A summer in Paris, France

We are two boys of 21 years, we just returned from vacation and wanted to tell you our wonderful experience. This year the destination was chosen Paris! The story also put great attention to practical information (prices, schedules and other information), so as to give aid to those who wish to repeat our trip. Of course this information is updated to the period of our holiday, so before you leave you should check the official sites that gradually return.

 

Start and walk along Grand Boulevard

Whether dancing begin! Departure with Air France flight at 7:20 from Marco Polo Tessera (VE). We booked on www.airfrance.it in the flight + hotel. This way you can buy both the return flight, and the hotel. We booked approximately ninety days before departure, spending just over € 300 a head (flight + hotel). A real bargain, especially because over the months the price has more than doubled. We decided to start with the first flight early in the morning and return with the last evening to take maximum advantage of the eight days we had available. We recommend you arrive at the airport not long after the opening of check-in if you want to sit in a special place in air, since the airlines allocate seats at the time of the withdrawal of the ticket. We left half an hour late and ended the turbulence due to bad weather, we were served breakfast (included in the ticket price). We landed at Charles de Gaulle with only ten minutes late and after having driven a little 'with the directions in French, we went to pick up the luggage. The airport is about thirty kilometers from the center of Paris, to which you can reach by taxi (40 €), by bus (Roissy bus, € 8.50) or by train. In Paris, the network of trains citizens called RER. These convoys are similar to those of the meter and can be accessed with a single ticket for metro, RER and bus. Www.ratp.fr found on the site all the information on transport in Paris. We opted for the RER. The line that is part of the B. The station is close to the terminal 2F (traveling with Air France will land here). The one-way ticket costs € 8,10 per person. Unlike in Italy, in Paris all the ticket vending machines will only work with coins, not notes. However if you do not want to queue at the ticket office, right there on the side there is a coin change machine. The journey takes 35-40 minutes. We are down to Chatelet Les Halles and from there we took the 7 subway line direct to Porte d'Italie, the closest stop to our hotel. At first sight it feels a little 'lost with various changes, but once found a map of the subway and found the signs on the walls, everything will seem very basic, remember to always look at the terminus of the line you want to take. As in other cities, including the Metro in Paris is divided into zones: the fare varies according to the zones crossed. The ticket is valid until you exit the station, and then with the same ticket you can go from a train and go to another, provided the arrival is in the same area of validity of the ticket, otherwise the gates out of the station not open! Less than ten minutes walk from the metro station you will find our hotel purchased the site of Air France: Holiday Inn Express Porte d'Italie, 1 / 3 Rue Eliseo Reclus, Kremlin Bicentre, 3 stars. After the reception the show received the reservation, we were delivered 2 magnetic keys. The room is not very big, but it is clean, very comfortable and well soundproofed. There is TV with a score of satellite channels, a radio, a kettle for tea and coffee, taking the phone to connect to the internet (fee). The bath room is complete with sink, water, bathtub, hair dryer, towels, soap and docciaschiuma. After eating a sandwich brought from home and have rested a little ', we decide to start the discovery of Paris. We arrived at the station first and bought two of carnet tickets (valid for metro, bus and RER within zone 1). There are several opportunities for tickets, which vary depending on which you intend to make public transport: the single ticket costs € 1.40, a carnet of 10 tickets costs € 10.70, then there is the Paris Visite allowing unlimited access to times and valid for 1, 2, 3 or 5 days, the paper similar to the Orange Paris Visite but cheaper but only valid from Monday to Sunday, the Mobilis valid for one day. All information and prices are on www.ratp.fr. We opted for the carnet has decided to arrive each day in the center by metro and then move on foot. In this first afternoon we made a walk to the Grand Boulevards seeing the Opera House, the Madeleine church (free entrance), Place Vendome column with Napoleon. We then moved to the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries gardens to get in front of the Pyramid of the Louvre, we were eager to see. Our walk is then continued at the church of St. Eustache, and then back to the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois in front of the palace of the Louvre. Strange to believe but in Paris there are very few supermarkets and also very well hidden! So we have just spotted one we decided to buy a pasta salad and cold and we went to eat in the hotel room because we were tired and the weather was not the best.

