5 Things in a Day in Paris

Often when we travel, my wife and I like to tag on an extra destination. Somewhere we’re traveling through we can just kind of add on and run around in before the big trip.

When I was planning our trip to the States last summer, I saw that it’d be cheaper to do a stopover in Paris, switch airlines, and then continue on to New Orleans. Naturally, when I asked my wife, “How do you feel about maybe doing a couple of nights in Paris?” her answer was, “Hell yes!”

Paris had long been on her bucket list, so this was an easy way to check it off. I last was there years ago, where I stayed a week and went broke because of the price of coffee. Ever after that, I’ve feared the place, but I figured that my wife’s got a good job, I’ve a reasonable one, and heck, it will just be for a couple of days, so why not give it a shot?

I’ve outlined my method of seeing a city or a country before over on my Morocco blog. Basically, you make a list, find a map, and see what you can reasonably fit. Use local transit where necessary, and Uber where one absolutely must.

Where to stay

We looked at a map and found what neighborhood we wanted to stay in. For Paris, there’s a couple of options. The city is split up in different hoods, or what they call “arrondisements”, and we found the 5th arrondisement worked best for us. It’s the most touristic and expat-filled one, but nevermind that, we were only there for a couple of nights and it’s really not enough time to get into a city any more than on a superficial level.

The Pantheon, in the 5th arrondisement

The first time I was in town I rented a private apartment right next to Gare du Nord. Some might say that it’s not the best of neighborhoods, because there are black people. So if that makes you uncomfortable, stick with the 5th. But everyone I ran into there was friendly, and the coffee was cheaper, so I had no problems with the area. Others I've heard say that the area around Montmartre is also an excellent spot, full of artistic spots and hole-in-the-wall bars. Not having stayed there, I can't say, myself. But I do know, that if you're someone who doesn't know the city, in all likelihood, your nightlife will end up taking you on the other side of the river.

From the Airport

Direct from the airport to Luxembourg station on the RER it’s about 45 minutes. It seems like forever, especially as the train goes underground and more and more people pack on. Luckily getting your own seat and place for your luggage is easy at the airport, it’s just getting back that’s a challenge. But let’s not worry about that.

the Luxembourg Gardens, near the metro stop

Getting out at Luxembourg it was starting to rain. Always a good sign. And I remember that when we we got in the taxi heading to the airport in Prague I was thinking, “Drat, I left my rain coat. Ah, what are the chances it will rain.” What are the chances indeed.

We stayed in the super cozy Hotel De Senlis. The staff was friendly, efficient, and with a twenty-four hour desk, but it was old school in that sense that they’ve got but one key so you have to leave it at the desk. For what we got and for being right in the most touristic part of town, it was nearly a steal though. The only weird thing about the room was that the window in the bathroom went right out to the courtyard. Not a big deal, but you could have a conversation with your neighbor while you poop and he smokes. Ah, Paris, the City of Romance.

One of my favorite sites when I visited last was the Pantheon, but I couldn’t sell it to my wife. The place is cheap to visit and right next to our hotel, but nope. She just wasn’t interested in a building full of dead people. Their time would come.

First on my wife’s list was the Louvre.

We walked up through the Odeon neighborhood to the Pont des Arts. The Odeon district is full of narrow streets, bars, restaurants, and art galleries. During the day though, it looks utterly abandoned, save for the random Frenchman who just stumbled out at 10 in the morning not realizing what time or day it is and needs his dose of café. I vaguely remembered it as a scenic and hopping place to be, but that must have been because I was there at night all those years ago.

The Louvre

At about 9 in the morning, we made it to the Louvre. I learned my lesson about going to the Louvre years ago. The trick is to book online. There are two easy ways to do this. Either book directly at the Louvre website, good if you’ve got access to a printer, or have GetYourGuide print them for you and pick them up across the street. It’s the same price. They’ve also got a tone of other deals for tours of the museum that you can check out:

I’ve already waxed expansively on the nightmare of a museum that is the Louvre, but if you must see the Mona Lisa and the Big Gay Jesus, then you really should read my blog on it. I personally just prefer to go it alone, mark down what I want to see, and run through the halls as quickly as possible.

