Happiness and Heather: Paris, France: Part Deux

In the Spring, my mom came and visited me for a whole week. I was so excited and thrilled to see her. It was the first time I had seen her in four months. To mark the occasion, we traveled to Paris and Vienna. She had never been to Paris and I had never been to Vienna. So we compromised and did both. I'll do the Vienna post at a later time. Here are some more places I would recommend to go to in addition to my previous post on Paris.

I visited the Louvre again. Seeing all of the artwork is just an awe-inspiring sight. I'll write a post on how to work the four different wings and how to find what you are looking for later on, I promise.

Of course, you have to visit Eiffel Tower. There are multiple sides to view the Eiffel Tower from, and I recommend getting there early before everyone else to see all of these different views. The above picture was taken from across the river in the Trocadero Gardens.

This picture was taken from underneath the Eiffel Tower in the morning. We then rode it all the way to the top. I highly recommend riding all the way to the top. They even have a little champagne bar up there. FYI, its standing room only and ridiculously expensive. Then, we took a picture from the Champ de Mars, which is shown below.

Next, I recommend the Musee D'Orsay. It holds works from two famous painters, Van Gogh and Monet. Monet is one of my favorite painters. I was very excited to see a lot of his works. Something I learned though, they rotate out different pieces of work. So I didn't see all of the pieces they have, but I did see a lot of them. Did I mention the Musee D'Orsay is in an old train station? Its beautifully decorated because of that.

No matter what, you have to see Notre Dame.

Did you know you could buy paintings in Paris for cheap? The students of a local art institute set up a shop on the north side of the Seine in between Pont Des Arts and Notre Dame. Its in one of those little, green shops attached to the wall of the river. They are actually reasonably priced as well. I would recommend those paintings over anything you can find at Montmarte.

The Arc de Triumph is a given, but did you know you can go up to the top? Its stairs all of the way, but it is so worth it. You get amazing views from on top. My last two photos are from the top of the monument.

My mother and I also went to the Opera and saw the Magic Flute. I've always wanted to see an opera and there was my chance! They have a youth discount as well. Oh and if you are worried about the fact that most operas are in a different language, they have a screen that shows the subtitles.