With Love, From Paris. Day 6

Day 6

On Friday morning, we awoke again in Paris.  Our plan was to visit Musee du Louvre, since it was closed when we had visited on Tuesday.  But, our first stop was breakfast at Boulangerie Beatrix.  Nuno and I had warm, butter croissants and cafe au lait to drink.  The girls had croissants and hot chocolate.  While we were sitting and eating, I noticed the baker filling boxes with warm bread.  I was curious as to what he was doing and asked him.  He said the bread was to deliver to the school children.  What a lovely thought - fresh, warm bread, probably for their morning snack!  The baker, then gave us some of the bread to try! 

Warm bread for the school children

France's flag, on our way to the Louvre

This is the statue called Winged Victory.  A headless statue of Greek goddess Nike (Victory) dating back from about 200 BC.  This statue is one of the "most celebrated" sculptures in the world!

View from a different angle

Walking along, inside the Louvre, on our way to see the famous Mona Lisa.

And here she is!  Leonardo's "La Gioconda".  One of the most famous paintings in the world!  This was the best picture I could get.  The Mona Lisa is actually behind bullet proof glass and we are unable to get up close to it.  

"...The lady in the painting is not named Mona.  Mona is the equivalent of Madame, so she is "Madame Lisa".  The model was actually Lisa Gherardini, the wife of an obscure Florentine merchant." - Frommers, Paris 2011

This is for you to get an idea of the "madness" of tourists, snapping photos of the Mona Lisa.  If you look closely, you can see her behind the bullet proof glass, in the center.

The girls and I standing in front of one of my favourite paintings in the Louvre - Parisian artist, Madame Lebrun and her Daughter ( a self portrait of herself and her daughter)

And here is the famous Venus de Milo, an ancient Greek statue, dating back to 130 and 100 BC.  This is believed to be a depiction of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

One of the gorgeous ceilings inside the Louvre!

And that ends our tour of the Musee du Louvre.  We didn't even get to see half of what was on display.  We'll save the rest for next time!  Next stop, as per Annabel's request, was Ile St-Louis, her favourite place to walk in Paris!  

Brasserie de L'Isle Saint Louis 55, Quai Bourbon

Setting up patio for lunch (where we later came to eat).

Come for a walk along with us...

This man played the accordion, on this street corner, the entire time we ate our lunch.  His French music set the perfect mood!  We could see him playing from our seats.

The beauty of Paris, surrounds you, everywhere you go.

Here is Annabel, making a huge bubble, with the help of a street entertainer!

The girls and I, shopping for souvenirs in Ile Saint Louis

Brasserie de L'Isle Saint Louis - where we had lunch

After lunch, we stopped at Berthillon for ice cream.  This is the most famous ice cream parlor in France.  And now I know why!  The ice cream is to die for!  It is only open Wednesday through Sunday and is closed July and August.  We were lucky to visit in September!  It was so good, we came back on our last day for more!

We walked along the banks of the Seine towards our hotel...

passed the many vendors selling books, magazines, posters, etc...

and saw the beautiful view of Notre-Dame, from across the river.

And just look at what we stumbled across!

It was an authentic Parisian food and wine festival!  There were vendors selling wine, chocolate, cheese, escargots, and much more!  We, of course, blended right in with the Parisians and joined the festivities!  The first thing we tried, was wine soaked, sweet melon.  MMM!!  We were then given bags and lined up for free local grapes, apples, and garlic.  We had SO much fun!  

We even bought some delicious escargots!

Here we are, sitting on the river bank, eating our escargots.  Annabel was the only one who didn't like them, and that's because she didn't want to try them.  They were delicious!  Funny thing happened, as I was sitting there, eating.  A woman (another tourist) came up to me and asked if she could take a picture of me with the escargots.  I said, "Sure!"and posed for the photo.  Then she asked how I liked them.  I said they were great.  I asked if she would like to try one, and she did.  She liked it so much, she went to line up to get some for herself! 

