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| View of the Eiffel Tower from Trocadero |
It's been too long, I know, but eventually the time has come for the second part of our Parisian trip this past September. There are two important things that I would like to share with you which I did not mention in Part I: 1. we got the flu on the 4th day of our stay, but we kept on going according to plan and visiting as many places as possible; 2. we walked 25km daily, rain or shine, in order to see everything we had pinned on our (digital) map, but still didn't make it, so, many places were left out for our next trip. Let's hope that this will happen soon!
Trocadero is the best place to take magical photos of the Eiffel Tower. It is close but not too close. The tower looks huge but not overwhelming. But, that's all. I didn't like the architecture of the building, the Palais de Chaillot, too modern for my taste, haha, and I hated that it was so crowded with people, birds and souvenirs sold on blankets... The only reason to go is to take advantage of the view.
The Louvre Museum is all I expected it to be and much, much more. I didn't want to leave! I wanted to see everything, swipe out all four floors and visit every single section. But, too many hours of walking and not getting very far... We stayed inside the museum for 4 hours, we went through the Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman etc. sections, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and then we went upstairs for Mona Lisa. And.. bam! She is as small and miserable as I expected... I think DaVinci has better works than this painting, but who am I to say. Afterwards, we went for some rest and fresh air at the Jardin de Tuileries, which is very relaxing after 4 hours of walking!
After the Louvre, we were hungry and thirsty, so we decided to walk some more (...) to Saint-Germain-des-Pres area, which is in the 6th arrondissement. It is very famous for the cafes, the bookstores and the publishing houses. In the 1940s and 1950s, it was the centre of the existentialist movement (associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir). It is also home to the École des Beaux-Arts, the famed school of fine arts. I loved it! I could actually live there!! I was ecstatic to find a gorgeous small brasserie called Le Pre aux Clercs with a very famous hot chocolate called "chocolat à l’ancienne". The excitement touched the sky when I realized that just in front of me there was a "Laduree"! What an amazing way to end a very tiring day =)
Last but not least, Le Marais, was a very short and very wet part of our walks. I only managed to snap a lovely door minutes before the rain had started and we rushed into the nearest cafe for a "pit stop" (food and cooffe/drinks). I don't know if it was good or bad, but it looked pretty, just like every other neighborhood in Paris.
A Part III will come sooner than Part II (promise), and I think there is also going to be a Part IV!
xoxo
|barefoot duchess|
All photos by me and the Duke via my Instagram
