This day was the day we walked the most. Our own fault, we easily could have taken the metro but since it was a nice day and we are cray we walked it. Tiring, sore and sweaty bodies were the result of us walking everywhere this day. We did get the metro at the start of the day but it still involved a 10 minute walk to Sainte Chapelle. We missed out on seeing Sainte Chapelle the day before when we went to Norte Dame, but it was nice to come earlier in the day feeling fresh and not feeling rushed.
Sainte Chapelle was beautiful inside, the newly renovated sainted glass windows were stunning and the way they light up the room was something else entirely. Pictures don't even do it justice. We then went next door and wandered around Conciergerie, both these places were free for Connor and I because of us being from a EU member country and being under 24 years old. Its basically a french castle turned prison, and my oh my it was grand inside. Both places were definitely worth a visit, and both beautiful in their own right. Next up on the agenda was a rather long hot walk to Sacré-Cœur, we walked for well over an hour more or less entirely up hill in the blistering heat. The plus side to this was getting to explore the area of Montmartre, which out of all the areas we went through to me seemed to be most authentic, and I'd definitely come stay in that area when we come back. There was just so many patisseries, boulangeries, butchers and cheese stores in the area - much more than I had noticed in other areas - especially in the area we stayed in. We passed by a cute little Patisserie on the way up, after a quick google search I found out it was called Maison Dupuy on Rue Cadet. They had so many pretty desserts, I opted for a lovely raspberry macaron and Connor got a strawberry tart, each cake cost around 3 Euros which I was more than happy to pay.
It was definitely well worth the money as the macaron was delicious. Definitely the best thing I've ever tasted. Connor loved his tart too but I think mine was by far better.
Sacré-Cœur was amazing to get up to, only ruined a little by the scam artists that were out in their masses - one man even grabbed Connors wrist to try attach a bit of string to him. After walking through the basilica we decided to pay to go up the Dome, I think it cost around 6 euros each. The views from up the top were amazing and well worth paying extra to go up. Everywhere in Paris that you can go up offers different perspectives making each thing worth going up.
After the Sacré-Cœur we took a walk down the Champs Elysees. With my new found love of macarons I was in search of the Laduree store. I bought a coffrete of 6 and an individual larger one. They were amazing and worth every penny spent. They went a bit off before we got back to the apartment but it was only the way they looked, they tasted just as good even if they looked a wee bit off. We then sat at the end of the street looking at the Arc De Triomphe and took some photos before heading off to go up it.
Watching the sun go down from on top of the Arc De Triomphe was so lovely, seeing the city go dark and the Eiffel Tower light up was brilliant. It was a great end to the day, and I'd highly recommend doing this too!
Ending the day with this was definitely the perfect way to end it, I can't think of a better way to have spent the night than this. One last instalment of Paris posts before they conclude.
After some what of a long lie, we started our day with the metro heading towards the Pantheon.
The Pantheon was an interesting bit of history, we opted to get an audio guide so we could learn a bit more, many a famous person had been buried here; Victor Hugo, Marie Currie and her husband. Next we walked towards Notre Dame, we got some pastries on our way and had a little stop off in the Luxembourg Gardens.
The Luxembourg gardens were so pretty, like if Glasgow parks were taken care of just that little bit more they could be just as pretty, but alas. After a little rest we continued on our way to Notre Dame.
Notre Dame was beautiful both inside and out. It was very grand and regal, and I don't think we waited much more than 15 minutes to get into the cathedral itself. The windows inside as well were crazy beautiful. The purples and blues were stunning.
We also decided to go up the towers - of which were also free for us (18-24 yrs and a EU member country perks). My lord the stairs! If you have difficulty getting up or down stairs or struggle to walk after long periods of time then I'd highly advise you against this. I struggled so much to get up the stairs, it was hot and my whole body hurt. The views at the top were well worth it though. The architecture all the way up was really cool too and seeing the gargoyles up close was really cool!
After going up the towers we sat in the square outside Norte Dame for a bit, rest our poor wee legs a bit... After our wee rest we looked up how to get to the Louvre from where we were and off we went. We stopped at some of the market stall type things that lined the river Seine. Connor liked the look of all the prints they had, so we bought a few: one for me; one for Connors mum; and one for my gran. Hopefully I'll get mine framed so it looks good on the wall. I also got my gran a little decorative plate from one of the stalls, when I gave her it the other day she was so happy with it, adding it to her little collection on the mantle place. We sat outside the pyramids for a little while, chilling out and taking in the views before we went inside - there was legit no queue to get in which was great! Connor tried taking one of the classic holding the pyramid pictures, it didn't go 100% as planned but it doesn't look horrendous.
It was such a warm day that people were literally walking in the fountains and others were just dipping their feet in. Connor was close to putting his toes in but decided against it when he decided he couldn't dry his feet off.
The inside of the Louvre was spectacular. Napoleon's apartments were so grand, I love places like this. Old fashioned styled houses, English castles and houses I could genuinely spend hours walking around and here was no different.
While wandering around the Louvre, I legit grabbed Connor and squealed with excitement when I saw there was an Angelina's. We stopped here for a little while and had the best hot chocolate I've ever tried! It was amazingly thick and so so sogood. I drool when I think about it, no joke. It wasn't cheap but it was completely worth it! We then went in search of the Mona Lisa, the famous painting that everyone knows about.
We honestly came across the Mona Lisa by complete accident, you'd have never known the painting was there because there was not a huge crowd around it like we both thought there would be. Mona Lisa isn't a huge painting, but the wall she is on is huuuuge, maybe that makes the painting itself look smaller? Both Connor and I thought it was nothing special and that there were much more visually stunning paintings on display in the Louvre.
Our day ended here, and we just headed home after this. We did go into a nearby supermarket to get something for dinner before getting the metro but nothing exciting. The next Paris post will be the second last of my Paris Diaries!
Recently I've been dying to travel and be more outward - I'm a very closed off person and tend not to go out very much or travel very far, I like the familiar and shy away from the unknown. But recently I've had a screw this attitude, and I really want to travel and see more of the world. I've been out the country once in my whole life - I went to Paris with my school and spent like a day there, I don't remember much from it because it was so long ago and I was so tired. I've no pictures from my time there and that's a little upsetting - I'd love to go back one day but I think it would have to be a solo venture. I decided on getting this Luckies of London Travelouge, after seeing it on Amazon - it cost approx. £13.
Inside the Travelouge is a journal, there's loads of space inside it for planning of holidays ect and pages for the writing of what happened while you were away.
The other side of the Travelouge is this section, you can write where you've been and when you visited each place. In a little flap section, there's these scratch off cards for Europe, Asia, America ect.
The scratch off cards are first plain gold and white, but when they scratch off they change to colours. This is a really cute idea, my mum said its really cool since you now don't get stamps in your passport unless you ask them to do it - and trust me I'll be asking them. Luckies of London sell lots of other things like this - a world map (I'll be having you) and a map of the UK (I've got you already). I'll do a wee post on my UK and Ireland map shortly, these are maybe the coolest things I've ever seen. Would you use something like this to document your holidays?