Versailles

Today we went to Versailles! Alarm at 6.00, we dress and go down to breakfast, included in the price of the room: coffee, milk, tea, chocolate, yoghurt, the usual baguette, jam, ham, croissant, orange juice and grapefruit, all well short of god! Breakfast is served daily from 6.30 to 10.30, but if you want to get everything that I have listed at least get it there before 9:30! To get to Versailles take the RER line C and get off at Versailles Rive Gauche. Be aware that some lines of the metro and RER forks in certain places before taking the train must always be careful of the line. The one-way ticket costs € 2,70 per person, there are discounts if you buy just the back. In 40 minutes we arrive at our stop. To arrive at the palace you must exit the station, turn right and then to the first intersection in the left. However if you have any problems just follow the crowd! The castle opens at 9:00, but since the line to enter was interminable, we decided to first visit the garden. Entrance is free except on public holidays where you play the water games. The show that will appear to your eyes is indescribable: a huge green expanse you wrap. The gardens can be visited on foot or by renting a bicycle or a payment an electrical machine, or on a carriage pulled by horses. After a nice walk we arrive in front of the Petit Trianon. The opening is at 12:00 and the ticket (€ 9.00) allows access to this building, the Grand Trianon and the Domain of Marie Antoinette. Toured the length and breadth these sites decide to buy a sandwich to eat sitting on grass. A tip: get the urge to pass up ice cream in Paris that a ball cost more than € 2 and a Magnum or a cone are the beauty of € 3.50! Exaggerated! Rested and with full bellies we decide to visit the castle. The ticket price is € 13.50, after 16.00, you pay the reduced fee (€ 10). The residence of Louis XIV is huge, furnished and frescoed halls there are to each other. The highlight of the visit is the gallery of mirrors, a long corridor whose magnificent walls are covered with mirrors, a rarity for the era. Unfortunately at this time the gallery is being renovated and is admirable only for half its length. For all information, schedules, prices and to download maps, visit the website www.chateauversailles.fr. Finished our visit we continue the RER and return downtown. Here we decide to stop in a pseudo Italian pizzeria. The pizza is not bad but has little of both pizza and Italian! Since the Louvre Museum on Friday evening after 18.00 is free for visitors under the age of 26 years, we decide to take a look and see the works. We enter through the main entrance to the Pyramid. The Louvre is open daily from 9:00 to 18:00 except on Tuesdays. Wednesdays and Fridays until 22.00. The fare is € 8.50, € 6.00 after 18.00 on Wednesdays and Fridays. For information www.louvre.fr. Since we had planned to come back with more calm another day, we went to race In the Denon exposed where "la Gioconda". Our choice was apt given that before the picture we have been yes or no ten people! We then saw "The Wedding at Cana" by Veronese, the "Nike of Samothrace", "Liberty guiding the people" by Delacroix, "the Oath of the Horatii" of David, "The Raft of the Medusa" by Gericault, "Love and Psyche "by Canova. If you want to see the Pyramid lit up you have to wait till 22.00.

Pigalle, Sacre Coeur, Science City

Today you go to the place of perdition! We went to visit the neighborhood of Pigalle and take the photograph before the rite of Moulin Rouge. Seriously, between sexy-shops and night clubs, lots already prepared for what you happen to see ... lengthening the step we arrive at the foot of the hill on which stands the basilica of Sacre Coeur. You can climb on foot or by funicular accessible with a metro ticket. At the top of the hill you can see most of Paris. The basilica, much criticized by the Parisians, rising white and imposing on our heads. Admission is free, so we decide to come to make a visit. Come out and get off, take the metro towards the cemetery of Père Lachaise, the largest in Paris where there are buried many famous names, including Oscar Wilde, Amedeo Modigliani, Maria Callas, Marcel Proust, Jim Morrison, Moliere, Ingres, Gericault, Bellini, Rossini, Delacroix. We recommend buying a map at the entrance to the cemetery (€ 2.00) or to mark the graves watching you want to visit the map posted just entered. On-site www.pere lachaise.com can make a virtual visit to the cemetery. After eating a baguette with ham in the hotel the morning, we head towards the Houses, to visit the City of Science and Industry, one of the largest interactive museums in the world. About www.cite-sciences.fr. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 to 18:00, Sunday until 19.00. By purchasing a ticket (€ 7.50 full € 5.50 reduced for children under 25 years) you have access to permanent exhibitions and watching a movie in 3D using the occhialetti. Permanent exhibitions span the whole universe of science, space, automobile, aeronautics, energy, image, genetics, sound, mathematics, physics, rocks and volcanoes, stars and galaxies, games of light. Suitable for children who are older, can find out first hand all the things learned in years of study. Leave the museum you can admire the dome of Geode, an immense film whose images are projected onto a giant screen Hemispherical (surcharge). The park outside is immense, is one of the few parks where you can lie down on grass! Now it is evening, we decide to eat at Quick, a fast food like Mac Donald's and then straight to the hotel.

