Paris - Aug 22

This is it!  My last day in Paris!  It is certainly with a good deal of regret that I am saying goodbye to the city of lights.  It has been a wonderful experience that has exceeded my expectations.  And that is a good thing, not many times in life do our expectations be exceeded...  😊

I have thoroughly explored and enjoyed Paris.  I set out to walk the city and get a feel of it.  Walk it I did, so much so that I think I walked my feet into a state of shock!  As much as I have seen, there is still some left undiscovered.  I leave that for another day.

Suggestions for those who would come to Paris...  stay in the 4th Arrondissement, on the Ile. St. Louis.  It is the perfect spot to explore all that Paris has to offer.  It is so central to all the sites.  Stop and listen to some of the street performers on the bridge between Ile. De la Cite (Notre Dame) and Ile. St. Louis, some are fabulous.   Do the Velib bike sharing program.  Just 8 euros for 7 days.  You can ride the city to explore versus the underground trains.  You might get there faster on the trains but you miss the neighborhoods.  Get the 6 day museum pass.  I actually got 9 days out of it (ask me about it sometime 😊).  With the museum pass you skip a lot of lines and waiting.  Buy baguettes and meats and cheeses and have lunches along the Seine.  And above all just stop when you see something of interest.  Don't go with a plan, let the city unfold for you.  It will do that.

Some of the things that I look back on but did not mention in previous posts..

Milepost or should I say kilometer zero.  A spot just in front of Notre Dame.  It is the spot from which all distance is measured across Paris and also said France.  

The arondissements are arranged clockwise around kilometer zero.  So 1st Arondissement starts on Ile de la Cite, the site of the first Celtic settlement by the Parisii and the first Roman city. 

The Ile de la Cite, Notre Dame, is in the 1st.  The Ile St. Louis where I stayed is in the 4th.  When you look for places to stay, look to be close to the river.  

The style that you see in many of the buildings in the city are similar to the one above.  It was designed by Baron Hausmann in the mid 1800s at the behest of Napolean.  Napolean visited London and was angered by how far advanced it was over Paris.  Not to be outdone, he came back and did an extensive remake of the entire city.  Many buildings were tore down, streets remade and infrastructure put in place.  The design of this building was of a sort of template.  The first floor, street level, was to be shops and markets.  The next smaller floor was for the owners of the shop & keepers.  The next floor with the balconies and high ceilings were for the nobles and aristocratics.  The next floor for the next tier of society.  And so on...  With the very top floor with the low ceilings and small windows for the servants of the nobles, etc.  The servants had access to all the units kitchen area via a separate staircase.  For today's buyer of apartments this is an issue.  The setup of the apartments has the kitchen totally separate from the living quarters and far in the back which is  impractical for today's needs.  So the old is forcing extensive renovation for the new...

What is great is that the prices you see everywhere are the prices including tax.  If it is 20 euro, it is not 20 plus tax plus tip...  Like Australia the price is the price.  If you want to tip more that is up to you and the service you received. 

The city of Paris is a wonderful find.  Try to spend some time here and avoid the tourists.  

Ahhhh, parting is such sweet sorrow.

Au Revoir, Pari 

Or

Auf Wiedersehen Paris

Hallo Germany