Lyon, France

Today was our last day of Europe trip. We had bought 5+1 free day EURAIL pass, we had already made our mind to visit Lyon by TGV and return back on the same day fully utilising the pass. Paris-Lyon is the first route on which TGV train ran for more than 300 kmph. We took metro route 14 Gare St Lazare and got down at Gare de Lyon which is the third main station we were getting down or taking train from in Paris. The train was there with its blue-grey livery and attendants helping out passengers.

Paris-Lyon train

The train was as expected fast and smooth. This time too we had breakfast from the pantry car enjoying the beautiful scenery rush past. French countryside is beautiful with meadows of green grass or fields.

We got down at Gare Part-Dieu station at Lyon. We had thought of going all the way to La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière which is situated on a little hill around 4km from the station. We had 6 hours to spend which was neither less to take transport nor enough to do a full tour, so we decided to walk all the way and witness what is there to see. The walk was a straight path crossing two rivers - Rhone and Saone who meet further in Lyon. We started walking and watched the streets, buildings and people going about their ways.

Outside Lyon station

building in Lyon

Rhone river

Rhone river

In between we briefly stopped to witness Saint-Bonaventure's Church. The river crossings offered beautiful views of the promenade. The river was clean and green. We witnessed a vegetable market and artists selling paintings on the footpath.

Saone river

Paintings on footpath

Road signs Lyon

 After crossing Saone, we had to climb a bit to come to Basilica. It was great to look at and also its interiors were beautiful. However, the best part was panoramic and wide angle views of whole Lyon town. Not surprisingly, people spent more time gazing at the views far and wide. Most of the buildings had red tiled roof and white, cream, beige or ochre in color structure giving city a distinctive look.

Basilica

Inside Basilica

Red tile sloping roofs

Panaromic view of Lyon

We walked down to come to another cathedral Saint-Jean Baptiste which was again an impressive building and quite interiors.

Cathedral

We then walked on the cobbled streets of what is the old part of Lyon. There were several bouchons who serve traditional and contemporary cuisine. The seats are both inside or on the streets. We sat down at one such bouchon and asked the owner whether we can share the meal? Generally it is awkward or simply not allowed but she agreed and we had our meal. We took a meal which had fish and rice. The bouchon was really old visible from its creaking wooden interiors but quite charming.

Old Lyon

Eateries

Eateries

our bouchon

our meal at bouchon

We walked around bit more around and then started back for station, this time taking parallel bridge and street this time. The bridge over Saone was unique in way that it was meant for pedestrians only and was supported by ropes from a single tower. Looks like French blend art and engineering so well. We then came to Place des Jacobins which is city square with an elaborate fountain & surrounded by tall, 19th-century townhouse buildings.

Art around the bridge

Artistic one pillar bridge

beautiful view

main square

 

This is a post office!

Back to Paris

We finally reached the station back for our return journey. In the return run, I figured that there is a onboard WiFi and I connected to it by asking the attendant. Now I could see the location of train and speed on their own welcome page. We reached Paris by evening. Imagine covering 1000km rountrip to a city and leisurely covering a part of it and reach home before evening!

Luxembourg

Day 3
Today we were destined to go to Luxembourg City from Paris. We took train to go to Gare de l'Est station. I was excited to travel on TGV for the first time. The train departed on time and slowly got out of Paris suburbs and then picked up speed. I got breakfast from the pantry and we sat their watching the French countryside roll past. My phone GPS didn't work and didn't get reminded to ask the train attendant about onboard WiFi so couldn't measure the speed. But I think it was mostly above 200 kmph and probably at some point it might have touched 300 kmph which seem to be the limit.

Station display 

Our train on the platform

Station concourse

Our train

High speed

The Luxembourg City station was artistically done. The hotel at Luxembourg City was near station and we decided to walk to it. However, the name which we were looking for was not there at the location. We had to go a little up & down and asked a couple of people and shops to come back where we had expected it to be. The homestay was by some other name. We checked in and quickly went for our Hop-on Hop-off tour whose meeting point was Boulevard Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The weather was overcast and chilly which made us bring out our jackets. We simply walked to the place and obtained the proper ticket against our Viator pass. Nearby located is Gelle Fra memorial which is an obelisk with a golden lady to commemorate the Luxembourgers who died in WW1.

Street scene

Street scene

Obelisk

At our HoHo point

Luxembourg is a very small country. It is a city-state with Luxembourg City being the main and only city. Historically, being a small state, the surrounding forces have kept it neutral to be that point of equilibrium. Due to its neutral polity and stable government there are lot of official and financial institutions here. People travel across Luxembourg or even towns from adjacent countries like France and Belgium everyday to work here. Imagine commuting to another country everyday! The city is known for being seat of European Union. The city itself is a medieval city built on deep gorges cut by rivers. The city is graded, some at the top and some at the bottom in the gorge which makes it very dramatic.

