Wandering around the Latin Quarter

I headed off early this morning (8.30am might not seem all that early but on a cold and wet morning it was!). I always enjoy doing a bit of reconnaissance (pardon the French) on day one in a new city and so I wandered around the streets of the Latin Quarter ensuring that I had 'breadcrumbed' my way so that I could easily return to the hotel if needed.

First stop was for a petit créme at Le Café de Flore, one of the quintessential cafés of this city. Le Café de Flore is where the local Bourgeoisie come for coffee (and as I discovered so too the tourists). I think there were as many American and German accents as French ones and because of its attraction to tourists (and the occasional celebrity) their prices are ridiculously high.

A small coffee set me back 5.6 Euros (do the maths and you will see how expensive that is) however I'm not going to worry too much about the cost of coffee and I do not have one eye on the rate of the Australian dollar which I assume isn’t great. After the coffee it was across to the Abbey St Germain des Prés, the oldest church in Paris. St-Germain-des-Prés was from the 8th century one of 17 000 Benedictine Abbeys across Europe.

I then went in search of a USB device to upload my pictures from my camera onto my blog, once I had secured the USB key I headed towards the Pont Neuf. As the rain began to tumble the Notre Dame Cathedral revealed itself to me.

The Cathedral situated on Ile de la Cité is one of Paris’ most impressive and most visited sites. Entry into the Cathedral is free however there is a cost if you wish to climb the towers to hear the bells. As the rain got heavier I wandered back to Hotel de Nesle for a siesta (OK, I’m not in Spain but what the heck!). This afternoon I will visit le Panthéon and find a spot for dinner.

Dear Reader, I'm having problems with the photos once uploaded on the site. They sometimes appear very small. Rest assured I am doing all I can to rectify this!

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