Paris the most Romantic city

November 26-30 2023

Right after Thanks-Giving we are off to Paris where we met up with our friends Sheryle and Ralph. We had five days to explore this romantic City before we boarded the Viking Cruise boat IDI on the river Moselle

We stayed at the boutique hotel BAUME in the Latin Quarter. We would definitely stay there again. Great location and a really nice place to stay.

Paris city river cruise and dinner at one of our most favorite places in Paris “Procope”

Of course Paris and our City River cruise would not be without spectacular views of the Eiffel tower!!

Hopping onto a boat and enjoying a tour down the Seine, for over an hour-long trip, seeing the capital’s iconic monuments is surely top of the list of things to do during a trip to Paris.

History of the Eiffel Tower (For additional info)

Design:

18,038 metallic parts, 5,300 workshop designs, 50 engineers and designers Construction 150 workers in the Levallois-Perret factory,  Between 150 and 300 workers on the construction site, 2,500,000 rivets, 7,300 tonnes of iron, 60 tonnes of paint, 5 lifts Duration 2 years, 2 months and 5 days of construction

The construction

The assembly of the supports began on July 1, 1887 and was completed twenty-two months later.

All the elements were prepared in Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. Each of the 18,038 pieces used to construct the Tower were specifically designed and calculated, traced out to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre and then put together forming new pieces around five metres each. A team of constructors, who had worked on the great metal viaduct projects, were responsible for the 150 to 300 workers on site assembling this gigantic erector set.

It only took five months to build the foundations and twenty-one to finish assembling the metal pieces of the Tower.

Considering the rudimentary means available at that period, this could be considered record speed. The assembly of the Tower was a marvel of precision, as all chroniclers of the period agree. The construction work began in January 1887 and was finished on March 31, 1889. On the narrow platform at the top, Eiffel received his decoration from the Legion of Honour.

When in Paris one has to admire the flower and food markets along Rue Clear

Rue Cler is the most famous "shopping street" in Paris. Locals come here and peruse the many shops and restaurants for groceries, fresh produce, wine and other needed commodities.

Love this city. One can just stroll along the River Seine, go sight seeing and take a tour bus along the Arc de triumph, or find sheep at a local city park, or just find a back alley!! It’s all just so incredibly interesting and amazing, magical and ROMANTIC!!!

The food and Restaurants we went to were excellent. Notable places we loved were “Procope” and Avant Comptoir in the Latin quarter.

A stroll through the Galeries Lafayette during Christmas time is spectacular!

Galeries Lafayette is one of the most popular, chic and distinguished shopping centers in Paris. Beauty and fashion enthusiasts are passionately attached to this city, where some of the most remarkable fashion moments happened since the time of Kings and Queens. Paris is the city where Marie Antoinette used to spend heavily on fashion and where Coco Chanel invented the iconic Little Black Dress. Today in Paris, designers both young and old continue to intensely create and to enthrall the fashion world. Twice a year is held the Paris Fashion week where Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy and many renowned creators exhibit their collections. 

Musee D’Orsey houses the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist masterpieces in the world, by painters including Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Degas, Renoir, Cézanne, Seurat, Sisley, Gauguin, and van Gogh.

Sainte Chapelle

Precious vestige of the royal palace of the City The Sainte-Chapelle was built in the middle of the 13th century by Louis IX, future Saint Louis, to house the most prestigious relic of the Passion of Christ: the Crown of Thorns and a fragment of the True Cross.

Built in less than 7 years, a record time, the Sainte-Chapelle was conceived as a piece of goldsmith's art, whose walls of light exalt the Capetian monarchy and the kingdom of France.

Damaged during the Revolution, the former palatine chapel became a laboratory for the restoration of historical monuments in the 19th century. Divided into 15 stained glass bays of 15m height, the 1113 stained glass panels of the windows relate scenes of the Old and New Testament and tell the history of the world, according to the Bible, until the arrival of the relics in Paris in the 13th century.

Some additional pics!!

Christkindl Markt in Paris and the smallest Book Store

PARIS we will be back.. Loved Loved Loved it..