Anytime!  There is so much to see and do.  If you ever get the opportunity and time, though, we would highly recommend seeing Paris when the Tour de France comes into town.  Most every year it is the last Sunday in July.  Due to Covid19, the race started for the first time in September of 2020.

The Tour de France bicycle race started in 1903 and consists of over 170 bicycle riders going over 2000 miles, mostly in France, in 21 days.  The course changes from year to year, but the ending of the race always terminates in Paris around the Champs-Elysees.  The Tour de France is described as “the world’s most prestigious and most difficult bicycle race.”

 

Would highly recommend that you go to a spot to view the race at least three or more hours before. We went by metro to area along Champs-Elysees, the finish line.  Usually there are three of four people deep. 

 

You really have to watch-out for pick-pockets anywhere in Paris, particular the metro.  I have a good friend who was pick-pocketed, as well as his mother!  Even the famous American travel writer, Rick Steves, was pick-pocketed in 2019.

Kathie and I saw the Tour in July of 2008.  What fond memories!  We were also in Paris with a student group in 1988 and 2006. 

We were patiently waiting for several hours standing up.  Luckily, we found spot along the fence in a “shady” area.  Across the street the sun was intense and some people were having “heat stroke.

 

What you never get to see on TV is the parade that comes through before the bicyclists.  Most of the sponsors have highly decorated floats.  Someone is on the microphone shouting away and awfully loud. 

The crowds are cheering as the bicyclists come through.  These guys were traveling at least 30mph.  They were so quick that I didn’t even get a picture!  The policemen close to us communicated by hand gestures that there were seven more trips around Champs-Elysees circle route. 

 

By the last day, the winner of the Tour de France has already been determined.  This man wearing the famous “Yellow” jersey has already been decided the day before.  In 2008 it was “Carlos Sastre.”  He went throughout his entire career, 1994-2011, without a single doping incident. 

 

The all-time winner, the American Lance Armstrong, is not recognized in the Tour de France due to a doping scandal.  I did enjoy his book, though, “More than the Bike.”  I will paraphrase his thoughts about biking: “There are two types of bicyclists,” he says, “one’s that have been in crashes, and those that will be in crashes.”

 Two years before, in 2006, leading a student group through France, we were in close to the French Alps in Annecy.  We were staying at the same hotel as the American riders.  We took a picture of their bus:

 

If you are not afraid of heights, everyone goes up the Eiffel Tower.  Made for the 1889 World’s Fair, the Eiffel reaches the height of 1,063 feet. It was the tallest building in the world for forty years.

Day or night, it is a great experience seeing Paris from the Eiffel Tower.

Records indicate that going up the Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world—about 7 million people per year.

 

A trip along the Seine River, particularly at night is a splendid experience.  Along the river, you may even spot a smaller “Statue of Liberty.”

On certain days the famous Paris museum, the Louvre, is free.  It is the world largest art museum. There are over 38,000 paintings.  Most people come and want to see the Mona Lisa—good luck! 

 

Another museum we highly recommend is the Musee d’Orsay—a museum of the French Impressionists.  We were approaching the Orsay when I spotted a banner with the portrait of who I thought was Claude Monet.  I said to Kathie, “Let’s find this famous portrait!” 

 

We spent forty-five minutes looking for this portrait of Monet.  I finally had enough courage to go up to several official looking people.  I asked in English, “Where is your famous portrait of Claude Monet?”  At first these three people looked at me in bewilderment.  I thought to myself, “Maybe they don’t speak English?”  Then one spoke up, “We don’t have a portrait of Monet, but we do have one of Vincent van Gogh.” 

The artist Vincent van Gogh did 38 self-portraits of himself in his lifetime.  Some say because he lacked funds to hire a model.

 

At one time, the famous Catholic cathedral of Notre-Dame was always on the list to be seen. 

Since the fire of 2019, you may want to pass on this site for a while.  We understand the famous stain glass was saved.

 

I would think the gargoyles would still be hanging from the Cathedral de Notre Dame.

We highly recommend a walk down Champs Elysees. The stores and people watching is interesting.   There is even a MacDonald’s along this famous street.  At one end there is the Arch de Triumph.  We would not want to drive in that circle surrounding the Arch. 

You should always budget time to see the Palace of Versailles.  I particularly liked the “Hall of Mirrors” where the WWI peace treaty was made. 

 

Two hours away by train, fifty miles southwest of Paris, is a day trip to see the Chartres Cathedral.  At night it is extremely spectacular with a beautiful light show. 

Less than a three-hour train ride is the beautiful area of Normandy. We stayed in a pension in Arromanches for three nights.

 

We will never forget seeing all the graves of American soldiers at Colleville-sur-Mer. Over 9,000 American soldiers are buried here who died around Normandy during WW II. They were surely heroes, not “suckers or losers.”