It’s raining sideways, the air is cold. I pull Kristina closer to me and we start walking toward our metro-station. The weather in Paris in January can be unpredictable. We have ordered three nights on the hotel Le 55 Montparnasse. Over the roof-tops we can see the Eiffel Tower. We are getting closer to our first metro-station Porte Maillot. I have been looking forward to experiencing French food , culture, architecture and to catch some of the Paris-magic and I have been reading myself up on the Paris Metro, this is going to be a great weekend.

The Metro in Paris can look messy at first sight, but as soon as you learn to read the metro map and find your way, it is a valuable aid for exploring the city- and it’s quite easy to understand. You have to find the metro-station closest to you destination, look at the line that passes through it, in the end of the line you find the number and end station. Sometimes you have to switch between several different lines to reach your destination. Paris has 14 metro-lines and 4 RER (express) lines, and with the metro day-pass you can travel with all of them.

From Porte Maillot we take the yellow line 1 to Champs Elysèes Clemencau and line 13 to Pernety – the metro closest to our hotel. Both the metro station and the hotel is situated on a small square with cozy pubs, restaurants fruit sale stands and bakeries. Waiters are walking over the street with baskets full of croissant to sell for today’s lunch.

From our metro-station Pernety we take the turquoise line 13 to Montparnasse Bienvenüe, the green line 6 to Bir-Hakeim and the Eiffel Tower. This line goes partly over ground and drive pass beautiful French buildings and squares, and over the roof tops it is again possible to se the Eiffel tower – now from a different angle. On our first day in Paris we get to feel the Paris winter weather. The wind is ice cold and the turbulence under the tower makes the rain drops come from everywhere, the umbrella we bought in the souvenir shop have flipped inside out 4 times already. So we decide to go to the top of the tower another day. We go back to the metro station Champ de Mars – close to the tower and take express line C to Invalides and line 13 to Champs Elysèes Clemencau – right on the middle of Avenue des Champs-Elysèes. Now it has become dark and all the lights in the street and the shop-windows are lit. In the top of the avenue, the impressive Arc de Triumphe is lighting up the sky, in the other end - on Place de la Concord - the more than three thousand year old Obelisk of Luxor. To look at these great monuments after dark is a memorable experience. From Arc de Triumphe we take the quickest rout home after a long day of traveling. From charles de Gaulle Etolie (under the arc) to Champs Elysèes Clemencau on line 1 and line 13 home to Pernety.

Outside our Hotel we found a very nice restaurant and ate French food and a few glasses of wine to wrap up the day.
The next morning – Saturday- we eat French breakfast – French bread, croissant, juice and dark roasted coffee- on a small restaurant – Aumetro. This day the weather is much better, 5 degrees and bright sun. We start the day by taking the Metro line 13 to Invalides and the RER line C to Champ the Mars – Back to the Eiffel tower.

The space under the tower is already full of tourists. And the lines in front of the elevators is stretching all over the open space. We decide to procrastinate the Eifel Tower one more time, instead we head for the Palais de Louvre. First on line c to Invalides then line 13 to Champs Elysèes Clemencau and line one to Palais Royal Musèe du Louvre. From this station you can walk right in to carousel du Louvre and enter the museum through here, usually the queues are much shorter from the carousel than through the glass pyramid. Inside the louvre we look at the map and fint out what to see, first French art, some Italian art which of course includes Mona Lisa and a quick look at some Egyptology. The architecture and greatness of the many rooms and hallways in the louvre are almost as amazing as the art, and you do not need to be an art expert to enjoy a day here. On Saturday the louvre closes at 6 pm and we are herded out.

Metro line 1 to Concord and line 12 to Abbesses takes us to Montmartre - Paris’s highest point. We walk through tight nice streets up the hill toward Sacré-Coeur. Montmartre is a fascinating bohemian part of the city that differs from the rest of Paris. The restaurant and pubs seems more intimate and the people who works here also looks a bit more bohemian. Many famus artists have lived parts of or whole there life on Montmartre. Famous names like Pablo Picasso, Amadeo Modigliani, Vincent van Gogh, and Henry Matisse.

Inside Sacré-Coeur we walk right into a evening sermon held by the nuns from Basilique Sacré-Coeur. A beautiful sermon full of atmosphere, and a nice quiet time while the nun’s sing. After the sermon we buy - and light candles, before we start the walk back down. From metro Blanche – Right outside the Moulin Rouge – we take line 12 to Charles de Gaulle Etolie then line 1 to Champs Elysèes Clemenceau and number 13 home to Pernety.

After breakfast on Aumetro on Sunday we go back to Montmartre to look at this charming place in daylight. We take our line 13 to place de Clichy and line 2 to Anvers, the metro closest to Sacré-Coeur and Funicular Montmartre (for those who don’t like stairs). The charming squares are filled with painters and artists. The many charming restaurants in the area offer a variety of different food.

From Anvers we take line 2 toward Barbès Rochechouart and line 4 to citè (Notre-Dame) – well , actually we did not – at this point my new metro skills were starting to be tired and we ended up un a much longer route, but that is a different story. Number 4 is the one you should take.
After Notre-Dame we once more – for the last time - go back to the Eiffel Tower. We take line 4 from Citè to St-Michel and RES line c to Champs de Mars. At 5pm the lines where much shorter, and from the top we saw Paris in sunset -very beautiful.

We are standing on Pont Notre dame ,– one of the many bridges crossing the river seine – in front of us is Pont au change beneath us is the river Seinen flowing. Kristina looks impatiently up on me an says “ are you not going to kiss me on this bridge?” A romantic moment on the bridge before we leave Paris, in three days we have experienced good food, exiting culture and a fascinating city. It’s sad to leave a city that in so short time can leave such a big impression.

I love Paris