Bock casemates castle remains

Bock casemates giver & gorge

We got onto the bus in first round didn't get down anywhere and came back to starting point in 1.5 hours. We then has a quick bite at McDonald's and decided to go for Petrusse Express. Its a small toy train which runs on road which takes tourists through the old fortified city.

Petrusse Express

The starting point is at The Montée de Clausen which is very near to Bock Casemates which is a castle built around the gorge. The castle is now UNESCO heritage site. While we waited to depart, we could view the old city in the gorge from different viewpoints of Bock casemates. The buildings are mostly yellow with black pyramid roof trying to rise above the gorge.

Bock Casemates UNESCO site

City in the gorge

City in the gorge

The tour was enjoyable with complementary commentary of the sites. We came back to the starting point and again walked back through the lanes to be at bus stop for our hop-on-hop-off. In between we passed through the Grand Duchess Charlotte Memorial in Clairefontaine Square, not far from the late-Gothic Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin (1613), and the Government District.

Luxembourg compass

National monument

directions

We got into the bus again this time with intention of getting down at some point. We got down at Kirchberg which is the area where all the banks and offices are located. After strolling around we went to Auchen mall and had Starbucks coffee.

Outside Auchen mall

Denske bank building Kirchberg

We then took the next bus and came back to main station close to our lodgings. In the evening we went to an Indian restaurant Taj Mahal which turned out to be Nepalese restaurant.

Taj Mahal restaurant

We ordered the entrees the way we do in India but the portions were so huge that we had to pack the leftover for next day.

Paris, France

We planned to go to Europe in the year 2017 in summer. We were thinking of visiting few countries and debated over whether through a tour guide OR on our own. Finally we settled on our own. This involved planning an itinerary, purchasing EURAIL pass and making reservations and booking hotels and tours and even figuring out local transport. This involved lot of research which we did step by step.

We chalked out a two week itinerary, first landing into Paris - Luxembourg - Cologne - Amsterdam - Brussels - Paris, 5 countries. There was a EURAIL pass which gave 5 + 1 free day. The EURAIL pass is accepted in most trains however in some important trains like TGV, we have to make reservations to board the train. For Regional trains, since there are no reservations, we can board them on will. The pass is applicable for whole day of the travel not a particular leg. So, if we use the pass on any particular day, we could any number of trains on that day. We utilised this for our trip to Lyon where we did roundtrip on the same day. We were seated in First Class throughout Europe trip as EURAIL pass is available for that class only.

For hotels, we first tried to book by Airbnb but after couple of failed attempts to book and being worried about whether it is good into houses or stick to standard hotels, we chose to be in hotels which are conveniently located. We used both Expedia, booking.com and direct hotel websites. We had to make 6 different reservations for 14 days.

All our tours were booked by Viator which we found to be trustworthy as the time and instructions were properly given and we didn't have any trouble with any of our tours. For local transport, every city had its own multiple modes of transport which we utilised as much as we can.

Day 1

We landed at Charles De Gaulle airport, Paris in their morning around 8am local time. We could make out the vast expanse of beautiful landscape from the plane.

View of French landscape outside Paris

We had booked a shared shuttle from Super Shuttle. Thankfully the Terminal WiFi worked and I was able to update the gate which we were going to get out from. The shuttle was waiting for us there. Then it picked couple of more folks and we were off to Paris.

We were not tired too much and tried to soak in the views. This being morning and a working day there was lot of traffic. We stopped couple of times but in orderly traffic. Our lane to exit was long and adjacent one empty but nobody tried to come up and occupy the space. The cab dropped us right in front of the hotel. We were booked in Hotel Darcet which was in the Rue Darcet, very near to Place De Clichy, a major intersection point in central Paris with a Bus and Metro being available.

Place de Clichy

We had an upcoming tour of Eiffel Tower at 12:30pm from 33 avenue de la Bourdonnais. We hurried through our routine and went to Trocadero which is a major hub close to Eiffel Tower by bus. Eiffel Tower is visible from here but one has to cross Jardins du Tracadero park, then cross the Seine river to come close to the base of Eiffel Tower. The avenue where we were to meet was one of the lanes on the side and unfortunately I did not work out the way fully. The time was ticking and we had some jittery moments asking people and policemen who could not understand what we were asking. Finally we spotted the lane and ran to the meeting point. Thankfully we managed to locate our group which was just about to leave. It was pretty hot at that time with bright sun which probably was also severe due to clear sky. The sunlight was unbearable to eyes and started sweating soon. Anyhow, the joy of making thus far after enormous planning and finally being able to make it was satisfying.

