) apartment buildings and quaint narrow streets lined with shops and restaurants.  It was only 10:15am on Sunday when we arrived so the island was still quite sleepy with many of the stores still closed or just starting to open for the day, but we enjoyed our time wandering around and taking it all in.

 

 

A very tempting sweets shop

 

 

 

[deladane]

We crossed the Seine via Pont Marie to get back over to the Right Bank, looking back to the lovely tree-lined Ile Saint Louis…

 

Our next destination was Memorial de la Shoah, a small Holocaust museum with free entry.  They do not allow photos inside the museum, but I was able to capture these photos from the outside…

 

 

This plaque was displayed on the side wall of the museum, explaining a fascinating bit of history that I knew nothing about!  The second photo shows the list of names, running the full length of the outside wall of the museum.

 

 

 

We both agreed this museum was very well done and offered a huge amount of information.  We have both been to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, so this museum in Paris was much smaller and didn’t quite compare to those museums, but that was okay.  We didn’t expect it to.  They had exhibits on two floors, both with information written in French and English so we were able to follow along.  If anything, there was almost too much information to read and we started to feel overwhelmed.  Throughout the exhibits, they had screens showing videos and interviews, but those were all in French.  I wish they put in subtitles because those were probably interesting and worth watching, but we didn’t watch them with the language barrier.  The very last section of the exhibit was perhaps the most powerful, featuring photos of 3,000 Jewish children from France who passed during the Holocaust.  We spent an hour and a half exploring all of the exhibits, which not surprisingly, left us in a fog of depression.  After we left, we spent some time walking through the Marais neighborhood, reflecting on what we’d just seen.

 

[deladane]

Our next stop was the old Jewish Quarter to find something to eat for lunch.  We walked towards Rue des Rosiers, which was once home to the largest Jewish community in Europe.

 

 

This restaurant receives great reviews on Trip Advisor, but that also means it is very popular and usually has a huge line running down the street. 

 

 

They form two lines outside- one to be seated inside the restaurant with waiter service, and another line for take away orders prepared in a window outside.  We had good timing and arrived when there were only 5 people in line for the take away food, perhaps because it was a little early for Sunday lunch.  There was a man walking up and down the line that handed us a menu, took our order, and then gave us a slip of paper to bring inside the restaurant to pay for our food.

 

 

After I paid for the food inside, they gave me a receipt to and to the guys in the window so they would know what we ordered.  DH waited in line while I went inside, so by the time I returned, we were next to order.  They really do have the logistics here down to a science.  We had both ordered the falafel, so it was fun to watch them make it and pick out the toppings we wanted.

 

 

They filled the soft pita bread with coleslaw, onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and of course, falafel balls, then poured a ton of tzatiki sauce on top, making for a very messy meal to eat while we were walking around.  I’ve never really loved falafel, but I must say, this stuff was really delicious!  I usually think the balls are dry and crumbly, but this falafel was moist and had great flavor too.

 

 

[deladane]

After lunch, we continued exploring some of the shops on Rue des Rosiers.

 

 

When we walked back passed L’as du Fallafel, there were a ton of people lined up and waiting to order, so we hit it at the right time when we arrived.  You can see them along the right side of the road in this photo…

 

 

This kosher bakery was calling our name so we went inside to pick out a pastry for dessert…. Yum!

 

 

Bellies full, we continued wandering around the Marais.  This band was playing on the sidewalk so we stopped to listen for a bit.

 

 

[Walt fan]

Enjoying your Sunday in Paris.  Very interesting plaque outside of the museum, something I never knew.  I have been to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. with hubby.  We spent literally all day there.  There was so much to see and read and take in.  And yes, you leave feeling very humble and with tears in your eyes.  

 

I love falafel, your sandwiches looked amazing.  

 

Thank you, your photos are amazing and tell their own story, and I love all of your details.  

[deladane]

20 hours ago, Walt fan said:

Enjoying your Sunday in Paris.  Very interesting plaque outside of the museum, something I never knew.  I have been to the Holocaust Museum in D.C. with hubby.  We spent literally all day there.  There was so much to see and read and take in.  And yes, you leave feeling very humble and with tears in your eyes.  

 

I love falafel, your sandwiches looked amazing.  

 

Thank you, your photos are amazing and tell their own story, and I love all of your details.  

 

Thanks again for your kind words!  I knew this review wouldn't get a ton of traffic as compared to when I post on the forum for a big cruise line, so I appreciate your comments and letting me know you are still reading along!

