I had a dream I was gliding through a beautiful wilderness on a big light blue bicycle with my guy and a bunch of strangers. And we stopped in a lush grassy field for a summer picnic at the water’s edge. There was a palace in the background and fountains everywhere…
Oh wait! That was real!
Our Versailles daydream!
On the way to the Metro station where our tour began, I found an Ememem Flacking project! I have been following this artist on Instagram forever. I love the way they make sidewalk cracks and imperfections into something beautiful!
I loved that our tour of Versailles was on bikes, and that we would see all the gardens that we had missed on our first trip to the palace in 2021. And I also loved that the tour began in Paris with a guide taking the group to Versailles on the Metro. Such a perfect way to organize the tour! We booked this tour through Get Your Guide, as Michael gets a corporate discount… but the tour operator is BLUE FOX TRAVEL. Here’s the tour on Get Your Guide. This was one of the best planned tours I think we’ve ever been on. I loved it all!
One of the first things we learned on this tour is that taking the Metro to Versailles is extremely easy. The line ends in Versailles, so you can’t go wrong. Get to the end, get off the train.
This was one of our planned tours that I was majorly looking forward to. I was dying to ride a bike through all that beauty. And it definitely did not disappoint! But first things first. Our tour guide took us through a food market and all of the tourists assembled their own picnic supply before we reached our bikes.
There was an indoor market…and an outdoor market…We were even taken to a boulangerie/patisserie for pre-made sandwiches and baked goods!We were all set for an epic picnic on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles!It was time to pick up our bikes!Trying one out for size…I got the saddlebags! The tour thought of everything!
It was just a short five or ten minute bike ride from where we picked up the bikes to the gardens entrance. I just love riding bikes. Not since we rode bikes through a small town in Nepal in 2018 have we had so much fun on bikes!
This was just inside the gates of the garden property…but far from the actual palace.The ride through the tree-lined boulevards was SO idyllic!We stopped by the ‘lake’ for a little break and photos. The guide was kind enough to take photos for those who wanted them…We definitely wanted to capture these moments!We stopped at the most picturesque location for a picnic. Right at the very end of the long ‘lake’. We all took our picnic treasures from our saddlebags and sought out our little squares of paradise in the grass. It was a beautiful September day…perfect for a picnic!We may have overdone it at the markets, but everything just looked SO good! We had sandwiches, cheeses, pastries, oh my!Yum…Happiness is…An unexpected guest…The pain au chocolat in France is an art form…an incredibly delectable art form.
Picnic over, ready to explore the village that Marie Antoinette had created for her bizarre indulgences…
Not gonna lie, what Marie Antoinette did at Versailles was creepy af. She created a fake little village for herself and had people wear the costumes of villagers so that she could walk among the little people. I know there’s context and she had a pushmepullya desire and repugnance with her station…but there’s a line. She crossed it. We wouldn’t cut off her head today, but she would be so cancelled she would essentially cease to exist…I would hope.
She built a village. So she could play being a part of village life. This was Disneyland before Disneyland existed…but there was only one person attending this amusement park.
Miss Marie.Miss Marie’s awkward bizarre little playland…Le Temple de l’Amour by Richard Mique…1777-1778.Imagine dressing up and playing make-believe farmer for your queen so she could walk by and see you pretend toiling!Some of the buildings were so pretty! Can’t believe they’re still standing after all these years.Look at that staircase!This is the only building that was open to the public. There was a public washroom on the ground floor. The top floor, where the windows are behind me, was just empty. They weren’t real houses…just made to look like real houses. They didn’t bother to finish them off inside. They were facades only…Did it ever work? I doubt it…The view from those windows. It all looks so real, doesn’t it. I found this little oasis a lot more than a little disturbing. But it was also fascinating. How much did this lonely lady want to escape her life. In the end, I suppose she did…though not in the prettiest of ways.
The Blue Fox tour actually ended at the gates of the Palace. It was up to us whether or not we wanted to go inside. We were both of two minds. It’s a zoo in there…but we were there. What the heck. The tour covered the ticket to go inside. You don’t find yourself at the gates of Versailles every day.