A terrifying art maze

For the art lover though, it’s easy to burn a day or two in the Louvre. For the person limited in time, don’t do it.

Also, be aware that there are a ton of cheap fast food places in the mall underneath the Louvre. Don’t throw away 8 euros on a microwaved, fake crab sandwich like I did.

Personally, I had wanted to see the Musee D’Orsay, which still sits on my list. I would have seen it the first time I was in Paris, but at the time the workers were on strike. This is always a risk in visiting Paris.

The Rue de Rivoli

Notre Dame

From the Louvre, we walked down the Rue de Rivoli and stumbled into an area full of small streets and cheap eats around Rue des Lombards, with kebab stands and pizza by the slice places. Of course, I mean "cheap eats" in the most French and ironic way. A slice of pizza cost five euros! So we opted against it and finally just stopped at a little brasserie. For that same five euros, we had a coffee and croissant. That’s really the way to go in France, especially if it’s summer time, when all the tables are out on the streets. While we were sipping on our coffee, we had a nice view of the Saint-Jacques Tower, which is the remains of a 16th century church that was ravaged during the French Revolution.

The Tower of Saint-Jacques

definitely a must-see sight

From there, we went over to the 13th century Notre Dame and probably the most famous landmark in Paris. There’s always a queue of about one hour that extends out of the door, and a mess of tours that are available online. Not sure which to get? Then why not go with this GetYourGuide audio tour.

just look at that beauty

We didn’t go inside that time, because for one, I didn’t know you could get skip-the-line tickets at the time, and for two, I didn’t feel it too necessary to spend so much time on another cathedral. We walked around the grounds, enjoying the views of all the flying buttresses, then walked along the river and back through the 5th until we ended up at the Pantheon.

can't find any hunchbacks though

baby's got back! just look at that buttress! It's fly.

The Pantheon

“Hey babe, you know when you said that you didn’t want to see that place full of dead people?”

“Yes.”

“Guess what? It’s right on the way. And it really is one of the best sights in Paris.”

approaching from the side

I wasn’t lying. Originally built as a church, this massive pantheon that looks like a Roman temple, was converted into a temple of sorts for science and the French state. After the atheist French revolutionary Jacobin took over the building, they didn’t want it to go the same way as Saint Jacques, so they converted it into a place to store the dead of famous Frenchmen. In the crypt underneath, you can see the final resting places of Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, Rousseau, and Marie Curie.

Voltaire's resting place

The real magnificent thing though, is the what’s in the main hall above the famous French dead folk. There hangs Foucault’s pendulum, which was first hung to demonstrate the rotation of the earth. Basically, the idea is that if you hang a pendulum, the earth will rotate underneath it as it swings. If it’s a big enough and long enough pendulum, then you can even measure this in a noticeable manner. And indeed, as the day ticks on, the pendulum does in fact seem to rotate (though it’s not, it’s the Earth that’s rotating).

the swinging pendulum

The other really cool attraction at the Pantheon, which I didn’t know was going on and we were there just as one tour was taken up, is the tour of the dome. You can buy tickets for it onsite for two euros, but you need to be there at the right time. Tours are at 11, 12, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30 and 4:30. This is probably the best view you’re going to get of Paris, as it looks straight to the Eiffel Tower, with the tower looming massively and indecorously over the rest of the city. In winter, go for the 4:30 so you can see the tower all lit up.

the hall is full of massive statues

it's an impressive and massive place

There’s never a line at the Pantheon or for the dome, so don’t worry about it. Everyone’s still waiting in line at Notre Dame!

From the Pantheon, the view of the Eiffel Tower was too enticing. We were going to see it the next day, but decided to go ahead and go that night. After a short nap at the hotel, we continued on, heading first through the Luxembourg Gardens.

the writer himself

the front of the Pantheon

the view from the Pantheon

Luxembourg Gardens

The Luxembourg Gardens, along with the Palace, was built in the 1612 by the Queen Mother Marie de'Medici after the death of her husband King Henry IV. She wanted a palace to remind her of her home in Florence, so she had the building designed after the Pitti Palace and built a huge park like that of one in Florence.