[deladane]

We had about an hour and a half of unexpected spare time before our walking tour.  For the sake of full disclosure, I admit that I view this time as a rare moment of planning failure.  I had it in my mind that we should spend this time in the Marais, so I wasn’t looking at the bigger picture.  What we really should have done with this hour and a half was walk west for less than 10 minutes and go to the Pompidou Center.  At the time, I didn’t realize we were so close to there, and it would have been the perfect time to go, especially since it was free using our museum pass.  In the end, we never got to see that museum.  I only realized how close we were to it after returning home and looking at my Google Map to write this review, but when you are roaming the streets of Paris without a real plan of what to do, it’s hard to know what other landmarks are nearby.

 

Instead, we followed some of the Rick Steves self-guided tour of the Marais neighborhood and walked over to Place des Vosges.  This pretty park featured a large square with fountains and statues and plenty of grass to spread out a blanket and have a picnic.  It was surrounded by brick buildings, making a pretty backdrop and keeping the park closed off from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding streets.

 

 

 

Even the walkway under the brick buildings was beautiful!

 

Around the corner from the park, we saw this beautiful, old synagogue called Synagogue des Tournelles.  We wanted to go inside and look around, but there was an event going on so we just admired from the outside.

 

 

 

[deladane]

Our tour with Discover Walks started at 2:30pm.  This must be a very popular tour because there were about 50 people at the meeting spot, but luckily, they had two tour guides so we only about 25 people in our group.  Our guide’s name was Florent, and he did a decent job, but honestly, this was probably my least favorite free walking tour that we’ve ever done.  Partly, that was because we had just walked passed most of these places while we were killing time before the tour (which is why I view that time as a failure because we should have been doing something in a different neighborhood, knowing we were about to take a tour of the Marais!  Oops!) 

 

We take free walking tours quite often when we travel and have always been lucky to have fabulous guides who were really engaging and their love for their city oozed out of them during the tour.  Maybe we’ve been spoiled in the past, but Florent was just kind of blah.  Also, I was anticipating a tour of the Jewish Quarter given that this what Marais is known for, but Florent only spent about 5 minutes grazing over it when he pointed out the oldest synagogue in Paris:

 

 

The tour wasn’t all bad though and we did learn some interesting tidbits.  This statue of King Louis XIII in Place des Vosges looks majestic and regal, but Florent explained that it is actually artistically and historically inaccurate.  The proportions of the horse are too small compared to the size of the King (unless the King was some kind of giant, which he wasn’t!).  Also, the position of the horse’s legs actually means something specific and this statue got it wrong.  If all 4 legs of the horse are on the ground, it means the soldier was not wounded in battle.  If one leg is raised, the soldier was wounded in battle.  If the two front legs are both raised, then the soldier died in battle.  King Louis XIII was never wounded in battle, but the horse’s front leg is raised, so this is historically inaccurate.  It was funny to learn those details about this prominently displayed statue in the middle of this huge park!

 

 

Another interesting tidbit was about the blue, white, and red marked on the bottom of this sign.  Florent explained that the “Meilleur Ouvrier de France” contest is a competition between several French craftsmen to become the best French craftsman in his category.  They include 230 trades from pastry chefs, butchers, and coffee roasters, to jewelers, to florists, and even boilermakers.  The award is very prestigious and awarded annually so if you see that sign hanging over a business, you know you are getting the best of the best in France.  Of course, we never did see a sign like this at any point after finishing our walking tour haha

 

 

We walked passed this huge gorgeous church, but Florent never mentioned anything about it.

 

 

We spent a great deal of time talking about this church and walking through it from the back to the front.  This is Eglise Saint-Gervais, a Gothic Catholic church, located just a block from Hotel de Ville. 

 

 

I think there were 3 different organs inside this church.

 

 

The tour ended a little after 4pm at the back side of Hotel de Ville.  It was nice getting to delve a little deeper into the Marais neighborhood, but I’m not sure that I would recommend this particular tour. 

 

[deladane]

After saying our goodbyes to Florent, we walked around the Hotel de Ville to take a few more photos in the mid-day light.

 

 

 

Down along the banks of the Seine River, there is a pedestrian walking path along what used to be a road for cars.  There are several bars along this path so we walked down to check it out and enjoy a drink while resting our feet.  The pricing was pretty much the same at all of the bars, and they all had enough options on the menu to satisfy both of us, so we picked one that had an open table along the water and a band setting up to play some live music.  The vibe was very chill, and there were lots of locals enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

We relaxed there for about an hour, discussing our time thus far in Paris and what we should do next.  I had originally planned for us to spend the evening getting dinner somewhere in Marais, but we had already spent most of the day in this neighborhood and we wanted to see something else.  I had a lightbulb go off and realized that we should go to the Arc de Triomphe!  It was now around 5:30pm so we wanted something we could do fairly quickly, knowing we would be hungry for dinner in an hour or two, so the Arc seemed like the perfect thing. 