Rodin Museum, Louvre, Eiffel Tower

Every first Sunday of the month most of the Parisian museums are free. If you want to take the opportunity and go and visit them on this day, but you have to reckon with the fact that you are certainly not the only ones to have had this idea! We had planned to visit the Museum d'Orsay, however, once a view that the queue waiting to enter, we decided to postpone to another day the visit. We therefore proceed directly to the Rodin Museum (open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:30 to 17:45). We arrived a few seconds before and there was not even so much queue. The museum is really nice: a large garden is home to many statues in bronze, including "The Thinker" and "the gates of hell" inside the palace in the middle of the park, the Hotel Biron, are conserved in other sculptures amongst these is the famous "Kiss". In this site www.musee-rodin.fr are, in addition to much useful information, including maps in pdf. After eating a sandwich, we were directed to the Louvre. Again, the queue was very long. We, however we have entered one of two entrances on either the arch of the Carrousel. This revenue is also the official web site of the museum, but few people decide to come here and are so determined to make the queue to enter the side of the Pyramid. She descended the stairs we found in the corridors of the museum to emerge in front of the pyramid upside down know that many have read or seen "The Da Vinci Code." After five minutes, map in hand, we were already in front of paintings and statues. How to tell everyone, it is completely impossible to visit the Louvre in one day. So, unless you want to see all the works, decide before you start visiting the areas you want to see. The guide distributed free at the information desk, are given all the works of major importance. The pictures in some rooms are banned, the guards seem very strict to those who infringe! Today the crowd at the "Mona Lisa" is plentiful, so we moved ahead quickly having already seen Friday. After visiting, we proceed directly to the Museum de l'Orangerie (www.musee-orangerie.fr), also free on this day. Frankly, after an hour of the queue, we expected to find something better. For charity, we exhibit the "Ninfee" by Manet, but excluding these, no more than relevant. So we continued towards the Eiffel Tower and end up front in all its majesty. But you can get in front and not on salirci? Oh no! So we approached the cash to buy tickets: there are 3 boxes, two to go in the elevator and go up to a foot. Given the queue that was for the elevators, and the prices, we opted for the stairs! 3 euros per person (reduced rate for children under 25 years) we got to the second floor. For all other prices and other information, visit www.toureiffel.fr. After 328 steps to a height of 57.63 meters you reach the first floor. The climb is not very difficult, the stairs are beautiful, straight and not very steep. On the first floor there is a shop, restaurant and office of Postal. If you move here your cards, send the special shall stamp depicting the Eiffel Tower. The panorama is breathtaking, but going up until you tap step 668esimo share reaching 115.75 meters on the second floor. From here the view is much more impressive. Even here there are more souvenir shops, restaurant and another ticket if you want to climb to the top of the Tower (in elevator). We decided it was better to go down and fill the belly of the great monster in the shadow of steel. After we rested sitting on Jardin du Champ de Mars, we decided to take the metro and back to hotel to rest the tired limbs.

