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June 19 – Paris City Tour : 2019 France Trip Memories

Women's World Cup posters in Paris, June 19, 2019

First full day in France, took a bus tour. We saw and photographed a lot of the famous landmarks during this tour, but I’m not going to focus on the typical guide book stuff if I can help it. The photos I’m sharing here are more about my impressions of the Paris as we worked our way around.

Paris Bus Tour June 19, 2019
Paris Bus Tour June 19, 2019

Didn’t climb the Arc de Triomphe, but these people did.

Tourists on the Arc de Triomphe, June 19, 2019
Tourists on the Arc de Triomphe, June 19, 2019

Photo from a tour bus of marked off photo line for tourists at the Arc de Triomphe. Paris in a nutshell: tourists, photos, traffic, and more tourists.

Traffic Island for Tourists to Take Photos in front of the Arc de Triomphe, June 19, 2019
Traffic Island for Tourists to Take Photos in front of the Arc de Triomphe, June 19, 2019

One of countless rideshare electric scooters in front of the Eiffel Tower. Definitely ended up using these scooters after a while as it was 95 degrees most of the time making walking and the subway a less attractive way to get around the city.

Eiffel Tower, June 19, 2019
Eiffel Tower, June 19, 2019

Read the names across the top – the Eiffel Tower is a monument to science! I had no idea before this bus tour, somehow that’s not usually highlighted when spoken about.

The Eiffel Tower is a monument to science.
The Eiffel Tower is a monument to science.

The statuary on top of the National Academy of Music is quintessential French. Love it.

Architects sign the buildings in Paris, why doesn’t this happen everywhere? The varied decorative features on the buildings were lovely, couldn’t get enough.

This is one of my favorite photos, people are the same everywhere. Can’t have a cherub in a fountain without turning it into an anarchist with a curly mustache.

Anarchist Cherub Fountain, Paris, June 19, 2019
Anarchist Cherub Fountain, Paris, June 19, 2019

This Ferris wheel was in varied states of construction during our time there.

Assembling the Big Wheel at the Place de la Concorde, June 19, 2019
Assembling the Big Wheel at the Place de la Concorde, June 19, 2019

Mosaic street art dotted the city. Here are two of the many we saw.

This “Religieus” cream puff was gluten free. I think about this cream puff a lot, I’m not gonna lie.

This is Gluten Free, Paris, June 19, 2019
This is Gluten Free, Paris, June 19, 2019

Paris streets as seen from the top of a tour bus.

Support for women’s world cup soccer wasn’t ubiquitous, a few Parisians we spoke to didn’t even know it was going on. But graphic art posters like these were spotted here and there around the city.

Women's World Cup posters in Paris, June 19, 2019
Women’s World Cup posters in Paris, June 19, 2019

We found ourselves speaking to some Scottish soccer fans in a pub, turns out the Scotland team was playing Argentina this night right in Paris. We went onto the FIFA website and got ourselves front row tickets. The stadium wasn’t sold out from lukewarm interest in the game, but we went as a trial run to see how attending these games works so we were savvy for the US games. Turns out we had a great time, that’s my next post.

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