 

[deladane]

I used my apps to figure out the best way to get there on the metro, and luckily, there was a station right next to Hotel de Ville that would get us straight to the Champs Elysees via metro line 1.  We decided to get off at the George V station so we could walk a little ways along the famous avenue before reaching the Arc de Triomphe.  When I think of the Champs Elysees, it conjures up images of a tree-lined street, quaint Parisian shops, and couples walking hand in hand enjoying a romantic stroll.  As is often the case, that is not really the reality.  The Champs Elysees is really a very busy avenue with 4 lanes of traffic in each direction.  Not exactly the quaint Parisian street I had in mind, but it was still cool to be there and walk along such a well known street.  I liked how the trees were trimmed so perfectly so they did not overhang the traffic lanes at all.  It reminded me of an urban version of the gardens at Versailles.

 

 

Since the Arc is located in the center of a gigantic traffic circle, you can’t stand on the sidewalk and take a good photo with it centered behind you.  You have to be a bit daring if you want to take the perfect photo, and since we all know where my travel priorities lie, you can guess what I was willing to do!  There is a narrow median painted onto the cobblestones in the middle of the Champs Elysees.  We made sure to stay within white lines and hoped no vehicle would swerve and hit us while we took this photo.  There were other people standing out there doing the same thing so at least we had people to take the photo for us.

 

 

The sun was behind us when we took this photo, so I didn’t love how it came out.  We decided to walk around to the other side of the Arc to hopefully get a better photo in the light.  Because there are 12 streets that all merge together at the traffic circle, we needed to cross 6 side streets to get to the opposite side of the Arc.  Luckily, there were crosswalks at each intersection, and there weren’t many cars on the smaller streets.

 

 

Halfway there!

 

We made it! 

 

There was a similar median on this side of the Arc so we found a safe place to stand, but since this was kind of the “back” of the Arc, there weren’t as many tourists so it took a minute before someone approached to take a photo with us in it.

 

It was definitely worth the effort to get this photo with the sun shining brightly on the Arc de Triomphe behind us!

 

[pd7277]

1 hour ago, deladane said:

 

 

It was definitely worth the effort to get this photo with the sun shining brightly on the Arc de Triomphe behind us!

 

 

I'm here too Dana.  It was definitely worth the time to get this shot!  

 

I was wondering how you were getting the photos of the two of you.  Were you handing over your phone or your Olympus Tough?

 

Looking forward to the next installment.

[Walt fan]

A whole of work and daring but perfect pic of you 2 and the Arc!  Do you use Rick Steves' app for your self-guided tours?  I have heard he has some that have voice as well.  

 

I am sorry your walking tour wasn't such a hit.  I love walking tours and a so so guide would be disappointing.  I did love the cathedral with the purple door and the beautiful organs.

[JanineM]

I love your review! I’ll be in Paris for the first time in a couple of months so appreciate your tips. 

[deladane]

9 hours ago, pd7277 said:

 

I'm here too Dana.  It was definitely worth the time to get this shot!  

 

I was wondering how you were getting the photos of the two of you.  Were you handing over your phone or your Olympus Tough?

 

Looking forward to the next installment.

 

All of the photos of us were taken by other tourists, as we do on all of our vacations.  We look for another couple or family where one person is taking the photo and therefore not in the shot and offer to take it for them so everyone can be in the shot together.  After that, most people offer to return the favor, or if not then we ask if they can take one for us too.  To get this photo, we were the only ones standing on the median for a while, but after the traffic lights changed, other tourists came over too so we asked them to take the photo.  

 

By the way, I should have mentioned this at the start of my review, but I did not use my Olympus Tough on this vacation.  I did have it with me in Europe as a back up camera, but I didn't need it.  I started off using the camera I bought for my Mediterranean cruise in 2013, a very tiny Canon PowerShot 330 HS.  It's much more compact than the Olympus TG-5 so it was easier to carry around every day.  Around the time we got to London, I just started using my iPhone for photos because I was tired of always explaining to people how to take a photo using a real camera!  You'd be shocked how many people have no idea how to use a camera, but if you hand them an iPhone, they know exactly what to do! haha

[deladane]

8 hours ago, Walt fan said:

A whole of work and daring but perfect pic of you 2 and the Arc!  Do you use Rick Steves' app for your self-guided tours?  I have heard he has some that have voice as well.  

