holiday in Paris – The Gallivant Post

5 things about visiting the Eiffel Tower

lash — Wed, 24 Sep 2014 14:33:22 +0000

I’ve got friends who’d been to Paris but never ascended the Eiffel Tower. This baffles me. Isn’t that the whole point of visiting the city of a thousand lights? The common reason- the queue was too long. And with precious time to explore the city, lining up for a few hours didn’t seem wise.

My experience with the Tower was a breeze, all you need is sensible time planning.

Buying tickets in advance, or not

I briefly contemplated this, but decided against it. While I like to plan my itinerary, I didn’t particularly like to be tied down by advance purchase of tickets, unless I’m visiting a theme park and spending the whole day there. But if you are a stickler for planning, this is something you might consider. There are usually two queues to go up the tower, the ticketing queue and the actual queue to ascend. If you have gotten your tickets online, at least you can skip one queue line.

Stay near the tower?

This was what I opted for. I wanted to have flexibility of visiting the tower anytime I wanted to. At the same time, I didn’t want to deal with the disappointment of going all the way there and having to turn back due to long snaking queues. Staying nearby means I can tweak my itinerary to come back for a visit should it get crazy crowded. Also, you can probably choose a room with a view of the Eiffel, adding a romantic view to your Parisian stay.

The night view of the Eiffel Tower from right outside my hotel room.

The early bird really catches the worm

This is a no brainer. For an attraction as famous as the Eiffel Tower, there are bound to be crowds all day long, so go early. You needn’t only visit on weekday mornings to avoid the crowd. I visited the tower on a Sunday at 9am, just when it was ready to greet guests. There was surprisingly no queue for ticket purchase. The waiting line to ascend the tower only took about ten minutes. There are two parts to going up the tower. The first offers you two options: you can either climb up twenty floors to get to the first landing, or take the lift.

Taking the stairs up to the 20th floor is a pretty good experience too.

At the 20^th level, you get a pretty decent view of city. Take your time to look around. You can remain here as long as you want before taking the next lift to the top. When buying tickets, you can choose between the cheaper ticket that brings you to this level, or grab the one that takes you all the way up.

This is the crowd heading up the tower on a Sunday morning. It ain’t too bad.

Making sure everything stays in place

This is something for the girls. Regardless of the 20^th or the summit, it gets crazy windy, and that puts a dampener on having a nice picture taken. You really wouldn’t want to give your best smile at the camera, only to be ruined by unruly hair that flies all over the place, or worse, in your face. So always bring along either sunglasses, scarves, or just tie your hair up. Trust me, you’ll be thankful you remembered any one of those things I’ve mentioned.

Bring along a selfie stick

With so any visitors at the tower, and almost every one of them snapping away, it gets tough asking someone else to take picture for you. And what if the angle’s not right? Or that they didn’t capture the right lighting on your face. So many things can go wrong. With a selfie stick, you can grab as many pictures of you with the entire city as your backdrop, and the only thing you need to worry about, is your arm getting tired from holding the stick. If you haven’t got a clue what it is, a selfie stick is an extension stick that you can attach to your phone for you to capture a better picture when you take a selfie.

Once you’re at the top, don’t be too obsessed about clicking away on your camera. Take some time to really look around the city and soak in the immense beauty that lay in front of you. Spot the Arc de Triomphe with Champ Elysees running in front of it. Or the Basilica de Sacre Coeur on the highest ground in Paris. The world cannot get more beautiful than right at the moment when you’re on top of Paris.

Have you gone up the Eiffel Tower before, how was your experience like?

Take a cruise down the River Seine in Paris

lash — Mon, 18 Aug 2014 06:44:28 +0000

Sailing down the River Seine, admiring golden flecks of dusk light illuminating the majestic Notre Dame Cathedral as you clink your glass with your partner and settle down for a dinner spread. That’s as cliché as it can get, but when in Paris, I think you’re forgiven for jumping on tourist traps such as this.

I did exactly that when I was in Paris. It started out with the thought of taking a cruise down the Seine. Not having the luxury of time means if I can kill two birds with one stone, I would. Having dinner while soaking in sights along the river? Count me in.

If you take a walk along the river bank, you’ll notice a handful of tourist operators, with a few offering meals. I picked the Marina de Paris, mainly because their meal offers are more reasonable than others. I also took a peek at the table settings of the other ferries and liked how Marina de Paris arranges theirs. Some ferries arranged their tables in a way that you can’t enjoy the view the river offers.

