After having seen the usual and more popular tourist attractions in The City of Lights, my friends and I found ourselves with practically the whole day free, as our flight back to Manila was not until 10 o’clock that evening. So we decided to meander around the city streets, looking for Instagrammable spots we could add to our treasured photo collection from this trip to “La Vie En Rose” (life through rose-colored glasses).
First stop was the Champs-Elysees, the world-famous avenue in Paris, 1.9 kilometers long, that stretches throughout the downtown area. What immediately caught our attention was the main store of Louis Vuitton, which was constructed to look like the suitcase it sells, complete with the LV logo all over it, as seen on this page.
A few steps ahead is the Arc de Triomphe, standing tall right at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle, to honor those who fought and died in the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Carved on the inner and outer surfaces of the arc are the names of all French generals and their victories. Beneath it is the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers who died during World War I.
Nearby is the Place Vendome, shaped like an octagon, with the Vendome column erected by Napoleon to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz. His statue stands on top of the column, which is unusually greenish in color, as it is made from 180 melted cannons used in the Austerlitz war. Napoleon is dressed in Roman attire, crowned with laurels, with a sword in his right hand and a globe in his left hand.
Right next to Place Vendome is the Hotel Ritz Paris, ranked among the most luxurious hotels in the world. Founded in 1898 by Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz, it was among the first hotels to provide a private bathroom and a telephone for each room. It is also the hotel where Coco Chanel lived and where Princess Diana stayed the day she met her tragic accident.
We then sped off to the famous Sacre-Coeur Basilica. This national historic monument is perched on top of the hill in Montmartre and overlooks the entire city of Paris. Its beautiful Neo-Byzantine-Romanesque architecture adds to its religious significance, making it the second most popular attraction in the city. My friends and I couldn’t get in, as the queue snaked its way around, and we were pressed for time, so we just prayed outside the basilica.
From some place holy, the next stop was some place “naughty,” simply because they were near each other. Moulin Rouge is a very popular, risqué cabaret in Paris and is the birthplace of the famous and spellbinding “can-can dance,” performed by attractive ladies in a line, raising their skirts and swinging their legs in unison to both sides, meant to seduce the predominantly male audience. Unfortunately, it was still early afternoon when we went there, so the joint was still closed.
Our next stop was at the Pantheon, a neoclassical mausoleum that honors important figures in the history of France, like Voltaire, Rousseau, Emile Zola, Alexandre Dumas, Marie Curie, Victor Hugo, etc. Prominently displayed above the grand entrance is the inscription, “Aux grands hommes la patrie reconnaissante” (to the great men, the grateful homeland). The building was originally a church, but it was transformed into a mausoleum during the French Revolution.
On our way to our last stop, we passed by the apartment used by the lead character in the popular rom-com TV series, Emily in Paris, which is about an aspiring American marketing executive who moves to Paris to provide an American point of view to a French marketing firm. I snapped a photo of the fountain in front of Emily’s Apartment #1, as it is featured many times in the series.
Our last stop was at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal. Since I pray to Her daily, I felt it right to see for myself the chapel dedicated to Her and have the chance to pray there. I bring the Miraculous Medal scapular with me wherever I go, so being in Her chapel was like a reward for me. This was a fitting conclusion to a fun day of meandering around a city that has so much to offer to visitors like me.
This was my second visit to Paris, but its allure made me feel like it was my first time. I certainly was mesmerized by everything the city has. To borrow a line from the song that, I think, represents the city, “…Hold me close and hold me fast, the magic spell you cast, this is La Vie En Rose.”
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