 

I am sorry your walking tour wasn't such a hit.  I love walking tours and a so so guide would be disappointing.  I did love the cathedral with the purple door and the beautiful organs.

 

I did have the Rick Steves app downloaded on my phone, but I never ended up using it.  My parents went to Paris a few years ago and bought the pocket-sized paperback Rick Steves Paris tour book.  They lent it to me, so I brought it to Europe knowing I was going to New York at the end of the trip where I could return the book.  It had a few good tours in there so we used it in the Marais and again in Versailles.  

[deladane]

8 hours ago, JanineM said:

I love your review! I’ll be in Paris for the first time in a couple of months so appreciate your tips. 

 

Thank you!  Let me know if you have any questions 🙂

[deladane]

With our mission accomplished, we walked one more block over around the circle to a set of stairs leading down under ground.  This passage allowed us to safely get to the Arc in the center of the circle without having to run Frogger-style, dodging cars and praying we wouldn’t get hit!  There is also an entrance to this passage from the Champs Elysees if you are coming from that direction.

 

Walking through the tunnel…

 

When we climbed the steps back up to ground level, we saw this ceremony under the Arc.  It was now nearly 6:30pm, so we timed our arrival perfectly for the nightly ceremony where veterans lay wreaths and rekindle the torch for the Unknown Soldier.

 

 

 

What a beautiful monument!

 

[deladane]

We went through a security check point, then showed the guard our museum passes to cover our price of admission.  He quickly ushered us through a door, and before I had a chance to realize what was happening, we were climbing up the narrow spiral stairs to the top of the Arc.  They do have an elevator here and I had hoped to use it, but I never even had the chance to ask where it was!  Oye!  This was quite a hike as there were 284 steps to climb, and it was such a hot day today that we were both already over-heated.  

 

 

Of course, there is no air conditioning in the stairwell so about halfway up, I started to question if I could even make it to the top.  There was no where to stop and rest because it was so narrow and there were other people coming up the steps behind us.  We surged ahead and soon enough, we made it to the top.  When you exit the stairs, there is a large indoor space which has restrooms, a gift shop, and a display with a video explaining the history of the Arc.  Thank goodness for that video!  I sat down on one of the benches and watched the video as I caught my breath and tried to cool off.  It was moments like this when I really wish our luck was better and that we did not visit Paris during a massive heat wave!!

 

Once my legs stopped shaking and my heart rate returned to somewhat normal, I was able to get up and walk over to the display in the floor which looked down on the flame under the Arc.  That was a pretty cool view to see how high up we were!

 

There are a few more stairs to climb to reach the outside viewing deck on the roof of the Arc.  From here, we had incredible 360 degree views of the city, so it was definitely worth the effort to get up here! 

 

Looking straight down the Champs Elysees

 

I spy Sacre Coeur in the distance!

 

The views from up here were different from what we could see at the top of the Eiffel Tower, so I was glad we did both attractions.  The Eiffel Tower is much taller and positioned so you can see the Louvre, the boats along the Seine, and all of the West Bank.  We couldn’t see those things from the Arc de Triomphe, but we COULD see the Eiffel Tower!  (You can’t really get a photo of the Eiffel Tower when you are in it!)

 

Hello, Beautiful!

[deladane]

3 minutes ago, singinalot said:

oh my gosh I think I would have died climbing up those stairs in the heat...but what a view!

 

You will notice that there are no photos with me IN the photo after we arrived at the Arc... I looked like a hot mess after all those stairs! lol

[deladane]

Continuing around the perimeter, we could see lots of high-rise buildings off in the distance.  If you look closely, you can see a giant hollow square in the middle of those buildings.  That is the Grande Arche de la Defense monument.

 

This photo makes me laugh… there doesn’t appear to be any lanes drawn on the traffic circle, and the cars all seem like they are just randomly driving wherever they want!  I am so glad there was no need for us to attempt driving in Paris because it seems like a nightmare! Haha

 

After we completed a full loop around the terrace and had our fill of enjoying the views, we went back down to the indoor level and asked someone to point us towards the elevator.  That was definitely an easier way to get back downstairs!

 

One last view looking up at the Arc

 

We made our way back to the underground passage, but this time we went towards Champs Elysees for the metro back towards our hotel.  It was now 7:30pm and we were both ready for dinner.  We didn’t have anywhere specific planned to eat, so we figured we would walk around the neighborhood near our hotel and pick a restaurant that looked good. 

