Elegant Paris

---

After leaving Rome, we made our way to Paris for the last part of our trip. We were to spend the next four days seeing the sights of iconic Paris. This was a destination that we had both really wanted to visit ever since we moved over here 18 months ago, but for some reason, even with it being so easy to get to from London, we had just never made it here yet. Until now.

After Ange fighting a stomach bug for our whole time in Rome, we had hoped for a better time in Paris. But unfortunately as the stomach bug disappeared, Ange was struck down with the flu. Which once again meant poor Ange would struggle to enjoy our holiday and all Paris had to offer. But we would make the most of what we could.

Upon arriving in Paris, we made our way to the Latin Quarter, where we had rented an apartment for our time here. It was fanatstically positioned in the area here, amongst all the buzz of the restaurants and less than two minutes walk to Notre Dame.

After a quite day to let Ange rest, the next day we headed out to the Palace of Versailles, less than an hour out of Paris itself on the train. We were met with a beautiful day, which made for a very enjoyable opportunity to wander around the massive gardens by foot and electric buggy. It reminded us a lot of the palace gardens in Vienna and you could easily spend all day just enjoying the outdoors. After a few hours of wandering the gardens we then took our time wandering through the Palace itself - the highlight having to be the Hall of Mirrors.

The day after, we hopped on board the open top bus and did a round of the sites. We were both taken with how elegant and picturesque Paris is - everywhere was just beautiful. We then decided to jump off the bus at Place De La Concorde which begins the start of the Champs Elysees. The famous street is quite long but everything in Paris is so perfectly aligned, paticularly along this stretch, that you can't help but be amazed. So we wandered along through the lower parts of the street lined with gardens, and then on through the section lined with all the shops, up until we reached the impressive Arc de Triomphe and the crazy roundabout and traffic that run around it. From here we walked along the streets through to the Tracadero which offered the best views down to the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower itself was as impressive as we always thought it would be. Unfortunately Ange was really struggling by now with the flu, so we had to abandon any attempt of getting up the Tower itself. Next time...

After wandering down to the Invalides, we boarded another stretch of the open top bus and headed on down through Saint Germain and down through Montparnasse. The Saint Germain area was so amazing and everything you expect Paris to be - I think this would have to be my favourite area. We had heard of a fantastic street down in Montparnasse that was lined with great food stalls and shops - and it didn't disappoint - the seafood shops especially.

Of course no trip to Paris is complete without a visit to the Louvre, and that was exactly what we did the following day. It wasn't as busy as we had expected, but we may have just been lucky. It was weird - the Louvre was a place I thought would be old and refined, but we both found it to be a bit more modern inside than we had expected. Of course we took in the Mona Lisa, but I would have thought there would have been more famous pieces of art.

After leaving the Louvre we wandered through the gardens, Jardins des Tuileries, that seperate the Louvre from the Champs Elysees. And with the great weather upon us, everyone was out lapping up the sun. It was then very peaceful to wander back along the Seine river past the Isalnds that feature Notre Dame.

There is something about Paris that is truly amazing - and it does live up to the hype. And while we were happy that we did make it around many of the key sights, with Ange not being very well we do feel there are things still for us to do, and we will be back for sure to not only do those things we want to do - like climb the Eiffel Tower, but also see the sights at night all lit up - but also just to immerse ourselves in the culture and lifestyle that Paris exudes.

Till next time...

---