As part of our summer 2012 trip to Turkey we visited Paris for a few days. I planned for this short trip in Spring but kept it as a surprise until I joined the kids. I told Idil in Istanbul to give her some time to plan in case she would like to see anything special. I told Emre and Pelin right after our balloon flight in Göreme. The response was all the same. First they couldn’t believe, then they got excited.
On July 25, we flew from Istanbul to Paris. We took the RER B3 – E1 from the airport and found our hotel near Saint-Lazare. Asked to drop off one of our two backpacks. The lady helping us was quite surprised that we had only two backpacks for a four days trip. We told her we are efficient. She told us we don’t know what people bring just for a weekend. We dropped our backpack to the storage room of the hotel and went out.
Walking from the Jardin de Tuileries to the Louvre
We got some sandwiches to eat from a place near the hotel and for lack of a place to sit, ate at the stairs in front of the Opera.
Entrance from the Jardin de Tuileries
We took the red bus and went to the Eiffel Tower. It was too crowded and we were too tired as we woke up very early in the morning. We went back to the hotel, checked in and took a nap.
In the afternoon, we went near Louvre, ate dinner in the area. We then went to Le Jardin de Tuileries. After spending some time taking pictures and looking around we went towards the Louvre museum, just to check it out.
Posing in front of the pyramid.
We hung out in front of the Louvre, took pictures but left the visit to another day. After this short visit, we took the red bus for sightseeing in the old city. We went to La Place de l’Étoile and climbed the l’Arc de Triomphe. It is a nice spot with a 360 degrees view of the city.
Sacre Coeur from the Arc de Triomphe
On one side, one can see Le Sacré-Cœur. It is a white basilica that looks great especially at sunset. We were determined to visit it another day and enjoy its neighborhood, Monmartre.
Famous main street of Paris, Champs Elysee
Looking down towards the Louvre, one can see L’avenue des Champs-Élysées. This is supposed to be the most beautiful avenue of the city, or the world, if you ask the locals. It extends between La place de la Concorde, visible at the far end and La Place de l’Étoile where we were.
Idil, Emre and Pelin enjoying the view of the Eiffel Tower
With a little turn, La Tour Eiffel is next in sight. We spent some time checking it out as it is the nearest point of interest and offers a good view from the top of the Arc.
Kids are already bored.
By that time we were already quite tired, despite the nap in the afternoon. We spent some more time taking pictures and went down to the streets. We tooks a short stride in the Champs-Élysées, checked out restaurants to spot a good one for another day.
Me with the kids, trying to catch a still image.
We finally took a bicycle taxi back to our hotel. Went to sleep to get ready for the following day.