The Luxembourg Palace which houses the French Senate

The royalty after Marie didn't care much for the Gardens, but after the French Revolution when the French government took over and housed there, it was expanded, renovated, and revived back to its former glory. It then served as Napoleon's chief residence, and after his demise, was converted to the home of the French Senate.

The gardens themselves are quite lively, full of people jogging, walking, painting, and begging. It's an easy spot to spend an hour just relaxing on a bench with a view of the Medici Fountain and the Senate hall.

The Eiffel Tower

The walk from the Luxembourg Palace to the Eiffiel Tower looks short on the map, but in reality it takes about an hour. Though there are some stops along the way that should definitely be visited if you've got more time, including the Rodin Garden and Napoleon's grave, which is at the Museum of the Army. They were closed by the time we made it, so that leaves something for the next time we're in town, which can easily be paired with the Musee d'Orsay.

The Museum of the Army, Napoleon's resting place

The Eiffel Tower is set on a scenic park called the Champs de Mars, which at nearly every hour is full of tourists and locals, with blankets spread out and picnics set. Some people play frisbee or toss a ball, others are in circles doing yoga or playing drums, but for the most part, people are relaxing and drinking cheap French wine. So that's what we did. We didn't go up it, but GetYourGuide has some helpful tours if you want to yourself.

such an insanely huge tower

There are whom I assume are refugees roaming up and down the Champs, selling souvenirs and wine bottles. We hailed one guy down and bought a bottle of wine off him for about 10 euros, though I'm sure in a shop it would have been 3 or 4, but no matter, its the delivery that counts. He opened it for us and provided us with cups.

Watching the sunset at the Eiffel Tower with my love was easily one of the best memories of Paris that I've got, and gave me a much better impression of the city than I had before (my other favorite memory was when we finished off a bottle of wine on the Seine).

Come back next week when I go over what we did on our second day in the City of Love.

This blog does contain some affiliate links. So if you buy purchase that stuff through my links, I get some money. So do it.

#Paris #museums #touristicsites

Fussen and the Fairy Tale Castles of Bavaria

If your goal is to see those famous mountain castles in the Bavarian highlands, and you don’t want a stressful trip from Munich, then Fussen is the ideal spot to make your base. It served as a summer home of the medieval bishops of Augsburg, so close near where the kings of Bavaria would make their fairy tale residences, though admittedly, it seems from what’s left behind, uptight religious folk weren’t quite as awesome as kings who had their heads in Wagnerian clouds.

If you are staying in Munich, it is still perfectly doable to see Neuschwanstein and its sister castle in a day trip.

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The adventure begins

I went there with my wife and parents a few years ago. We took the train in from Prague, and as we passed over the border, traveling with four is always best to do on the Bayern Pass. That will save you a load of money, though it might make things a little longer and you might have to plan the changes a little better, but if you’ve got the smart phone app from DB, all of this is made a breeze.

the main street in Fussen

As your train rolls down from Munich, those Alps keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger until finally your at the foothills. When we were there, we stepped off the train and looked up to see—clouds! Yikes. So that wasn’t the best part of the trip. But given better weather, you’d get to see the whole expansive front range of the Alps, in all its steep and craggy glory, the perfect range to plant romantic, breathtaking castles on.

From the trainstation, old town Fussen is only a few minute’s walk, and then you’re lost amidst rows of streets that have an almost Italian feel to them. This is because Fussen’s got an old Italian history itself, as does much of Bavaria.

