Best Places to Jump in Paris

In the middle of December, I packed my bags and headed to Europe for a well deserved vacation with my family. We’ve been to Paris in the past (I think a total of three times before this trip) so my list of places to jump/visit may not be comprehensive for first time visitors (although if you’d like suggestions from past trips, you can always e-mail me). I’ll also mention that I almost died from food poisoning in Paris, so if I look deathly ill in the pictures/I’m not jumping in all of the pics, you know why. Okay, let’s get started….

1. The Arc de Triomphe/Champs-Élysées:

Jump for France!

Our hotel was down the street from the Arc de Triomphe, which is one of the most famous monuments in Paris. It was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon in 1806 after the victory at Austerlitz to honor those who fought for France and wasn’t completed until 1836 (the original architect, Jean Chalgrin, died in 1811 and there were other complications that prolonged the completion of the arc.) On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought.

2. The Champs-Élysées:

I’m including the Champs-Élysées right after the Arc de Triomphe because I don’t have any jumping pictures from the most famous street in Paris but technically, the arc picture was taken ON the Champs-Élysées). There are a ton of shops, high-end boutiques, and restaurants along the street, which is the most expensive strip of land in Europe. The name Champs-Élysées means Elysian Fields, the place of the blessed in Greek mythology. There are a lot of wonderful places to visit along the street, which lead to my second, third, and fourth best places to jump – the Jardin des Tuileries, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and the Palais du Louvre.

3. Jardin des Tuileries

Jump for Richard Serra!

Do you recognize the sculptures? I actually have a picture of me jumping by the exact same Richard Serra scupltures (taken at the MoMa last summer). The sculptures were in the Jardin des Tuileries, which still closely follow a design laid out by landscape architect Andre Le Notre in 1664.

4. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel

The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is a miniature Arc de Triomphe that reminded me of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel was modeled after the Arch of Constantine I of 312 AD and was built to commemorate France’s military victories in 1805.

5. The Louvre Museum

As you can see, my family is extremely supportive of all of my crazy picture ideas and have some great poses of their own!

The Louvre Museum is the world’s most visited museum and is the largest museums I have ever visited (although I think the Hermitage in St. Petersburg is quite large.) The Louvre was actually a palace at one point, where people actually LIVED, and was converted into a public museum during the French Revolution. The most famous painting in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa, which is kept behind lots of protective glass. Sadly, this is as close as I got to the paintings/sculptures:

Yay! The cool elevator! That’s all you NEED to see, anyway.

You see, we walked to the Louvre on our way to Notre Dame one afternoon and took some impromptu pictures but planned to visit the museum the next day in the morning (the museum is gigantic and you definitely need the entire day to get through a wing.) However, plans changed because I got food poisoning and was stuck in bed for two days, but David and my mom made it to the museum and had a great time (and even got to take a lot of pictures!)

6. Notre Dame

Jump for gothic architecture!

Notre Dame was finished in 1345 (it was started in 1161 under Louis VII) and is considered to be one of the best examples of gothic architecture. It’s still used by the Roman Catholics and there are services throughout the day (the last time I was in Paris, I attended the midnight mass at Notre Dame with my family.) Inside, you can admire the beautiful stained glass, climb the bell tower (there are five bells in Notre Dame), or light a candle for loved ones:

7. The Sacré-Cœur Basilica

The Sacré-Cœur Basilica is located at the summit of butte Montmartre, the highest point in the city. If you climb all the steps to the church dedicated to the 58,000 who lost their lives during the war, you can get a panoramic view of Paris. Since Paris was cloudy and rainy our entire trip, I decided against climbing the steps (especially since I couldn’t stand up straight from ALMOST DYING). One major turn-off about the church is that there are these pushy men selling “friendship bracelets” on the front steps/entryway to the church. Not only do they bother you and tell you that they want to be your friend, one of the guys actually GRABBED my arm! I definitely pushed him off me and told him to never touch me again, which scared him and all of his slimy friends.

8. Centre Georges Pompidou

With Professor Chin, the first person I’ve ever met with their own wikipedia entry

Some Parisians consider the Pompidou center to be an eyesore (although when the Eiffel Tower was constructed, Parisians complained about that as well). The Pompidou Center is a large building that is home to the museum of modern art, a public library, and a center for music and acoustic research. We met up with my mom’s friend, Dr. Wynne Chin, to go through the museum of modern art. The museum has some really “out there” pieces of art, but these two were the most memorable:

Anish Kapoor, the same artist responsible for Cloudgate (the big bean) in Chicago, made the sculpture above. It was basically a big bowl that was painted the reddish color but when you walked around, the perception of the concavity changed.

The blue man, who reminded me of Tobias from Arrested Development.

9. The Eiffel Tower

And finally, the Eiffel Tower. I almost didn’t make it to the Eiffel Tower this year – we kept delaying the visit because it was kind of out of the way. The night before we left for Barcelona, we hopped into a cab and quickly took pictures of the Eiffel Tower because who goes to Paris and doesn’t even bother to see the Eiffel Tower?! The Eiffel Tower was named after its architect, Gustave Eiffel, who originally wanted to build the structure in Barcelona but was turned down by the Consistory of Barcelona because they thought it didn’t fit the design of the city. Luckily for Paris, Eiffel was allowed the build the tower in their city and is now the most visited paid monument in the world.

Well, that’s my round-up of the best places to jump in Paris. Did you go somewhere in Paris that you think I missed? I’ll post about the rest of my vacation adventures when I get a chance – we still have foods of Paris, places to jump in Barcelona, and places to jump in Madrid!