France- Paris

What do we do first when arriving in Paris, the self proclaimed "city of love"? 

We go to the cemetery of course :)  

Père Lachaise has got to be one of the best parts of Paris.it is such a beautiful maze of old and new graves, hidden beneath a canopy of green which gives the whole place a mystical feel. we spent about 5 hours walking around experiencing and examining many of the tombstones. we collected a couple of the more famous names including Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison and were just amazed by the sheer size of the space.  

Jim Morrisons grave, now protected by barriers so you cant get too close

Oscar Wilde's grave- traditionally visitors are meant to leave their mark here by kissing the grave in the brightest shade of lipstick possible, last time i was here the entire face of the stone was covered in lipstick marks, since that time however they have cleaned off all of the previous lips and erected a glass barrier to prevent this in the future. whilst good in theory, this doesn't seem to have stopped the determined who are now using the gravestones next to this to climb up and kiss a little higher above the glass. 

Bastille 

The Louvre

Such a crazy amount of people to see the Mona Lisa- the rest of the Louvre isnt that busy compared to this place 

Notre Dame 

The obligatory tourist shot :) 

Walking to the top- defiantly the way to go- the line was tiny compared to the two lines for the lifts... if you are physically able there is really no excuse but im happy most people choose the lifts as it makes getting up much quicker when you take the stirs 

We ate lunch at the side of the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe- this has to be the craziest roundabout in the world- there is no logic, you just drive in and the person with the biggest vehicle wins. we were so happy we didnt have to drive in paris as the traffic was insane 

The Catacombs
The wait to get in here was long but well worth it. The only allow 200 people in at a time. we arrived just after lunch and waited for around 2.5  hours to get in but we were happy we did. due to previous overcrowding in Parisian cemeteries and changing land and water scapes of the city, all of the major cemeteries were emptied and the bones of over 6 million bodies brought and stacked in the tunnels under Paris which stretch for over 2km. This place was amazing- so creepy and interesting. Along with  Père Lachaiseit was our favourite place, and the only thing we would visit again 

Sacre Coure- a beautiful building but in a very dodgy neighbourhood and full of scammers 

Moulin Rouge- not as exciting as you would think 

Tips to survive Paris- 

- forget how to speak English, there are quite a lot of beggers and scammers trying to get money out of you. especially one with a sheet of paper who will ask you to sign for disabled children etc and then ask for a donation. they operate in groups and will pick your pockets/bags whether you "give a donation" or not. They open with "do you speak English?" so its easier to forget English.

- watch your wallet, bag and everything else.

pick the neighborhood to stay in, some (especially around moulin rouge) are VERY dodgy

Overall Paris has been our least favourite place so far. This was my second time here and Nics first and for me the experience was pretty consistent. I know there are so many people out there in love with paris, or at least the idea of it, but overall we felt unsafe and pretty on edge the whole time. 

You either love it or hate it, but for us we saw enough of Paris and in the end were ecstatic to move on into Belgium