Walking in Paris

We spent the morning of our second day in Paris sleeping in so we could be well rested as to better enjoy ourselves. Our first stop was Île de la Cité to visit Notre Dame. From a distant I was wowed but it wasn’t until I got up close and personal with Notre Dame Cathedral that I was truly impressed. Ive been to a lot of cathedrals and churches in my travels but this one is probably my second favorite. My very favorite is Saint Chapelle, which we plan on visiting another day. If you’ve never visited the cathedral before then it is definitely worthwhile to join the throngs of people in the seemly never ending line, but we were lucky enough to have visit Paris in the winter a few years back when there was no line so we decided against it this time. We did walk around to the back of Notre Dame to the Square Jean XXlll where there were plenty of benches and few crowds so you could really sit and appreciate the cathedral and its flying buttresses. I got some of my favorite shots here with the roses.

After leaving Notre Dame we walked over to the Louvre Museum where the Mona Lisa is smirking at her hundreds of viewers. The line wasn’t so bad, but the crowds were gathering outside by the pyramids. Visit the museum during the day but be sure to come back to see the pyramids at night. The reflection in the pond is a must see.

Crossing the street, we arrived at the Palais Royal and took in the chicness of it’s black and white columns. Here we found ourselves among many high end designers and Didier Ludots, one of the best vintage boutique in the world. We stopped to rest our feet among the beautiful clipped trees at the Palais Royal garden which felt like a sangri-la in the middle of the city.

Because I can’t seem to get enough of Paris’ magnificent gardens,  we walked along Rue Rivoli past many street vendors selling trinkets and postcards of Paris to get to the Jardin Tuileries. The garden was filled with people playing soccer and other games as well as people lounging and enjoying the beautiful day.

Hungry, we started towards Lescure, a restaurant tucked away in a little corner on Rue de Mondovi which was recommended to me by a friend. I was told to try the duck confit and boy was I glad I did.

We concluded the night at Pont Alexandre lll to watch the Eiffel twinkle for us again. Below all along the seine, the locals were having a grand time. For a Wednesday night, there were a lot of people out drinking and relaxing. We walked past one club on the water where the party goers were singing along at the top of their lungs in a french accent to Beyonce’s Crazy in Love. While walking back to the apartment we took in the fact that we saw Paris the way she is meant to be seen, by foot.