A bit of the ole history

The city was founded on the old trade routes of the Roman Empire, moving goods up to supply the Roman legions stationed at the front and to suck out the riches of newly conquered Gaul. The position of the Bishop of Augsburg was made quite politically powerful under the early Holy Roman Empire, back in the days when the Emperor had the power of placing bishops–which meant it was a legal way to have your own supporters in powerful positions and not having to worry about the landed class of nobility.

a square in Fussen

The plan backfired a few centuries later as the Pope wrested the power of recognizing bishops from the Emperor while maintaining the secular powers that had been granted to the position. The Bishop of Augsburg was one of those who clearly was on top of this dispute, being one of the most powerful positions in Europe for many centuries. During the peak of power for the position, the Bishop placed his summer palace at Fussen, making it both a fortress to control the trading routes and an absolutely beautiful place to spend one’s summer months.

the courtyard of the Fussen High Castle

The museum of the High Castle–the Bishop’s Summer Palace–is definitely worth touring. There’s an art museum filled with 19th century drawings of Fussen, a dungeon, a chapel, and walk along the city walls and views of the surroundings from the towers. It’s certainly not the best castle in the area—there’s steep competition in that department—but it’s definitely a nice visit while there.

Where to stay In Fussen, we stayed at Ludwig’s Hotel, which was one of the cheapest hotels in town coming in at almost 200 euros for four people. There is one hostel in Fussen, but I imagine it is often booked and even the Airbnb places were on the expensive side. For budget travelers, the best option would probably be to just stay in Munich and catch a morning train in. Ludwig’s was a great option though, in a fully renovated old building, where the biggest complaint on the booking site and from my family were the stairs. No lift in medieval buildings, ah! But really, it’s not such a bad complaint at all. The place was also a good choice in that, besides the Franziskaner around the corner, it’s perhaps the best restaurant in town.

another city street in Fussen

To the castles!

Here we hit the first scheduling quandary. My wife had to leave on Sunday by noon in order to get to Munich for her bus—a mein Fernbus—back to Prague. This meant we had to make a decision, would we go to Neuschwanstein that afternoon or see it in the morning before her bus? The best answer, which was obviously the one we took, was to simply relax in Fussen that afternoon and then to head out in the morning. It became clear the next day that mornings are definitely the best times to go.

Neuschwanstein in mist

The bus from Fussen leaves for Hohen-Schwangau at the five past every hour from the train station and costs 4 euros round trip. The ride takes about ten minutes and is the first stop. From there, one can reach the ticket center, which on the Sunday morning we went, right during peak season, did not have a huge crowd. You buy the ticket there for a certain time slot. As there are only so many people allowed at each time, the slots do sell out, and since there is no easy way to make reservations—the Internet seems to barely have been introduced in Germany—then it’s best to come in the morning or risk not being able to see the Castle that day.

looking at Neuschwanstein from Hohenschwangau

There are three things to see from there and buy tickets for: Neuschwanstein, Hohenschwangau, and the Museum of Bavarian Kings. We bought the Neuschwanstein ticket, though looking back I do wish I at least saw the museum more. Without having toured both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau, I can’t advise which is more worth it. Having seen a hundred castles or so already though, I can tell you that there’s probably no point in seeing both, unless you’re just really hungry for Bavarian history. But in that case, then why not see the museum? If you want to get a sneak preview of the two castles in order to make an informed decision beforehand, then watch the BBC documentary, “The Fairytale Castles of King Ludwig II.”

The Neuschwanstein Castle tour was worth the 13-euro price of entry (25 Euro for the two castle pass). There aren’t too many people on the tour, though it was a bit full of Asians who I don’t think knew any English since they were constantly jabbering in their own tongues during the tour—making it often hard to hear the tour guide—and obviously didn’t understand the tour guide’s shouts of “Nein! No photos! Das ist verboten!”

Neuschwanstein Castle

The tour itself is fairly interesting, with all sorts of details about Ludwig II that I’ll mention in the next post. I imagine that, insofar as this tour was basically Ludwig II’s biography tour, the Hohenschwangau tour must be equally so regarding his less interesting father, Maximilian (if you’ve read my Munich blog though, then you’d know his grandfather Ludwig I did plenty an interesting thing).

the castle gates of Hohenschwangau

We later walked the grounds of Hohenschwangau, which are perhaps even more beautiful than the grounds of Neuschwanstein, though it’s a pretty close contest. Really, I wouldn’t mind living in either, though when if you lived in Hohenschwangau, you’d probably grow up thinking your neighbor must be an ass hole, having the only house in the block built solely to top yours. It goes without saying though, if you tour one, you should at least see the grounds of the other.

looking up at Neuschwanstein

Neuschwanstein itself is far more impressive and an idealized version of one than Hohenschwangau, where even though Hohenschwangau was built for beauty as well, you could at least see some military intention in its construction. Neuschwanstein then exists as a bizarre simulacrum, a fantasy castle built in the time when castles were already out of date. So when you think of Disney, how it was built after Neuschwanstein, it’s only doubly weird—a copy of an idealized copy of the real thing.

