I am just warning you, this will be a mean and unfair take on Paris. I doubt the French would expect anything less. Now, before you dismiss my musings from the perspective of someone who had a romanticised view of the city from films and TV, I assure you that’s not the case. I know the Paris syndrome, so my expectations were low. I expected that, like most cities, there would be some good, some bad, and similar issues to the other cities with dense population and over-tourism. But it was worse!

There was dog poop, vomit and the stench of urine everywhere, and it had rained the day before! So, we shouldn’t have this issue! You walked past a drain and could smell the stench of sewerage, walking past the Seine River, the same problem. It made you feel sorry for the poor souls who had to swim in that river in the Olympics. The smells weren’t just localised to the local areas but also the tourist places. The Palace of Versailles smelled dingy and damp, between the Louvre and the luxury stores, you could smell sewerage. What irked me the most was that people would blame illegal migrants, but they aren’t the ones who take their dogs everywhere. Or are they the ones drinking and screaming at all hours of the night? Having been to India in the first part of the year, I found India cleaner. I am not saying you should never go; it is a city with a rich heritage and culture, but if you find it to be everything you ever hoped it could be, I would be shocked and happy that you had a better time than I did.

We first had to fly from Barcelona to Madrid because it was cheaper than a direct flight? Then, when getting off the flight, my sister (Janki) and I were separated, so I was worried about how we would get to the gate, as it was already 20 minutes before boarding. But the gate was right next door. We stood in line for 30 minutes before they announced that the flight was delayed by two hours and was at another terminal. So, all the time we weren’t meant to save by flying instead of using the train was gone. These things happened, but it was just one disaster after another: our flight was delayed, I didn’t know how to work their metro service, there was an issue at the hotel, and it was raining on top of it. Not to mention, we fast (OMAD) on Monday, and so we were hungry. We abandoned our original dinner plans and went to an Indian restaurant. The highlight of the crappy day. It was your average Indian takeaway fair. But that’s what we needed. The adventure begins the next day.

Palace of Versailles

The next day, we headed out to the Palace of Versailles. We took a train to Versailles, and the Palace is a five-minute walk from the station. We arrived about an hour early because we wanted to go to Angelina’s, but it’s inside. It was no issue because we were in the 30th position in the line. The lines were huge and longer than the Vatican Museums. There was also security before we entered the premises. The Palace of Versailles was a hunting lodge converted into a Palace.

Most of the renovations were completed under Louis XVI and were also the primary residence of the royals until the Revolution. What attracted us to the place was that it where the Treaty of Versailles was signed. The Treaty of Versailles was signed between the Allies and the Central Powers after the end of WW1. After checking out Angelina, we started the tour.

The Palace of Versailles is open to the public and notable rooms are the apartments of the king and the queen, the hall of mirrors, the royal chapel and the gallery of battles. After visiting the Royal Palace of Madrid and the palaces in Rajasthan, Versailles seemed a bit underwhelming. Unlike most royal apartments, the rooms felt bare, and the little dressing inside was dusty.

It lacked the grandeur of the other palaces. The hall of mirrors and the gallery of battles were pretty cool. I also found the information on the construction of the palace pretty interesting. It photographs well for some reason, so the dustiness doesn’t come across. We also went into the large and manicured gardens, but it started raining, so we concluded our trip.

Angelina

We went to Angelina inside the Palace of Versailles, and there was a line, but it was relatively fast. We had hot chocolate, which is famous on TikTok, and from before that. We had the Mont Blanc tart as well. Angelina was started in 1903; it was a favourite of many aristocrats and even Coco Chanel. The hot chocolate was good, but not as rich and decadent as I would like. I have had better in NZ. But in fairness, we didn’t have it with cream, but that would have made it too milky (I prefer dark hot chocolate). The tart was good, sweet and nutty, but it felt dry on the mouth. Not a big issue, as we had the hot chocolate. If you like the idea of hot chocolate from a famous place, you might enjoy it. But I suggest you go to a sit-down location, not the ones in Versailles or the Louvre.