Notre Dame, Picasso Museum, Pompidou Centre

Yesterday at the Museum de l'Orangerie we bought the Paris Museum Pass and begin to use it starting today. With this pass, available for 2, 4 or 6 consecutive days, you can visit for free about a sixty Parisian museums, almost always avoiding the code where it can accessed via a privileged entry. All information on www.parismuseumpass.fr. The Pass for 2 days costs € 30, € 45 and from 4 to € 60 from the 6th You can buy on any day all the museums in agreement, then simply write a pen name, surname and date of commencement of validity. We have tried to group all the museums in which we could use the Museum Pass, for which there was only the card for 2 days. We therefore started with the Cathedral of Notre-Dame (www.cathedraledeparis.com). The entrance to the cathedral is free. You must exit and then go near the north tower climb if you want to see the famous gargouille. The row has been waiting longer than one hour as 20 people go up every 10 minutes for security reasons. Also for the same reason you can not have privileged access to the holders of the Paris Museum Pass. However with the Pass you avoid paying access to the towers, which costs about 6 €. The stairs to go up this time is a snail, more or less 300 steps and you arrive with fiatone chimeras of the tunnel, located 46 meters above the ground, which takes its name from the statues that adorn the corners of the balustrade. Here you see the striga, a creature with wings appears on many postcards with his pensive attitude does not seem to tire of contemplating the view of the capital. Passed through this corridor to the open air, you arrive at the south tower where you can see the largest bell of the cathedral, a giant of 13 tonnes which are added to the 500 kilos of the clapper! We went down to lunch in the garden which is located at the tip of the island, near the Pont Neuf. Today, big salads and cold pasta you buy in one of the few supermarket! Finished eating we were directed to the Sainte Chapelle (www.discoverfrance.net / France / Cathedrals / Paris / Sainte-Chapelle.shtml), a church built on two floors: the lower chapel, reserved for the servants, whose frescoed times as a starry sky rest on slender columns with capitals hook and the chapel where the high Gothic architecture is revealed in all its glory: the high times to float above the windows that surround decorated all the walls. The entrance to this church is a fee (€ 3.50), free for the holders of the Pass. We then did a walk to Ile Saint Louis, the second island surrounded by the Seine. Here seems to have been transported to another world: speed and frenzy are replaced by calm and silence, the great metropolis of crowded streets give way to narrow paths crossed only by pedestrians and bicycles. Perhaps it is the last place in Paris not to have been transformed by cosmopolitanism. Crossing the Pont de Sully and we find ourselves again in modern Paris! Our next goal is the Museo Picasso. The museum is open daily from 9:30 to 18:00, closed on Tuesdays. The ticket costs € 6.50, € 4.50 for children under 25 years, free for the holders of the Museum Pass. For all the information www.musee-picasso.fr. The museum, which is entirely devoted to Pablo Picasso, receives 251 paintings and 160 sculptures, as well as numerous drawings and ceramics. We're sure that fans of this artist will find this museum very interesting. The last stop of the day is the National Center of Art and Culture Georges Pompidou (www.centrepompidou.fr). The building certainly does not pass unnoticed: it was designed by architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers have decided to bring all the elements, stairs, pipes, water and electricity out, manner which provides the largest possible space for the exhibitions inside. This sound like the Pompidou Center across a strange box of colors. In this museum you enter for free with the pass (otherwise € 10 a whole, the € 8 concessions). The museum houses the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in Europe, from the'900 to the present day. Frankly it was the museum that we like less. Tonight is dinner at Pizza Hut, a chain of pizza that we had already tried last year in London. Not bad pizza, though it has nothing to do with pizza with which we are accustomed!

Muse d'Orsay and walk along Champs Elysèe

In the first part of the morning we go to visit some 'churches. It begins with St. Severin (admission free) but we see only from outside since it opens at 12:00. We move then to the Pantheon (open daily from 10:00 to 18:00). The entry fee is (€ 4.50), with the free pass. The Pantheon was born as Christian basilica, will be converted into a temple of the nation. In imitation of the Pantheon in Rome, the building is accessed from a peristyle of Corinthian columns. Inside, a Greek cross, is surrounded by rows of columns that hold the load of several times. Intersection of the four arms of the cross stands the main dome, which is used by Foucault in his experiment with the pendulum to demonstrate Earth's rotation. Coming down the stairs placed behind the choir, one arrives to the crypt where they are buried great personality as Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile Zola, Louis Braille, Pierre and Marie Curie. Behind the Pantheon is the church of Saint Etienne du Mont (admission free). Gothic style is softened by romantic and classical influences. Then through the Luxembourg Gardens until you come to the Church of St. Sulpice (free admission), quoted in "The Da Vinci Code." The interior is as dark and gothic Notre-Dame. We make the rounds of the aisles to get to the mysterious "Rose line" drawn on the floor. A quick visit to the church that we remain in the program, St. Gemain des Pres (also free), and we find ourselves in front of the Musée d'Orsay. The museum is open daily from 9:30 to 18:00, closed on Mondays. Remain open on Thursdays until 21:45. Entrance costs € 7,50, reduced € 5.50, free with the Paris Museum Pass. The official site is www.musee-orsay.fr. Even today, the row input looks endless, but having just enter the pass through an entry priority. Deposited in the cloakroom backpacks (all museums have a free storage) beginning a visit from the ground floor. Under the large windows of what decades ago was a railway station, there are works of pre-impressionist period, of which leads to all the "Angelus" by Millet. At the intermediate level there are works that relate to the academic, naturalism, symbolism with Article nouveau. But it reached the top level that you arrive to impressionism and post-impressionism. What excitement to see works that live up to a year before we had studied on the books at school! "Déjeuner sur l'herbe", "Olympia" by Manet, "Poppies", "Women in the garden", "Regatta at Argenteuil", "London, the Parliament", the various paintings of "Rouen Cathedral", "The pond of water lilies of Monet, "Bal au Moulin de la Galette," "The swing" by Renoir, "The origin of the world" by Courbet, "The dance class for Mr Perrot," L'absinthe "of Degas, "Tahitian Women" by Gauguin, "The Bedroom", "The Church of Auvers" by Van Gogh, not to speak of Cezanne, Matisse, Pissarro, Sisley, Toulouse-Lautrec. All works that we were enchanted by becoming literally lose the knowledge of the time! As you understand, this was the museum that we like best! Walking quickly to see if we can get to Les Invalides before closing. Fortunately we arrived in time, the entrance to the tomb of Napoleon closes at 18.00. Displayed enter the Pass (or € 7 full, € 5 concessions) and relying on the balustrade can see the immense sarcophagus rests where Napoleon Bonaparte. You may also visit the museum dell'Armee but we decide to rest a while 'sitting in the garden again before the walk towards the Arc de Triomphe. Arrived in the Champs Elysees we look at the price of pizza: a four cheese costs € 14! If you do not want to spend a fortune and regret the true Italian pizza, you do it like us and go to dinner with Quick! Because tonight we Ends Pass, we decide to exploit it to the end going to the top dell'Arco. Now we are trained, the 284 steps of the spiral staircase to get up on top we do not fear! We were able to see a fabulous sunset!

