Farewell Paris

A beautiful crisp morning greeted us for our last day in Paris. We made the short walk to meet my parents, drop off our luggage and start our final area of exploration around Le Marais.

Another very old and beautiful part of the city, there were a lot of surprisingly stunning sites along our walk including squares, patisseries, historic buildings and of course churches.

One of the most notable things about the old parts of Paris are just how narrow the streets are compared to the boulevards of the newer areas.

Our walk around Le Marais ended in the charming village of Saint Paul. We had our final meal in a quaint restaurant just off the main square that was packed to the rafters with locals.

And so back to where we had stayed and one final destination: La coulée verte.  This raised viaduct has been turned into a garden, and was the inspiration for the High Line in New York. It was a sanctuary from everything at street level and provided magnificent views over the area we had stayed in.

Back to pick up our bags and say farewell to Paris before the long trip home. This has involved two trains, hundreds of stairs and a bus just to get to the airport. We've them flown back to London, changed terminals and caught our final flight back via Dubai. The flights have been delayed but as in write this with 4 hours to go on the final sector it hasn't made any difference to our arrival time.

It has been a surprising and delightful visit to both London and Paris. It also marks the end of our year of world travel, something we had not envisaged in January but something we both with treasure forever.

The Left Bank

For our last full day in Paris we headed across the river to the Left Bank for the first time to explore the Latin Quarter and Saint Germain.

The first stop was the astonish Musée d'Orsay, set in a former train station. An eclectic mix of Impressionist art, sculptures and other wonders are spread out across a number of floors. It was a great place to spend the morning.

The rest of the day we spent wandering the area taking in some of the main sites including some of the cities oldest surviving buildings.

Our walk around the left bank ended at the splendid Jardin de Luxembourg, home of the French Senate and a wonderful garden.

Leaving the left bank, we headed to one of the most glamorous department stores we've ever seen in Galeries Lafayette. Inside the imposing dome looks like it should be in an Opera house, and the view from the roof over Paris is fantastic to get a different perspective.

From here we went on a night river cruise  past many of the sites we had already seen, but the highlight was the Eiffel Tower.

Tomorrow we leave for home but not before a final stroll through Le Maris and Bastille.

Versailles

A long train ride out to the far reaches of Paris today took us to the village, and palace, of Versailles.

While there was a number of tour groups and other visitors we managed to survive a tour of the opulent and grand State rooms of the Palace, before spending a number of hours exploring some of the gardens and smaller royal palaces. No words could really describe just how amazing the palace and gardens are, it is  somewhere we will definitely visit again.

A nice walk back through the village to the train saw out our day. Tomorrow is the left bank of Paris.

Arc de Triomphe, Champs Élysées and Montmartre

An overcast sky greeted us again in Paris, but it did not impact our first visit of the day to the Arc de Triomphe. The structure itself has elaborate decoration and inscriptions for past battles, while the view from the top gives a great perspective of Paris, especially our next stop Champs Élysées.

Walking down this famous street provided an up close look at the top end of Paris shopping. After all of the stores we came to Grande and Petite palaces, quite majestic and sublime for venues but for a World Fair.

Back onto the Metro up the hill to Montemarter. Once the enclave of artists and performers, it is a beautiful old part of Paris, with so many different stories. It was one if the spots we have most enjoyed in Paris.

At the top of the hill stands Sacre Coure, a charming chapel with some of the best views over Paris.

We worked our way back down the hill, onto the Metro and down to back of the Louvre to stroll some of the streets we had seen earlier. We ended up back at Sante Chapelle to view the incredible stain glass windows.

The long day came to an end when we finally made it back to our apartment. Tomorrow we head out to Versailles.

Louvre, Eiffel Tower and lots between

Today we walked past a bakery (croissants for breakfast) on our way to the Louvre. We managed to beat many of the crowds getting in, however soon encountered them when viewing the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. 

From the Louvre we took a stroll through Jardin de Tuileries making our way to the l'orangerie. Inside we loved Monet's massive paintings of his pond from all different perspectives and times of day. 

Next, a walk along the Le Madeline Church to Ladivine for some world famous macaroons.  

Making our way to the Opera house we stopped for lunch at the Xxx. We had the most beautiful experience. The rooms were exquisitely painted and furnished, and our meals presented beautifully. 

  

After looking around the Opera house we jumped on the Metro and went to The Trocadero. Here we went inside the architecture museum and marine museums. From the architecture museum we were able to get a really good view of the Eiffel Tower. 

The next stop was the Eiffel Tower. Even with the sky being overcast the view was amazing.

By now it was almos time for dinner so a brief walk in the rain past the École Militaire to Rue Cler for a nice meal to end the day.

Tomorrow we are off to Montmartre and the Arc de Triomph, hopefully the rain holds off.

Arriving in Paris

This morning we went straight to St Pancreas station. After a French breakfast, to get us in the mood we boarded the Eurostar for Paris. 

Once in Paris we took our chances catching the metro train to meet the owner of the apartment we were to stay in. This turned out to be very frightening. Tam and I were separated on the train and squashed like sardines among the Parisians with our luggage. After safely getting off the train and finding each other we found our apartment and settled in. 

First on the agenda was a walk through the ile de citi island were we sampled some world famous ice-cream from Berthillon.

We walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral, went into the memorial for misplaced people during world war 2 and wandered past Sacre Coeur. Our final destination on this journey was to catch a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower from the tip of Ile de la Cite.

For dinner we met up with Mum and Dad at the Pompidou centre. We ate at George's on the top floor. From our table we had a fantastic view over Paris towards the Eiffel Tower. At 9pm we saw the tower sparkling which was very pretty. 

Next on the agenda is some of Paris's big sites, and being a Sunday we will be fighting the crowds.