Paris

Location: Paris, France
Duration: 3 days

After the winter university break, my mom and I invited ourselves along to accompany Arseniy back to Scotland—it would make things easier for him with all the luggage, and it would also give us another excuse for a little city break. And once again, the choice fell on Paris.

We decided to spend three days at a relaxed pace, simply walking around the city center on foot, without a car or the metro. Since it was my mom’s first time in Paris, we planned to visit the absolute must-see landmarks, but we were careful not to overload our schedule. We didn’t want her to come away feeling as though she had been racing from one attraction to another.

The flight from Edinburgh was quick, taking about an hour and a half and making for a very pleasant journey.

We stayed right in the center, just a five-minute walk from Notre-Dame and the Louvre, in the Saint-Germain district, on a street packed with an incredible number of restaurants and dessert cafés.

What more could you ask for?

Of course, after the huge apartment in Scotland, the tiny room in our Paris hotel felt so small that there was barely enough space to turn around. But the location was absolutely worth it.

That evening, we only had time to check in and have dinner at one of the local restaurants.

Day 1.

I had really hoped that Paris would be less crowded with tourists in the winter—that the lines at the major attractions would be shorter and that visiting the museums would be a more pleasant experience. And, for the most part, that was exactly the case everywhere… except at the Louvre.

The last time we visited the Louvre was in July, and honestly, the crowds in January were no different from the summer ones. So yes, it’s still essential to book your tickets online; otherwise, the whole business with the lines will drag on forever (good thing I did!). Fortunately, the weather was very much like Seattle’s—far better than Scotland’s—so standing outside for a while wasn’t too bad.

We wandered through the Louvre to our heart’s content, staying there from almost opening time until lunchtime.

We had lunch nearby and then headed to Sainte-Chapelle. I love this place so much that I can never bring myself to skip it, and I wrote about it during my last visit. It is a true treasure—a crystal jewel box.

It was built in just a few years—an astonishingly short time for such a masterpiece.

The reason was extraordinary: it was intended to house some of Christianity’s greatest relics, including Christ’s Crown of Thorns and other sacred treasures brought from Jerusalem. Its enormous stained-glass windows make the chapel seem almost entirely transparent, filling it with brilliantly colored light.

And despite all this, the construction of the chapel cost less than the purchase of the Crown of Thorns itself.

The stained-glass windows are made up of 1,113 colored glass panels.

Together, they tell the entire story of the Bible in color and light—from the Creation of the world to the Passion of Christ. King Louis IX even included himself in the story: on one of the windows, he is depicted receiving the sacred relics.

But here’s the irony: not a single one of the relics for which the chapel was built remains here today. This jewel box now stands empty. The Crown of Thorns was kept here for more than five centuries, but during the French Revolution it was first hidden in a library and later, under Napoleon, transferred to Notre-Dame de Paris. By then, Sainte-Chapelle was no longer an active chapel and had become simply an architectural monument—dazzlingly beautiful, filled with light and history.

After visiting the chapel, we headed to Notre-Dame de Paris. The last time we were here, the restoration work had not yet been completed, and before that I had last visited the cathedral many years ago, in 1996 and 2000.

Today the cathedral feels so much lighter and newer, as if it has become an entirely different place.

We walked the trail to the end and then headed north to catch a bit of Yoho National Park. We explored Natural Bridge — there’s no official trail there, but you can climb on the rocks and walk along the shore for a long time.

We drove to Emerald Lake. I planned to walk around it, but the boys wanted to go boating. Unfortunately, dogs aren’t allowed on the boats. A shame — Rorik really loves boat rides and behaves well on the water. So we split up: we walked around the lake, and the boys went boating. Everyone was very happy. A wonderful place.

It was fascinating to watch how, with the slightest movement of the clouds and a change in viewing angle, the color of the lake shifted from dark leaden to light turquoise. One could never get enough of it.

Returning, we walked around town again and swam in the pool.

The next day we headed north again, this time along the Icefields Parkway

to Bow Lake. We probably walked around there for about an hour and a half. Incredible atmosphere.

After the lake, we went to Peyto Lake. A short trail to the viewpoint was covered with slippery snow; everyone was slipping, and there were already quite a few people. But the views, of course, were amazing.

Actually, in summer the water of the lake is more like emerald with a milky aquamarine tint, but the thin layer of ice still covering the lake made it dazzlingly blue.

The next stop was Mistaya Canyon — also a short walk to a place where you can roam for a long time without marked trails. Just along the rocks by the banks.

We returned and again walked and swam. Rested and relaxed.

On the last day before leaving, we went to Banff itself and hiked Tunnel Mountain.

A gorgeous, easy trail with views in all directions.

We had lunch in Banff and then drove to Calgary.
In the evening, we walked in a local park overlooking downtown.