We finally came up close and personal with Eiffel tower, the most visited monument, symbol of love, wonder of the world, engineering marvel and an iron giant. Words are enough to describe what it feels to be to look at the monument against the blue sky, its beauty, poise and elan.

Eiffel Tower, most visited monument in the world

The tour we booked just include a "skip-the-line" privilege with a guided tour of level 1 & 2. Our guide was a young and enthusiastic lady who gave all the regular information. We went through elaborate security check and then took lift and came to second floor with the guide. The guide gave us a good overview of the Eiffel Tower. One Trivia about Eiffel Tower is that it takes 7 years to paint it fully and then they start all over again. Other being that it gets painted to different colors like red. The tickets to go to the top has to be purchased separately and then stand in queue for the lift. We did not have that much patience and were happy with what we got to see from second floor which itself was quite high. Tours and tickets to the top can also be booked in advance but they get sold almost an year back and are obviously expensive. Eiffel tower has 3 restaurants one at the top and then one at each level. Our guide bade us good bye at second floor and we were left to explore the place on our own leisure. It being hot and we being a little dizzy from our travel, we modestly went around the place. One can just stand on all four sides and try to look as far away in the city as possible. We could spot all the rest of the monuments of Paris. The Seine river meanders through and comes close to Eiffel tower with multiple arched stone bridges on it. Tourist boats floating in the river. The vast ground in front of the Eiffel Tower where people are loitering around. Paris downtown with skyscrapers.

Paris wide angle view with Paris downtown in distance

Seine River with numerous bridges

Ground in front of Eiffel Tower

We climbed down from 2nd floor to 1st floor witnessing mesh of iron trusses, beams, girders. There was just too much of metal.

Metal edifice

Too much metal iron!

First floor has section of transparent floor which we tried to step onto and getting scared. We had lunch at 58 Tour Eiffel restaurant which was three course set menu worth 32 Euros each. Then we got down to ground floor and admired the view around.

At the base

Different angle

We were anyway feeling dizzy so we sat down under shade and had a brief siesta. After savouring the place enough we left from from a little away from tower and got to witness it diagonally.

Looking diagonally

Then we came to Trocadero. From there we walked down to Arc De Triomphe which is another famous monument in Paris. It was erected to honour those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. There is a roundabout around it where 12 roads meet but there are underground subway to reach it. The monument has names of the prominent personalities written. There is an eternal fire burning underneath. Reminded me of our own India gate.

Arc de Triomphe

Eternal flame at Arc De Triomphe

Names engraved on Arc De Triomphe

Champ-Elysees is one of the main avenue in Paris. Champ-Elysees and Arc De Triomphe are the places which one witness on television or media as this is where French celebrate, for example when they won the world cup football. We walked down it witnessing the glitzy showrooms, restaurants and shops all the way to Place de la Concorde where there is an obelisk planked by two fountains called Fountains Des Mars. There was a giant wheel under construction there just in front of Jardin de Tuliers garden. The obelisk reminded me of obelisk at Sultanahmet in Istanbul, Turkey.

Champ Elysees

Champ Elysees

Place de la Concorde

Obelisk

 We went inside to find a small pond with chairs spread around for anyone to sit. After relaxing for some time, we came out to Musee D'Orsay from where we caught train back to Place de Clichy. We were helped by a Paris metro assistant to figure out the way.

Place de la Concorde

Jardin de Tuliers

Love locks

Paris metro

Day 2
Next day we had planned to go to Palace de Versailles which we had pre-booked for visit. We took train from Place de Clichy and switched at intermediate station to finally arrive at Gare de Versailles Château Rive Gauche. From there palace was walking distance.

Gare De Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche

There was huge crowd to visit the palace. It took an hour just to enter the palace. Palace of Versailles was the principal residence of the Kings of France from Louis XIV in 1682 until the beginning of the French Revolution in 1789. The palace is now a French Historic Monument and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Palace

Crowd gathered at the Palace

Palace

The main palace is height of opulence with rooms after rooms of intricate carvings, paintings,  cornices, chandeliers & furniture. Oil paintings of successive rulers, queens. Ceilings were painted like Sistine chapel. So much opulence that it hurts. No wonder that due to indulgence of rulers of that time, general people were neglected and that led to French revolution!

Grand hall

Paintings of rulers of that time

Opulence

Ceiling

Chandelier walk

The palace is quite grand with huge spread out building. If the building is marvellous, the sprawling gardens behind it are equally marvellous. The garden has slender plus shaped water body with sprawling green grass and trees and bushes around. The tall green grass was so inviting that people were relaxing on it in shade. We did the same for some time. I just marvelled at the greenery around that I was watching. Haven't see any such tranquil, oozing green garden. There is always some not so good patch but here the trees, bushes were uniform and green throughout.