In 2021, we thought the palace was crowded. Boy, were we wrong! Once we got inside this time, we were swept up into a sea of humanity that we could NOT escape. It was terrible! 0/10 I hated it!
The imposing facade of the palace…It’s beauty everywhere you look, don’t get me wrong. It’s just one of the most crowded places I’ve ever been.
At one point, when we were trapped inside the meat-river of the flow inside the palace, I literally ran to a window and looked outside to feel a little relief.
The pretty gardens outside the palace, as seen from Hell…It’s absolutely beautiful inside the palace and I’m not saying you shouldn’t go. I’m just saying we had already seen it and we didn’t need to feel the claustrophobic craziness we experienced this time around…I took very little photos during our walk-through, because I just wanted to get out. The thing is, you can’t…the only way out is THROUGH. Most of the photos I did take were of ceilings, to avoid people. You can just see the heads of people in this shot. The flow of humanity through the Hall of Mirrors…
At one point we were all shoulder to shoulder like sardines. It became unbearable. It was SO very hot and there seemed to be no end to the ride.
But we escaped. We got to the end, we saw daylight again, we walked to the train station and got the hell out of Dodge. With a quick stop at the normalcy of McDonald’s to sooth the wild beasts that we had become when trapped inside the glittery gold palace.
This ends one of the best days of our trip… with one of the most chaotic endings…
Thursday the 14th of September was going to be a FULL day! It was going to begin with a long walk to Père Lachaise cemetery and it would end with a long walk back to the hotel from the Bateaux Parisiens dinner cruise. And those were only the bookends to our jammed packed day!
This was our second day, and our third tour with Emmanuel’s Hidden Gems! We were excited to see the hidden gems he would regale us with in Père Lachaise. We visited this renown cemetery on our own back in 2021 and were able to find all the more famous tombs with the assistance of Google Maps. No, really, we were. Just search “Jim Morrison’s grave” while standing in Père Lachaise and the lovely Google lady will take you right to it! But we wanted to see what else the cemetery had to offer. What did Emmanuel curate for us that we wouldn’t otherwise see?
The tomb of Chopin.
Emmanuel did not disappoint. We loved his choice of graves and the amusing and interesting anecdotes that came with them!
Again, I will try to convince the reader how wonderful Emmanuel’s tour was without giving away any of his carefully curated secrets. The point of his tours is that he takes you to Paris’s hidden gems, not all the places that ALL the tourists go to. This was true of his Père Lachaise tour as well.
I will just say one more thing… and it will be veiled. The price of the ticket was worth it just for the anecdote that went along with this enchanting tomb that Emmanuel took us to. And you wouldn’t guess in a million years the story of this grave…
The story of two men frozen in time together…take Emmanuel’s Hidden Gems tour of Père Lachaise to get the scoop. It’s amazing!The pre-Autumn light made it a perfect time to view the cemetery. We saw such wondrous things!
The best way to contact Emmanuel is through his Facebook PAGE. Once there, just send him a message. This is how we booked all 4 of our tours with him. We did it months in advance. You pay in cash on the day of the tour.
The cemetery was really just such a lovely place to wander, and Emmanuel made our second visit here so much more special. We connected more with the stories of some of the people residing in this amazing place.
The neighbourhood of the dead. So peaceful.
After the cemetery it was time to say goodbye to Emmanuel for another day. One more tour to go!
We walked to Place des Vosges to see the home (and now museum) of Victor Hugo. But along the way, we scouted out a place to stop in for a quick bite.
We found Apsara – Bar Tabac & Restaurant Asiatique. This was little more than a corner store, with tables to the side corner where we sat and had the most delicious Pad Thai! Always give the little places a go in Paris…they’ll surprise you! This place had amazing food!
Pad Thai at Apsara – Bar Tabac & Restaurant Asiatique.
