"Paris, France" a Paris Travel Page by penumbra

Ah, Paris. My favorite city. The first time I visited Paris, a couple of friends and I were passing through on our way from Rotterdam to Madrid. We had forty minutes after our train arrived at Gare du Nord to get to our next train at Gare Austerlitz. None of us had ever been to Paris before and the travel agent just laughed when she booked our bunks on the Madrid train. We made the connection but of course we didn’t see anything in Paris except two train stations and the metro in between.

My second visit was a week later. I was heading back to work from the Mediterranean and had a couple of hours before my train departed from Gare du Nord. Of all the monuments in Paris, I wanted to be sure to see the Eiffel Tower. Back in the metro, I managed to resurface near the Eiffel Tower and finally felt like I’d arrived in Paris. A walk along the Seine and it was time to leave again.

One week later, I was down in Paris to rejoin my friends for the weekend. Finally, I got a chance to walk around and begin to appreciate some of what the city has to offer. Following that trip, I usually arranged to end my European train tours with a couple of days in Paris. I celebrated my thirtieth birthday in Paris, a Christmas and Paris is where I chose to ring in the new millennium.

So what’s the attraction? For me it’s the large number of monuments spread over a large but easily accessible city. The metro is superb, but much of my time is spent walking the streets and the various neighborhoods. Even after all of my trips, there are still a large number of streets that I haven’t explored and I’m seldom disappointed when I wander off the beaten path.