Looking up at Hohenschwangau

Ultimately, the tour of Neuschwanstein is the tour of a house of a rich 19th century nutter. When touring it, you can only think of all the rich nutters we’ve got now and wonder whose houses we’ll be touring in a couple hundred years. Are any now built nearly as impressive as the Bavarian king’s?

#castles #Munich #Bavaria #touristicsites #fairytalevillages

More Than Beer: Munich

I’ve had a weird relationship with Munich.

The first time I was there, it was awesome. It was Oktoberfest and all boobs and booze. For a young, immature bachelor, probably no city in the world is better in September. I was staying in Salzburg though, so I didn’t get to fully take advantage of my time there (read: pass out behind a dumpster, which at the time I was backpacking around Europe and homeless, on a sabbatical from life, that option was always on the table).

The second time I was there, I was kind of just passing through. I stopped at one hostel, partied it up at some weird and empty Turkish night club with my hostel-mates. I was on my way from Strasbourg to Prague, and wanted to see a little more of the city, but it was cold, rainy, and foggy, and there wasn’t much to see in all that. I remember a park, and some vague outlines of a square and a church, but the fog was so thick that it could have been a church and it could just have been a bus terminal.

night streets

Neither time had I really seen Munich, and for a while that was my entire impression of the city. Big beer festival, Turkish night clubs, and foggy churches. To put it blunt, I didn’t really care much for it.

A different impression

Fast forward 10 years. Now that I’ve been living in Prague for some time, I’ve had to go to the city for one reason or another. A cousin was visiting one time and my parents were flying in and out the next. With all these visits, I’ve been able to slowly gather a different impression of the Bavarian metropolis.

When my cousin came in, we got the full old town experience.

We stayed at a hotel just in front of one of the old town gates. We had told him to meet us at the Hofbrauhaus, which apparently he had been at three times in a row and was glad for a fourth.

The Hoffbrauhaus

If it’s your first time to be in Munich, you have to go. We go every time now. The HB Haus is a famous den, having its roots in the 16th century as a party house for the nobility, opened by the Duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm V.

there's always live music at the Hofbrauhaus

When Wilhelm first took the throne, he had a problem. Bavarian beer sucked. The stuff was as thick as mud and tasted of the town where Luther was declared a heretic. Wilhelm had to save his country and do something. So he passed a law that no Bavarian beer would be crap swill. And this was the start of fine German engineering.

Wilhelm’s beer rocketed to popularity. He opened the Hoffbrauhaus so that he could share his delight with the nobility.

Wilhelm’s son, Maximilian I, had another serious problem. He didn’t care for the brown beer his father had improved the standards of. So he focused his efforts on producing fine wheat beer, and banned everybody else from making wheat beer, making an instant money making monopoly, but not doing much for the local beer scene outside of Hofbrauhaus.

the beautifully painted ceiling in the historic pub

Everybody’s favorite King of Bavaria, Ludwig I of Oktoberfest fame (though not mine, I prefer Ludwig II), had the hall remodeled and opened it to the common folk, and it’s been the same ever since, now being one of the most famous landmarks in history. Mozart wrote a poetic ode to the hall and got inspiration for an opera, Lenin visited it regularly when he lived around the corner, the Communists had their government’s parliament there, and Hitler staged his attempted revolution against the Commies, the Beer Hall Putsch, there which landed him in a stint in Landsberg writing his memoirs.

