interesting places to see in Paris, France

When it comes to transport in Paris there is another thing to remember. There are very often strikes or “grèves” as they say. The problem with the strikes in Paris is that when the Parisians are on strike, you never know when it will finish. The city gets paralyzed – you cannot take the metro or a bus, not even a taxi. And it could last more than a month.

The train strikes in Paris

Must see in Paris is the National Opera, built between 1857 and 1874. The building is spectacular and I could describe it with only one word – royal. It is like a small Louvre.

One thing in the opera though I can’t accept. The ceiling in its magnificent hall is covered with paintings from another great artist – Chagall which style is far from the style of all other decorations. We were told that Parisians love it. Well, it’s Paris after all, not Germany. Everything is allowed as long as it is art.

Paris Musuem

The places of interest in Paris are numerous: Versailles, Montmartre… you name it. Once you have managed to get your cheap flights to Paris, my advice is, especially if you are running out of time, choose one museum or attraction and enjoy it. I chose Rodin’s museum, as I was influenced by his tragic relation to Camille Claudel.

Rodin’s museum in Paris is easily accessible by metro. It‘s a very elegant museum with a garden and a lake. The atmosphere is very quiet and peaceful. The famous “Penseur” or “The thinker” is in a nice small garden in front.

The museum is full of precious masterpieces. What is interesting is that inside the museum there are also works of Camille. She was obviously a very talented sculptor herself.

The rumor says she was better than Rodin. Some specialists think that some of Rodin’s works were hers. Perhaps it’s just a speculation. By all means her tragic genius reminds us that it’s lonely being a genius.

Southern France, Villefranche

People are very friendly in Southern France. They don’t like to be in a hurry. It is normal for them a lunch or a dinner to take more than 2 hours but in such a place does it matter?

Southern France city of Villefranche

The atmosphere in Villefrance is peaceful, ideal if you want to be left alone with your thoughts.

All the houses in Villefranche have wine cellars – something very typical for Southern France but not that usual for the rest of Europe. The old houses with their medieval appearance, inner yards and thick wooden tables able to host 20 guests, made me feel just as if I was teenager again reading “The three mousquetaires”.

When I was visiting my French friends for a dinner one evening, they put on the table 5 identical bottles of wine without labels. French people are excellent hosts – their food is excellent, their wine is excellent and their friendship, in case you have won it, is special. So it appeared that all the bottles were Beaujolais dating from different years.

They told me it was cheaper to buy them from the producers without labels. Our host opened the first bottle, poured in each glass some wine and we tasted it. Then he told us to throw away the rest. He opened the second bottle and we did the same ritual again. Thus we tried all the 5 bottles. No need to say the wine was very good.

In French supermarkets there is an inscription at wine departments “vins divins” literary meaning “divine wines.” I think this is the confession of people who know how to live.

The romantic city of Paris, France

“Paris” sounds as a promise of romance, beautiful sunsets and love.

Paris is the cultural centre of Europe. Paris is just … one of a kind. If visiting Paris from London you could catch the Eurostar from central London, otherwise you can catch the ferry or even search online for cheap flights to Paris

the skyline of Paris city

When I think of Paris, I think of autumn leaves with the colour of copper silently resting in front of Sacré-Cœur, I think of the “I love you” wall where “artists” from all countries had written “I love you” in their own language.

I think of the kind elderly lady who helped me understand the logic of the metro in Paris. I never think of the Eiffel Tower as to me it is just an attraction while Paris is rich with its soul.

With a simple metro map and some luck one could see many places of interest in Paris.

Taking taxi is not recommendable as sometimes there are big traffic jams. Besides, one never knows what type of taxi driver will get. I had the misfortune once to hire a taxi from Charles de Gaulle airport to hotel Bercy and the taxi driver knew not more than me where the hotel was. I had to pay 40 Euros.

Villefranche Southern France

Villefranche is located in Southern France not far from Lyon. There are convenient train connections from Paris. It takes about 5 hours to Lyon by speed train and there is another connection to Villefrance.

Picturesque town of Villefranche

Beside the advantage of being a small mountain town, Villefranche has the privilege to be part of the famous Beaujolais region. As you might have heard, Beaujolais region is famous with its red wines. Each year in October there are celebrations in France dedicated to the new wine of this region. The motto of the fest is”Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé” – the new wine is coming!

Being in France is an adventure but being in a wine region is so much more. As the French are very jealous of their cultural heritage, they preserve their traditions with the utmost care.

There is a special law in France for example in which it is restricted how many non French songs could be played on the radio. The same applies to architectural styles.

In Villefranche there are houses dating back couple of hundreds of years. They are built of stones called “les pierres dorées” or “gilded stones”. The houses have specific appearance and style and if a new building is planned it should correspond to that style. The houses are built at great distance from each other – you must have car in order to visit someone or go downtown.

Quick Break in Monaco

The train station is located underground but its entrance is at a higher level. A street starts from it down and finally reaches the port. The port is full of modern super expensive yachts. It is impossible to imagine what facilities they have on board as, unlike the sailors’ yachts, they are kind of “closed” – you can’t see an open space on deck, everything is hidden.

Monte Carlo Casino

One of the best things to see in Monte Carlo, if we ignore the Ferrari, Formula 1 and the yachts, is the Aquarium – which is in top 5 in the world. Part of it is the Oceanographic museum, where the first submarine is exhibited. It looked like a little barrel to me and I simply couldn’t imagine what courage a person must have had in order to enter it, not to mention to get deep into the sea. It’s like a little coffin. And still, men have done it.

The Aquarium is decided at different levels and there is a big glass wall going through all of them. When one stands at the lowest level one feels like deep into the ocean for the view is unbelievable – small sharks and all kind of sea creatures are calmly swimming and literary staring at your eyes. All colours and shapes are present.

On the way back and down from the aquarium to the centre of town, there is a small chapel hidden in one of the curves. This is the place where Grace Kelli died. A lonely place covered with flowers. In every beauty there should be a little sorrow in order to make it unique.

Monte Carlo City Monaco

I was very surprised to find out that Monte Carlo was not accessible by air. I was certain that such a glamorous place had all options but alas. I had to do a small research to find out that the shortest way to Monte Carlo is either by train from Italy or by air from France. I tried both.

Monaco capital

There are regular trains from Rome, in my case I used Trenitalia and regular flights from Nice – I used Blu Express. Faster by train, cheaper by flight. Both ways – exciting.

The train station in Monte Carlo is very modern, not very big. Nothing is big in Monte Carlo but yachts. The town is located on hills and is rather vertical than horizontal. There are elevators in the buildings connecting different levels of streets. Very extraordinary. Wherever you look, you see flowers and average size buildings. Buildings create the feeling that every single one of them is a piece of architectural art.

At 10 minutes walk from the train station is hotel Novotel, a very good choice – not very expensive, with spacious rooms and French restaurant. When we talk about restaurants I have to say that all restaurants work from 12 pm to 3 pm and from 7 pm to 9 pm. If you are hungry lets say at 5 pm –not a single restaurant is opened, which I find annoying.