Carrette

On our way to the Louvre the next day, we went to the Carrette, another internet-famous café known for its hot chocolate. Which is expensive! My sister wanted us to try both of the famous hot chocolates here. The Carrette hot chocolate comes with whipped cream on the side, and you get a cup. With the hot chocolate, I had an almond croissant. The hot chocolate felt more like you were drinking a rich chocolate custard; it was sweet. But I don’t think it was worth the hype. The almond croissant was soggy and tasted eggy! I guess I am spoiled because the French bakery near my house has delicious croissants, flaky, sweet, buttery… Carrette was disappointing, and I didn’t find it worth the hype. But after I went to get a coffee from a different place, I stayed full till dinner.

The Notre-Dame

On our way to the Louvre, we walked past the Notre-Dame. The Notre-Dame was first started in 1163 and has been damaged and rebuilt through the ages. Famous in pop culture also due to the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, which was so sad. Unfortunately, the cathedral was damaged by fire in 2019 and only opened last December. However, walking past it, I saw that much of the cathedral is still undergoing construction and repair as it is covered by scaffolding. We took some photos.

Pont des Arts

On our way to the Louvre, we went on the Pont des Arts or the love lock bridge. It was created in 1984, as the original was damaged, and it was where couples attached locks to showcase their love. But it became too heavy, so now they have replaced the rails with glass, so you can’t attach locks there. It looks pretty bare now. It would be cool if people could write on the glass to show their love, or if they painted them. Right now, it is just a bridge.

Louvre

This was my favourite part of my visit to Paris. I would go to Paris again to see the Louvre. The Louvre Palace started in 1190 and expanded over the years but became a museum in 1793. It is the largest museum in the world with the most extensive collection of items (700,000)! I could probably write three posts about the Louvre itself. But I will give the coolest parts. The Louvre building’s history: there was a moat around the original structure. It used to be a fortress, which I think comes across as it is challenging to navigate, with you having to walk to different parts to go up a floor or back to the entrance to come down. My sister and I tried to see everything in the Louvre, but unfortunately, we went from the bottom up, and the Louvre closes its third floor two hours before, so just as we got there they were closing, so we didn’t see everything.

Now they have everything and most of it is translated, I liked learning about the different ancient civilisation collections like the Levant and Mesopotamia, which don’t get as much spotlight as Greek, Roman and Egyptian. They had this statue from Ain Ghazal in Jordan (below); it is 9000 years old and the oldest in the museum.

They also have an Haute Couture collection that shows some couture dresses by designers (below). The places where they show these are so grand. It was what I wanted to see at the Palace of Versailles.

Of the more famous pieces I saw, was the statue of Venus and the Mona Lisa. Mona Lisa is bigger than I thought it would be because everyone says its smaller, so I thought it was about A4 size, but it is like A3 to A2 at least. I get the importance of the painting, but there are so many more remarkable paintings here. My favourite one was The Soul Breaking the Links Holding it to the Earth by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (below). One unfortunate thing about our visit was that they had closed the Spanish painting section, so we couldn’t compare the works with the Prado Museum. We stayed till 7 pm, but there’s still so much left to see!

Eiffel Tower

We went from the Louvre to see the Eiffel Tower, which was built in 1889 for the World’s Fair. It is 330m tall. It was so cool to see how iconic it is, and it is such an engineering marvel. We didn’t go up it, but we admired it from afar. Since it was daylight till 10pm, we couldn’t see it at night for next time, I guess.

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t seem too bad now that I have written it down. Paris was definitely not how I thought it would be; the weather was bad, and it smelled like the old city it is. Then the food I had was disappointing, even the water! No matter what brand I tried, I couldn’t find good bottled water anywhere. No wonder Europeans drink a lot of Sparkling water. Paris is not worth the hype and is definitely not the romanticised utopia we are led to believe. Even the metro was hard to use with ticket-checking gates everywhere. People say you don’t see the real city if you visit all the tourist places. But honestly, I don’t want to, like I want to see the best version of the city, the presentation they put on for guests, don’t treat me like part of the family, where you have fights in front of me. There were some good parts of the trip, like the Louvre. I learned a lot about artefacts from cultures I didn’t know before. One assumption was that the French are rude, but all the French people I interacted with were lovely. Many things went wrong, but we did roll with the punches. I will have to go again. I only tried one macaron, didn’t have crepes (a tragedy), and I have an entire floor of the Louvre left. It is the city of love, which is a bit too idyllic, but it is a city with a rich heritage, culture, and a lot to see.