Yes, you read that right. Hitler started a fight against Communists in a beer hall. Interestingly, not much of that history is on display at the pub. Not sure why...

the Feldhernnhall, where the Beer Hall Putsch was stopped

At the Hoffbrauhaus, they only serve Bavarian food the Bavarian way. That means if you’re looking for some puny-American style-gluten-free-hold-the-breading-and-can-you-swap-the-potato-salad-for-carb-free-French-fries schnitzel, then you’re going to be out of luck. The place is always packed, so you might have to squeeze in and join some other folk during your meal. And know your food ahead of time. You can buy time and patience if you just order a beer first (there is one size, and that’s huge). Figure out what you want—follow what’s on the menu—tell the waiter. Now sit back, drink that beer, enjoy the live polka music and occasional groups of Bavarians dancing on tables.

If you’ve been to Munich before and are looking for something perhaps a bit quieter, but still Bavarian, then hit up an Augustiner pub. They’ve got several locations, but the original Augustiner Keller, which is where I visited on my second visit, is over next to the train station, and also not far is the first privatized location, the zum Augustiner. The food is perhaps better, and the beer is definitely better, it’s slightly less touristic, but it’s also not where Hitler staged his attempted overthrow of Communist Bavaria. If it’s summertime though, check out their epic beergardens for an afternoon gulp. The local Augustinians first started brewing their beer there in 1328, so they've a beer tradition nearly half as old as Jesus!

Museums

This last time we were in Munich, I decided we had to do something in the city outside of drinking beer. So I discovered the Alte Pinakothek, which is the first public art gallery in Europe, also founded by King Ludwig I. That guy loved the people. It’s in a museum district right near the train station, situated next to the Egyptian Museum and the Glyptothek, combined owning a nearly as impressive collection of stolen artifacts as the British Museum.

the Glyptothek

The Alte Pinakothek is much smaller than some of the more famous museums in Europe, like the Louvre, Hermitage, or Rijksmuseum. It, however, has a pretty amazing collection, packed full of Rembrandts and Rubens. I myself didn’t know how stylistically varied Rubens was, and after seeing this collection, I'm now following him on Instagram.

the Alte Pinakothek

The old town

There are some pretty awesome scenes in the old town, though much of it was left to bombs and flames in World War II.

A great way to tour the day would be to start with the Alte Pinakothek, and then walk over to the Japanese Teahouse, which was a gift by the tea school in Kyoto to recognize the Munich Olympics. It’s in the Englischer Garden, which is also a great spot for a walk.

Then pass the surfing wave on the Eisbach canal and continue to the Odeonsplatz. The Odeonsplatz was named for the beautiful concert hall called the Odeon, built by, you've got that right, Ludwig I. That dude literally built Munich. The residence of the royalty of Bavaria (which was not built by Ludwig, but he did live there) was also on the Odeonsplatz. Though both were thoroughly ravished during the War, the residence at least has been rebuilt and is now open for touring.

Hanging out at the Odeonsplatz

Continue on down towards the Marienplatz down the Theatinerstrasse. You'll see an epic monument to the Bavarian army, the Feldherrnhalle, also built by old Ludwig. This was where Hitler and his fellow beer brawlers had their last stand in a shoot out with the police.

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Some great Munich tour and transit deals to get your started:

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the back side of the Rathaus, from the Feldherrnhall

Continue on to the Rathaus. The Neues Rathaus, or New Town Hall built in 1874, is the most iconic building in the city, and looks quite mistakably like a church. But don’t be fooled by its massive gothic clocktower. From here, it’s easy to get to either the Hoffbrauhaus or the Augustiner and train station. But for the sake of the tour, I’d continue up the route towards the train station.

the Rathaus (not a cathedral)

Where to stay

After staying in Munich at different places several times, I’ll have to say the best spot is the Hotel Muller. Not only were the rooms cheap yet gigantic, their in-room minibar was free. Which meant, by the time we left, it was also empty. But no worries, it’s restocked daily. The hotel is located just outside the Sedlinger Tor, making it almost a spitting distance to old town, though a bit more of a jaunt to the rail station.

The Sendlinger Tor

Have you been to Munich? What was your favorite part? I'm looking for more things to do there next time I'm in town!

#Munich #touristicsites #restaurants #hotels