On my first whole day in Paris, I explored the city on top of a double decker L'Open Tour bus to acquaint myself with the different arrondissements and prepare for the next 8 days of discovering the City of Love on my silver FitFlops. :P
There are quite a lot of L'Open Tour buses going around the city. You just have to get on at one of
the many stops, buy a ticket, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride. (But please remember to plug your
earphones! I wore mine but forgot to plug them so I missed out on about 15 minutes worth of
information. Hahaha! NOT a morning person. Thank you to the nice gentleman who ever so
gently pointed out my boo boo.)
I got on at the Saint Germain des Pres stop which was just a short walk from
my home sweet home in Paris, La Villa Saint Germain
31 euros gets you earphones, a route map, a discount booklet, and unlimited rides for a day on the
green L'Open hop-on hop-off buses. I chose this over the red Les Cars Rouges because its 4 circuits
(Paris Grand Tour, Montparnasse-Saint Germain, Montmartre-Grand Boulevards, Bastille-Bercy)
cover more of the city.
And off we go!
Some sights I saw along the Montparnasse-Saint Germain and Paris Grand Tour routes (I switched buses at Invalides at some point):
I hopped off at Champs Elysees and walked to Four Seasons George V for my lunch at Le Cinq.
Read about the summer gourmet tasting menu here.
After the mid-day indulgence, I walked to Charles de Gaulle-Etoile stop, hopped on the bus again, changed to the Montmartre circuit at Madeleine to get to my afternoon destination - Sacre Couer.
Some attractions along the way:
And finally, I reached my stop.
Montmartre-Anvers
My time at Sacre Couer was so beautiful it deserves a post of its own. Read about it here.
If you are visiting Paris for the very first time, L'Open Tour is a great way to explore the city. After just a few hours going around hopping on and off, I felt confident that I could walk the city (and not get friggin lost) on my own.
I love traveling solo.
It's just that most of my pictures ended up looking like this.
And yes, mahangin sa labas! :D