Victor Hugo’s house in one of the corners of Place des Vosges was lovely. You need give yourself only twenty to thirty minutes for this one. Well worth the trip, though! And Place des Vosges is extraordinarily picturesque! Take some time to look around while you’re there!
This quirky little room reminded me so much of our hotel lobby, I thought they must have gotten the inspiration from Victor himself!I could live in this whimsy!This man is credited with the revival of interest in Notre-Dame Cathedral, and possibly with saving it from certain destruction. His Hunchback birthed a whole new interest in restoring the cathedral to its formal glory!Such rich colours!
Next on the agenda was the Panthéon. Yes, we saw this building in 2021. We went back for TWO things. Number one, we missed the timed tour of the rooftop during our first trip. Number two, we visited just prior to the induction of the great Josephine Baker. We had to go back to pay tribute to this amazing trailblazing woman!
The rooftop views were incredible. So glad we timed it right this trip!
The view of the dome of the Pantheon just prior to getting to the top!The tower you can view from all the high places in Paris, except from the view within the tower itself. 😉Possibly my favourite church in Paris. Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. This is the church that Gil lingered at prior to getting picked up and whisked into the Lost Generation’s 1920s world in MIDNIGHT IN PARIS!
Here it is! This is, I should add, a CENOTAPH. Josephine Baker is not actually buried here. This is such an honour and such a well-deserved one!
Josephine Baker – June 3rd, 1906 – April 12th, 1975. Born St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Died Paris, France.Flowers (and chocolate) for the dead…
Of course, we stopped to see Foucault’s pendulum! Look it up. It’s a great story!
Not just a pretty picture…the more you know!
Of course, we had to actually visit the Church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont (Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont). We were right there, and I did say it was possibly my favourite Paris church.
Church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont (Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont), or the MIDNIGHT IN PARIS rendezvous sight!It’s stunning inside and out…
Next up was the Conciergerie. This has always struck me as a beautiful building on the outside. I wanted to see the inside. This was where Marie Antoinette spent her last days before very carelessly losing her head (sorry, decapitation humour is not funny).
You can put this on your agenda if you’re in the area and don’t have a lot of time. I think it took us all of twenty minutes. Gorgeous, but sparse.
Next up was Crypte Archéologique de l’İle de la Cité. This too was a quick tour. Another monument we had not yet visited. This is a museum displaying ancient, Medieval & more recent remains found under Notre Dame. Quite fascinating and worth this visit! It’s directly in front of Notre-Dame Cathedral and often ignored. Visit!
Boy, did we take a lot in on this day! It’s exhausting just looking back on it and realizing how much we did!
Naturally, we went to Shakespeare & Company again. We were in the area and the day before Michael surprised me with a gift certificate for the store that my daughter and her family arranged for me for my birthday!
Part of my haul from Shakespeare & Company!The store even had a little message for me from my family back home! Soooo sweet!
We then took a long casual walk from the 4th arrondissement to the 7th! We had a date for a dinner cruise with Bateaux Parisiens!
First a fueling! We walked into another place we found along the way…this time, just for a drink.
Rosie’s Smokehouse! We liked it here…this was our first of three visits. Just stumbled upon it while walking by…
Some of the things we viewed along the way…
The last event of our DAY! A dinner cruise.
We arranged for a window seat on our Bateaux Parisiens dinner cruise. Best choice ever! Here’s the avant le vin shot…
The night blurred on, the wine flowed, the food amazed, the views stunned and it was all very very…
Après le vin…
The cruise is planned so that you arrive back at the base of the tower around the time of THE SPARKLE!
All that glitters is gold, all that sparkles is iconic…
That was our day! It was a LOT. But I don’t think I would have had it any other way!
Looking back, it was a day of many footsteps!
Takeaway? Must dos are EMMANUEL’S HIDDEN GEMS, PANTHEON, and BATEAUX PARISIENS dinner cruise! Put them on your Paris itinerary. You’ll thank me. I wouldn’t NOT recommend anything from this day, but these are the standouts!
