Author: Stefan

IT architect at Kassel, from Göttingen, Germany. Addicted on travelling out of pure curiosity. Holder of a seasonal ticket of SV Werder Bremen; airbase Frankfurt (FRA). Collector of city maps, tourist guides, fridge magnets and coffee mugs.
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36 hours at the living museum

Tour Eiffel, Paris

I went to Paris, France several times when I was a child. My parents were guiding tourist groups to the city and were a bit lost, not speaking French or even English. That’s why I had to use my uprising language skills at the capital city of France.

I returned to Paris once in 2010 to rediscover the city on my own. And now I had the feeling that another trip would by necessary, mainly because of two reasons: (a) I never used the train à grande vitesse (TGV) and (b) I never arrived at the Musée d’Orsay while it was open. It was like a curse and for me being a fan of French Impressionism and Neo-Impressionism this situation wasn’t acceptable.

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Train à grande vitesse

Train à grande vitesse, France

The TGV is a two-floor highspeed train of the French railway company SNCF running on the grande lignes in France. It also goes to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Köln and München. It is on duty since 1981 and can go as fast as 320 km/h. The train à grande vitesse is comparable by quality with the German ICE. It has some special features like a nifty salon where four persons are sitting in a compartment faceing each other at a table. A classy kind of travelling!

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The Étoilé

Arc de Triomphe, Paris

At the end of the over-crowded, commercialized and steadily inclining Champs-Élysées you’ll find the Arc de Triomphe at Place Charles de Gaulle. It has been built by order of Napoleon to commemorate the victory of the battle of Austerlitz in 1806. You can walk trough a subterranean passage to the Arc and get on top – seeing 14 main streets crossing.

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French breakfast

Paris from Montmartre

Strolling throughout Montmartre in the morning is always a great idea. But there comes the point where you definitely need a café au lait and a croissant. In that case the boulangerie of Gontran Cherrier is a great stop: while you sit there you can have Montmartre behind the windows and a magnifique pain au chocolat at your fingertips.

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A pit-stop at the Marais

Chez Marianne, Paris

When you walk through the wonderful neighborhood of the Marais – maybe from Place de la Bastille, crossing Place des Vosges (always worth a detour), you will find a lot of good restaurants of various kinds. I myself normally don’t go to classy restaurants while travelling; it costs me simply to much time. A good alternative in the Marais is Chez Marianne, a nice small restaurant in a sidestreet. You can sit outside and if it is too crowded – they also got a comptoir for food to take away.

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Tour Eiffel

Tour Eiffel, Paris

One of the major sights in Paris, close to the Champ de Mars. Built in 1887 by Gustave Eiffel as a watch tower for the World Exhibition – and in remembrance of the French revolution – this iron giant draws the attention of people from all over the world. It’s the landmark of Paris and can be seen from most places inthe city.

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