 

Bouillon Chartier is located just around the corner from our hotel.  They are highly rated on Trip Advisor and known for having good French cuisine at affordable prices.  It shouldn’t surprise me that when we approached the restaurant, there was a HUGE line outside and the hostess said it would be at least a 30 minute wait to be seated.  With the time it took to get back to this side of the city from the Arc de Triomphe, it was already 8:30pm so we did not want to wait another 30 minutes (likely longer, judging from the length of the line!) just to be seated, let along waiting to be served some food. 

 

Instead, we went a few stores down to Café H.  They had a sandwich board out on the sidewalk listing two specials for dinner, and one appealed to DH and the other appealed to me, so we decided to eat here.  Now came a dilemma that we encountered many times in Paris… where should we sit?  We could sit outside on the patio to enjoy some people watching and a slight breeze in the evening air to keep us somewhat comfortable, but restaurants in Paris allow smoking on their patios and there were always multiple parties smoking cigarettes at every restaurant we visited.  We don’t tolerate the smoke, and it makes for an unpleasant dining experience.  The problem was that our only other option was to sit indoors where smoking is not permitted, but it was very hot inside because most restaurants do not have air conditioning.  Over the days we were in Paris, this dilemma got kind of irritating, especially coming from California where no smoking is allowed anywhere in a restaurant, inside or out.  Tonight, we were very over heated from all of our walking and the unusually hot temperatures, so we opted to sit outside.

 

 

We had a lovely dining experience at Café H, despite the smoke.  DH ordered the steak kebab with seasoned potatoes, and I ordered the moules frites.  We also each ordered a glass of wine because it was happy hour, so why not?  The food arrived quickly, and the portions were huge (which was not a bad thing considering how hungry we were!). 

 

 

Each of the entrees were €14, and the glasses of wine were €5, so it was a good deal for a Sunday evening dinner.  We crawled back to the hotel by 10pm and promptly crashed on the bed, exhausted after another full day in Paris.

 

Fitbit Daily Summary… Steps: 26,088,  Miles: 10.8,  Flights of Stairs: 20

 

[Host Bonjour]

On 7/24/2019 at 8:03 PM, deladane said:

 

Oh no!  I knew that too so not sure why I made that mistake!  Maybe I was typing too fast and made a typo or something?  Thanks for the correction!

 

You didn't really make a mistake. Nouveau is a French word for new, I have not used neuf when speaking French except when counting, it means nine. To say ninth, it's neuvième, it's yet another vocab word. Bridge nine...Pont Neuf....

 

I was inaccurate previously and I apologize to everyone, I read everything wrong after a long day of reading. I do not know every fact or variable about my own language and city, and certainly about Paris, or France and I do make mistakes. I love all of the above and try my very best in the spirit of adventure, fun, and sharing, always learning and growing and appreciating. I'm hi

==================================================

I am ❤️ LOVING your reports, creative and pretty photos and helpful information and mostly the cheerful, positive and generous nature with which you are contributing to the discussion. 

 

Thanks and so very much for thoughtfully sharing your trip reporting with everyone here. Easy to see how much insight and fun you're providing to fellow travelers. 🙂

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Host Bonjour

[deladane]

On 7/29/2019 at 11:04 AM, Host Bonjour said:

 

 

 I am ❤️ LOVING your reports, creative and pretty photos and helpful information and mostly the cheerful, positive and generous nature with which you are contributing to the discussion. 

 

 

 

Thanks and so very much for thoughtfully sharing your trip reporting with everyone here. Easy to see how much insight and fun you're providing to fellow travelers. 🙂

 

 

 

 

Thanks for your feedback!  What I did to fix the font was use size 16 (not bold) and I guess the slightly bigger letters made it easier for people to read.  I didn't realize the Hosts had the ability to edit posts so long after they were posted (you learn something new every day!), but if you could put it back to the 'dark violet' color and in size 16, that would be amazing!  If not, no worries and the black is fine.  I just like having the review content in purple so it stands out when people are scrolling through and want to quickly skip over the comments and replies 🙂 

Edited July 30, 2019 by Host Bonjour

[HAM]

It's a long way from the Celebrity board, but I've found you !! I'm enjoying your review very much, and I'm glad I had a Yankee's shirt sighting.

[BullyLvr]

Hi!  I’ve been following along for several days and love your posts and pictures. We’re heading to London (for the first time) next July for a couple days before our Norwegian Fiords cruise and I’m looking forward to reading about and seeing pics of your London days.