At Disneyland we feel like children again!

Today we return children! Disneyland Resort Paris is waiting for us! There can easily be reached in 40 minutes by taking the RER line A towards Marne la Vallée-Chessy. The one-way ticket costs € 6,25 per person. By train you reach a stone's throw from the park. The cost of the ticket is a little 'exorbitant (€ 43), but tonight we came out that it really was worth the pain! As you enter you will find on Main Street and it is completely enveloped by the Disney magic: music, fun, characters in costume, seems to be in a cartoon. This area is full of souvenir shops and where they hold parades with cartoon characters and fables. Besides this, the park is divided into four other worlds Discoveryland where you can climb on the new attraction inspired by Toy Story, a scream from Space Mountain which will take you to the borders of the universe (to be done on an empty stomach, stagger a little 'when will get off!) on a spaceship and a 3D movie with the characters of "Honey, I have restricted the boys." We then move on to Fantasyland with the famous castle of Sleeping Beauty, the carousel horses, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, the maze of Alice in Wonderland (very fun and charm, there is a world of fun! ). The last two areas are Adventurland with an exciting roller coaster inspired by Indiana Jones and Pirates of the vessel inspired by the "Curse of the Caribbean", and with the Frontierland Big Thunder Mountain and the house of horrors. Six attractions are equipped with the FastPass service that allows you to avoid long queues. It works like this: enter your ticket of entry to the park entrance at the location fastpass of Attraction, you will receive a ticket indicating the time slot (hour) where you can go back, in the meantime, go and visit other attractions. Once back in the time period indicated, to friction can be accessed through a queue priority. All information can be found at www.disneylandparis.com. Unfortunately it was done tonight, if you want you can stop for the fireworks around 23:00. Remember, however, to consult the timetable of the RER as the last train to the center shortly after midnight.

The last day in Paris

Unfortunately, as always happens for the good things, came the last day ... Today you can wake up a little 'later, we prepare our luggage, we breakfast and deliver the keys of the room. As we fly towards the evening, we leave our luggage in the luggage room of the hotel. For today there is still much to see. Arrive by metro to the Palais de Chaillot where you can have the best view of the Eiffel Tower. We decided then to move towards the center. Going to stop Tuileries on Line 1 is located in front of a self-service restaurant. Lunch was really good and juicy, spending ten euros each. Since we had a few hours available, we sat in the sun on the gardens in front of the Louvre. The last photo in front of the pyramid and we returned to the hotel to return the bags. Doing the reverse journey journey we took the RER line B to Chatelet Les Halles, and we arrived at the airport. The flight departs at 21.05, we have more time to dine, to do the check-in and make the final purchases. The plane departed on time, thankfully tonight the weather is cloudy. At this time the posts are almost all empty, seems almost to have the whole plane for us! The hostesses will serve the snacks and drinks. All liscio row, so much so that even landed 15 minutes early.

I hope you have found our story interesting and that maybe you did think about good memories if you're in Paris or that there has given rise to a certain curiosity if you had plans to go there. If you have any questions, want information or for any other reason, you can write me a matfino@tele2.it.
Hello and the next!