We started my birthday off under the rainbow umbrellas of Le Ju’ in the Marais again. We visited this place a few times during our two weeks. They had the perfect quick breakfast of coffee, orange juice, baguettes and pain au chocolat!
A perfect bowl of coffee…The outdoor patio at Le Ju’.
The highlight of our day was to be the two tours we booked with Emmanuel’s Hidden Gems. We had heard so many great things about Emmanuel’s tours and we were excited to experience them ourselves!
Throughout our two week trip, we booked 4 of the 6 tours Emmanuel offers. For my birthday, we had 2 of those tours— The Marais in the morning and Montmartre in the afternoon. It doesn’t get much better than that!
As the name of Emmanuel’s tours suggests, these are carefully curated tours that will show you the hidden gems of the areas specific to each tour. You’ll see things you might otherwise walk past or miss all together. And there are stories to go along with the places Emmanuel points out along the way. I’ve been to these areas in the past, but these tours opened them up to me in new ways. I loved the details of the stories shared, and I really did feel like we were discovering hidden gems.
I’ll share a couple photos from each tour, but I wouldn’t want to give it all away by oversharing photos of everything we saw.
The Marais is rich with history and Emmanuel’s knowledge of the area gave us a wealth of information we would have otherwise missed. He brought the Marais to life for us.Emmanuel took us to so many special places on his Marais tour that we might have simply passed by without being shown. Truly hidden gems!
The Marais tour also has a couple well curated food stops, as well. Be prepared for some awesome delicacies!
After an amazing morning discovering some secrets of the Marais, Michael and I made our way to Montmartre. Reluctantly, we decided to take the Metro. We very rarely take the Metro. It’s excellent and extremely easy, but we prefer to walk. Walking in Paris, the journey is as exciting as the destination.
When you come up out of the Metro at Abbesses station (there are a LOT of stairs out of this station, so you might want to take the elevator up), you will see the Wall of Love directly behind the Metro exit.
We took a peek at the wall while we waited for the Montmartre tour to begin. We visited this sight when we were in Paris in 2021.
Emmanuel walked us around the neighbourhood of his childhood, entertaining us with amazing stories and more of the hidden gems an outsider might not notice on their own. The way he peppered stories and memories into his walking tour was perfect. It made the place open up to us and made us feel a deeper connection with it.
Another great thing about Emmanuel’s tours is that once he’s finished showing you the details off the beaten path, he ends the tours in the heart of the area. The Montmartre tour ended at the back of Sacré-Cœur Basilica, a perfect place to begin to explore the area on your own after learning so much of the neighbourhood’s history! HUGE thank you to Emmanuel for making my birthday such an extra special day! We saw so many amazing things on these two tours!
The Instagram famous La Maison Rose, in the heart of Montmartre.
Our expectations for Emmanuel’s first two tours were met and exceeded! It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.
After the Montmartre tour, and a little walk around the Basilica, we were off in the direction of our next stop! We chose Bouillon Chartier for my birthday dinner. We’d eaten there during our 2021 visit and enjoyed it very much. Time for a redo! It was just as wonderful as our memories suggested.
After dinner, we were in for one of those amazing Paris walks where you take in so many beautiful sights all at once…the kind of thing that makes you feel like a flâneur out for an endless stroll to nowhere and everywhere all at once!
We hit the Louvre…Naturally, after the Louvre comes the Tuileries.We walked along the river…We snapped the obligatory tower shot selfie while we walked along the banks of the Seine…Or…maybe we took a few! So what! It was my 57th birthday and we were in PARIS! Here’s another of his infamous peekaboo photobombs!The Eternal Flame, newly festooned with memorials to Princess Diana. It was the anniversary of her death a month before. We walked past this monument several times in 2021 when we stayed in the 9th.
After our long wander, we capped off my birthday with a show. We went to CRAZY HORSE PARIS. Fun show! Different.
So ends another birthday, in one of my favourite cities in the world with one of my favourite people in the world! Pure Magic!
KEVIN CRAIG 