You get to choose either the lunch or dinner cruise, I thought dining at dusk gives it a more magical feel. That and it frees up the rest of your day to cramp in sight-seeing before winding down for a nice dinner. I spent the day wandering the Louvre, which is only a ten-minute walk away before ambling down to the river, famished for more sights, and food of course.

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Here’s a look at my one and a half hour dinner cruise on the Marina de Paris:

This is the ferry looks like. I like how it’s full of glass that allow plenty of light in, and for us to get a better view of both sides of the river.

It’s bright and spacious inside the ferry, just the way I like it.

The hubs and I were seated at the front end of the ferry. I wish we were seated right at the head of the ferry though. Those folks looked like they have a fantastic view.

The tables are arranged such that all guests are able to get a good view of the riverbank.

One you are settled in, the starters will stream in. You only have precious 1.5 hours on the ferry, no time is wasted.

The other starter. When you book the tickets, you’d be asked to choose your meal from the menu. I love the presentation.

Off we go. The first sight we came across is the Musee d’Orsay, a museum transformed from an old railway station. I realised instantly that if I really wanted to admire the architecture of old buildings, a cruise doesn’t quite cut it. The river is too low for us to get a good view of the structures along the Seine. We can only see half the building.

This is the second sight- the Institut de France. Again, I can only see the top half of the building. I’m beginning to wish I’d taken a ferry that has two levels, just like this one in the picture.

Then it’s time for the mains. You get to choose from three.

The portion doesn’t look big but is pretty filling.

Sometimes when you concentrate on eating and taking pictures of the food, you forget about the sights. I looked up just in time to catch this- Le Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris.

Notre Dame! The good thing about taking the cruise at dinner time is the lighting, giving it all sorts of hues.

Don’t miss the Pont Alexandre III. Unlike buildings, ferry rides give you a close up view of the bridge. And this bridge is gorgeous. Connecting the Champs- Elysees quarter, the Invalides and the Eiffel Tower quarter, this bridge is regarded as the most ornately designed bridge in the city and is classified as a French Monument.

Dessert time! Service on the Marina de Paris was very efficient. I guess with only one and a half hours, the crew needed to run everything like clockwork.

The original Statue of Liberty. Much smaller than its New York counterpart, she was erected in 1885 and underwent a makeover in 1990. This also marks the halfway mark of the cruise.

Alicia Keys’ Empire State of Mind started blaring from the sound system the moment the Statue came into site. Slightly tacky, but I guess it fits the scene. Can you see the Eiffel Tower peeking in the background?

I was intrigued by the carvings on the side of this bridge, and obviously, their intended audience are ferry passengers.

You get a good view of the Eiffel Tower on this second half of the cruise. Get ready your camera and go on a trigger-happy frenzy.

As you pass the Eiffel, take a moment to look at the Pont d’Lena (Jena Bridge) beside it. It links the Eiffel Tower on the Left Bank to the district of Trocadéro on the Right. It was Napoleon who ordered the bridge construction, and named the bridge after his victory in 1806 at the Battle of Jena.

Sailing down the river at dusk means everything is covered with a golden blanket. Here’s the golden Pont des Invalides, built in 1855, the longest bridge on the River Seine. The sculptures on the pillars are themed, the Land Victory by Victor Vilain and the Maritime Victory by Georges Diébolt.

I must have watched too many of those romantic movies that has loving couples walking along the riverbanks of Seine. I was expecting it to be all calm and picturesque, but instead, crowds greeted me almost along the entire stretch. Couples lounging, bookworms reading, groups of friends relaxing, it’s anything but romantic. But perhaps I’m sailing down the more commercial side of the Seine; that somewhere further down the river is a tranquil trail for some peaceful reflection.

The dinner cruise set us back 60 Euros each; get details of the different cruises from Marina de Paris.

Visiting Paris? Find Deals, Compare Rates, and Read Hotel Reviews on TripAdvisor

In retrospect, the cruise might be for those who want to experience something a little frivolous, after all, you’re in Paris. If you’re really looking to do some sight-seeing, combining a dinner and cruise might not be the best idea. While I was trying to admire my food and soaking in the whole atmosphere, I missed out on the scenic sights around me. And when I do look up, I only managed to catch a portion of the incredible architecture.

Having said that, I fully enjoyed the entire dinner experience. It might have been a little bit rushed and a wee bit commercial, but there’s something about having dessert while gliding past the Eiffel Tower that makes me feel, for a fleeting moment, that life is perfect.

Tip: If you want to take the cruise to enjoy the the charming sights long the Seine, pick a ferry with two levels and sit at the upper deck.

Have you taken a river cruise along the Seine? How was it like?