Our day started off with a bit of a disaster. We spent ages trying to find Du Pain et des Idées, circling an area for about 30 minutes before finding the boulangerie was closed on weekends. So frustrating, but I guess we should’ve checked opening times beforehand.
Luckily we were pretty close to the Centre Georges Pompidou, the queues were huge & it wasn’t our intention to visit (too much to do!), but we found a little cafe close by and got a caffeine & croque monsieur fix
The only photo of me from the entire trip! Waiting for the number 72 bus on Avenue de President Kennedy, it takes you right along to Hotel de Ville. During our trip we bought a Paris Viste which gives you 1/2/3/5 days travel on the metro & buses. Well worth the money. Just outside Centre Georges Pompidou there were a few street artists setting up, it was still very early.. I seem to remember the last time I was here that there were lots of artists? Not sure if that still happens… One of the many carousels in Paris, this one was near Hôtel de Ville. I really wanted to get a photo of the carousel near Sacre Coeur, the Amelie one, but the scary men put me off.. more on that later. The Notre Dame was pretty impressive, but oh-so-busy! There was some sort of platform built up for viewing it for some reason, an anniversary of some sort. Again, we didn’t venture inside, but it’s something I’ve added to my list for another visit to Paris. Inside looks pretty amazing! Near the Odeon area of the Latin Quarter, quite a bustling part of the city but a place that I’m not sure I liked very much. It seemed really touristy. We ventured back here one evening to find food, only to be ripped off in a bar (pressured into buying two 11€ mojitos by two rude waiters, avoid Les Etages at all costs… had we been on trip advisor before we would never have visited!).
The best part about this area is the Taschen book store. We hadn’t really researched around here very much, maybe there are some great places we missed?
The bridge of locks (or Pont des Arts) is a sight to behold, where couples write their initials on a padlock, attach it to a gate & throw the key into the Seine. In true Parisian street merchant fashion, there were people selling the locks on the bridge. We didn’t do this, we’re not dumb asses. Of course we had to visit the Louvre, Adam had never seen the Mona Lisa before & I somehow missed the Venus de Milo the last time I was here. Trying to fit so much stuff in meant we had a very whistle-stop tour, heading straight for the Mona Lisa to start with before having a stroll through another few galleries on our way to see the Venus de Milo.
The Louvre is MASSIVE, I never realised how big it was! It’d definitely take a few visits to appreciate everything that’s in there. At the time of writing, the ticket prices were 11€ each. There’s a problem with pickpockets at the Louvre, so be vigilant with your bag!
We ended our day at Cafe a la Fontaine, which was just below our hotel, where I had steak & Adam had confit du canard. The menu was in French, but we had wifi so did some quick translations – the staff were also on hand to translate. With wine it came to 40€, and it was just what we needed after a long walk around Paris!
Love your photos of Paris and I think I encountered the same scary men at the Sacre Coeur too! Next time you go, you have to go to Le Marais which is a great area to go to on Sundays as things are actually open and you can get amazing falafel for 5 euros. Oberkampf is also a lovely place to have a wander about too with nice bars and restaurants (some of them are not too expensive either).