After a bleak and busy January, mid-term break we escaped to France. We flew into Bordeaux, explored the city on foot, then explored the countryside (read: Wineries) on an epic day-long wine tour starting at 9am and finishing at 5pm, including 4 different chateaux, and a brief sojourn in the village of Saint-Emilion (the home of macarons!).
We completed this epic day by heading to a Michelin star restaurant at the decanter-shaped wine museum, and having ourselves a very fancy feast indeed.
A breakfast of coffee and croissants at the Marche du Capucins, a walking tour, and going to the old U-Boat storage area which has been turned into an indoor art projection space called Les Bassins des Lumières completed our all-too-brief-stay in Bordeaux.
It is the original city that has the quintessentially French architecture, and inspired Baron Hausmann to model Paris’ renovation in the 1800s – some like to say that Bordeaux is a little Paris, in reality Paris is a big Bordeaux according to our tour guide.
We caught a Friday afternoon train to Paris (so did half the city) and we commenced the next leg of our adventures. I dragged a flagging Jared out for a boat cruise of the city, despite it being only 3 degrees. The commentary personified the river, and befuddled us some, but it was lovely to see Paris by night.
The next day started with the mandatory walking tour, where we were befriended by some jovial Americans who were living in Belgium. We then lunched at a Le relais de l’entrecote and went to the Sainte Chapelle – it used to be the personal chapel of Louis the 9th, and has the most spectacular stained glass I’ve ever seen in my life. It is reasonably small as far as churches go, but this one is definitely worth checking out. (Particularly as Notre Dame is still out of commission)
We continued on the Montmartre, took in the view from the Sacre Coeur after going up the funicular, tried escargots (earthy :/ ), had champagne, and then Jared and I had to run away to make it to our Eiffel Tour booking.
This was another of those experiences where I felt like I was on the tourist conveyer belt. It was reasonably efficient, but there was a lot of queuing in the cold for various elevators. We made friends with some Afghani boys who were refugees and living in Belgium – one gave me a rose – very cute. (The rose.)
We did the mandatory oo-ing and ah-ing from the different viewing platforms (the very top isn’t significantly different to the other viewing level – but it is definitely colder) and scurried away to find hot chocolates as fast as the elevators would take us.
That night, I checked to see if we could get tickets to Musee d’Orsay, but no. We could get 9am tickets into the Louvre though. Knowing the lines that would await us, we arrived at 8:30, and were some of the first to start queueing. I went on a mish to get coffee and croissants, and left Jared waiting. By the time I returned, he’d moved from where I left him (outside the zig-zag barriers) to the front of the line by the door. I tried to negotiate to skip the line with the guard, and he was having none of it, so I just went around the side, pretended to take a photo, ducked under the barrier, and rejoined Jared. No one batted an eye-lid.
We were among the very first people of the day to enter the Louvre museum, and then I think we were definitely the first to exit. We both went to the loo, and then went up to where we thought the Tomb of Hammurabi was but found ourselves mysteriously outside – we’d taken the wrong set of escalators! Thankfully a guard rolled his eyes at us, and just let us back in through the staff entrance on the other side.
We were there for 4 hours, and I won’t be so bold as to say we saw everything, but we got through a fair whack of it. Napoleon’s apartments were amazing, as was the Galerie d’Apollon, the room with the crown jewels in it.
I loved the Egyptian pyramid recreation, and seeing some ancient Greek art in real life! Turns out there’s loads of Venuses, and the Venuses de Milo is only one of them. Jared found an entire hall full of statues of Roman generals, and it was all very spectacular. Having not really had a lot of exposure to art, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it, but I was pleasantly surprised. At about 9:25 I said to Jared if you ever want to see the Mona Lisa, this is the moment – before the 9:30 group gets let in and it gets progressively busier. So we hoofed it over to the Mona Lisa. There was a line 50 people long already. Jared and I looked at each other and just laughed – the painting is the size of a glorified postage stamp, maybe A4. It is one of the many things that I just don’t get. The room with Mona Lisa in it was absolutely packed from floor to ceiling with other way more impressive paintings, so we admired those, laughed at the fools in line, and continued on to the Ancient Greek section.
We went to find the ‘carnival’, the Promenade of the Fat Beef , part of the Carnival of Paris, which was on, but no one else in Paris seemed to know about it. We watched a fun little parade somewhere in District 20.
On our way back, Jared and I listened to some of the Revolutions podcast about the French Revolution, and followed the march to the Bastille, and then at the memorial of the Bastille, there was a band that played our wedding dance song!
Sunday afternoon, we met up with our American friends again before they headed off. I tried in vain to get tickets at the Moulin Rouge / Lido / anywhere in that ilk, and it was not happening. (Definitely book those shows in advance). Instead, I just wandered up the Champs-Élysées to the Arc du Triomphe, and then around Montmatre, while Jared went and collapsed.
Our final morning, we went to check out Napoleon’s tomb.
Mate. He must’ve been compensating for something.
What a building! It was very very over the top, but utterly beautiful. He had himself surrounded by Roman gods to show how important he was, and there are several other Napoleons buried in the same church.
There was also a museum exhibit about the second world war – and I didn’t realise that basically alllll of France was taken over by the Germans, so I learned a lot, (and Jared rolled his eyes at my general ignorance). Should’ve watched more Allo’ Allo’ with Brendon.
Jared’s take: I loved Bordeaux, it is small, easy to navigate, welcoming and beautiful. The wine is excellent, the people are friendly, and it is just an amazing part of the world. Paris was fine, but I liked Bordeaux better.
Lauren’s take: Bordeaux would be a great place to visit from May-November when the Miroir d’Eau is open, but it was absolutely enchanting even in February. I would love to come back. There is an accessibility and a classiness to Bordeaux that Paris lacks. It is easy to get around, utterly beautiful and there’s loads to explore.
Things We’d Recommend in Bordeaux
Any winery tour that goes through Saint-Emilion – it’s like a fairy tale
Walking tour
Things we didn’t get to but would like to do in Bordeaux
(More wineries)
See the Miroir d’eau
Climb Dune du Pilat near Arcachon beach
Check out Le Porge beach
Things We’d Recommend in Paris
Finding croissants at a bakery fresh out of the oven
Steak and chips place – Le Relais de L’Entrecôte
Making new friends on walking tours
Saint Chapelle
Listening to street music (wedding song eeee) at the Bastille memorial
Things we would still like to do in Paris
Watch a rugby game at Stade de France
Wine and cheese festival in Montmartre
Catacombs
Fancy restaurants
Looking out from Montparnasse Tower at the Eiffel tower
Day trip to Versailles
Monet gardens
Have you been to Paris? What was your favourite bit? Is there anything else that should be added ot our list for next time we’re in Paris? Do you prefer big cities to visit or small towns?