Just outside the palace

Gardens beyond the palace

Monument inside lake

Palace from distance

One of the gardens was curated to the hilt. There was a shooting of some movie or show was going on with actors dressed like medieval times.

Curated garden

Actors of medieval times

There are couple of residences apart from main palace called Grand Trianon and Petit Trianon built for Queens. One can imagine how grand and opulent lifestyle the royals were living that it was one of the factors for french people to overthrow the monarchy.

Queen bed

Queen herself

 We went around the garden, rested under trees, walked on trails covered by trees and try to soak in beauty and tranquility all around.

walkway

garden

We were hungry and what we could eat was loaf bread from the only outlet. We finally left around 4:00PM the same way we came.

In the evening, we had another plan of Seine River Cruise. We quickly got ready at the hotel and took a bus to the meeting point. The cruise was to start from Marina de Paris, Port de Solferino, Quai Anatole. While we were in bus, the sky became overcast and it started raining. Thankfully we got down close to the meeting point and after some waiting we were ushered into the boat and onto our table. The package included three course dinner but not fixed vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. The food was a disappointment mostly due to our inability to savour unfamiliar cuisine. But rest of the ambience of the boat and service was good. The cruise sails down the river upto a point, then takes a U-turn and comes a little beyond Eiffel Tower on seine river. We figured the reason for this timed route is to for guests to witness the shimmering of Eiffel tower which happens for full 5-minutes at the turn of every hour. It was amazing to look at the Eiffel tower shimmering, with cool breeze, gentle music and your spouse around. Surprisingly there was a small statue of liberty similar to the one in New York!

Eiffel tower all illuminated

Statue of Liberty in Paris

The cruise ended beyond 11pm but thankfully we were able to catch a bus to come back to hotel after a long day.

Day 3
We came back to Paris in our last leg of the journey again. We left from Brussels for Paris again in Thalys. We arrived at Gare du Nord, Paris and went to our hotel Ibis Styles at Bercy by taking train RER D. We checked-in and immediately went to Louvre museum by bus. We had pre-booked our tickets for Louvre for that day. Louvre Pyramid is a glass and metal structure and acts as entry point into the museum. The square around the Pyramid is flanked by museum building. Louvre is quite huge and has several galleries. It hosts the most iconic painting of Mona Lisa which expectedly had huge crowd in front to admire. We glanced through the galleries of Roman, Egyptian and several other cultures. It is impossible to do justice to this place in half-a-day but what can a time crunched tourist can do.

Louvre Pyramid

outside Louvre

Louvre building

We came out and decided to go to Notre Dame cathedral. We first came to Town Hall which was an impressive building, then cross the Seine river bridge.

Town Hall

Road signs

Seine River boats

Seine river boats

Notre Dame is on an island on Seine. The exterior of building is grand and is finest example French-Gothic architecture. We went inside cathedral which was equally grand with very high ceiling with arched roof, stained glasses.

Notre Dame cathedral

Inside Notre Dame

Notre Dame

We came out of the building and crossed back Seine and came to Pont Neuf - Quai du Louvre. We wanted to go to Eiffel tower for our final view of its glittering view but there was still time as sunset happened beyond 8pm. Found that there is a bus route no. 69 which goes to Champ De Mars from Gambetta. Paris had complicated set of transport and ticketing. But I figured that the t+ tickets have time validity. Just to kill time and witness more of the city, we decided to take the bus to Gambetta and take same bus back all the way to Eiffel Tower. It was worth it as we traversed through city. We witnessed July Tower while transit and many more sights and sounds. We eventually came back to Eiffel Tower. There were huge number of people gathered in the garden below tower. We too sat down. Few vendors came to sell Wine, Beer  or Champagne and even provided glasses! Apparently, Eiffel tower being symbol of love, lot of romantics flock the place and to make the moment special they are provided with spirit. Surprisingly, none of these vendors could quench your thirst even though it was quite hot in Paris and had to purchase it from a shop.

Dusk

Crowd gathered at tower

We started walking back towards Trocadero and witnessed the shimmering at 8pm hours for whole 5 minutes. Huge crowd was there to witness.

Eiffel tower illuminated

We looked for food but most of the places has 3-course meal plan and found a pizza shop. From there we took Paris metro route 6 (Nation) to our hotel. Next day we went to Lyon & back by 5PM. With nothing planned for the evening, we spent time in a nearby park and went to Seine promenade. Later in the evening we had dinner at an Indian restaurant and retired for the day.

Next day we had morning flight for which booked shared cab which picked us up in time but we nearly missed our flight when it took enormous time for immigration and security check. We had to run full-speed to our gate. The airlines person scolded us for being late and they were searching for our bags to offload. Luckily, it got sorted and we were allowed to board. That's how our adventurous trip to Europe ended.