We were getting tired and tried to walk back to our apartment, without stopping anywhere.  But, of course, it was impossible.  There were too many new things we hadn't seen.  Here are some more photos of our walk back...

 

 Marche aux Fleurs, place Louis-Lepine

A beautiful water fountain!

One of the cute shops along the way

A pretty, roman catholic church, with doors wide open

Eglise Saint-Merri

close to our apartment

Whew!  We had a wonderful, fun-filled day walking all around Paris. But, boy were we tired!!  We finally got to our room and had a couple of hours to rest, before our meeting with a dear friend of ours and her family.  We scheduled to meet each other under the Eiffel Tower at 9:30 pm.

We arrived early and took our last photos of the Eiffel Tower.

This is truly one of the most beautiful monuments I've ever had the pleasure of seeing in person!!

The tower twinkling at 9:00 pm.  It's impossible to capture the gorgeous twinkling lights on camera!

This merry-go-round is within walking distance to the Eiffel Tower.  Isn't it beautiful?  Have you ever seen a merry-go-round with two floors?

With Love, From Paris. Day 2

Day 2

The following morning, I woke up at 3:30 am!  I mean, how could I sleep?  I was in Paris!!  And only for a few days!  I decided to get up, take a shower, get dressed and plan out our day.   We were going to go climb up the Eiffel Tower, then navigate our way to Ile de la Cite and Ile St-Louis.  This of course, could take a full day.  And that, we had.  So here we go...

This was our first breakfast in Paris. Four, flaky, warm, and buttery croissants.  The girls had milk to drink and Nuno and I had coffee.  I have to tell you that Parisian croissants are the best I've ever had.  They are flaky on the outside, but buttery and almost doughy on the inside.  Every morning, no matter which bakery we went to, the croissants were warm from the oven.  Utter perfection!

This man in the above photo became known to us as "the pigeon man".  Most mornings and evenings, we would see him feeding flocks of pigeons.  He was a homeless man.  I never saw him asking for money, only feeding the pigeons. I'm sure he's still there, feeding them.  

By the way, if you plan on visiting Paris, know this: it is nearly impossible to find an available taxi during morning and afternoon rush hour in Paris.  We walked halfway to the tower on day 2 before we got hold of one.

Inside the Eiffel Tower

Breathtaking views of the Seine river and the city of Paris!

In the center, you can see the Arc de Triomphe!

 

 The Seine River

A dream come true for me! 

Spectacular views of the city!

Overlooking Parc du Champs de Mars

Having fun!

Okay, I promise, no more Eiffel Tower pictures!

After spending most of the morning in and around the Eiffel Tower, we decided to go back to our studio for a little afternoon nap with the girls.  My early morning rise was not such a great idea after all!  We took a little  nap, and then headed out for another walk, this time, towards Ile de la Cite, across the bridge, over the Seine.

This is Hotel de Ville - Paris's City Hall

City Hall boasts fountains and gorgeous early 1900s lamp posts. 

This is the famous Notre-Dame Cathedral, located on Ile de la Cite.

The stone exterior of the church is incredibly detailed!

Notre-Dame's Rose Window

Take a look at this gorgeous door and the handsome man in front of it! ;o)

So we walked from our studio in the 4th Arrondisement down towards the Seine, saw Hotel de Ville, crossed the bridge over to Ile de la Cite, and saw the famous Notre-Dame.  Next, we are going to cross another bridge to the Island called Ile St-Louis - my absolute favorite!

We passed through this pretty little park on our way to the Island.  Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it.

This cute boulangerie on Ile St-Louis was our first stop for a sweet treat.  

Their donuts are much smaller than ours. Fillings include apple, strawberry, and chocolate!

And look what else they had - Paris's famous macarons! This was the first time any of us had tried macarons! Mmm!

La Cure Gourmande - 55 Rue St. Louis en L'ile

They sell the most delicious French biscuits here!

Coconut filled, strawberry jam filled, orange filled, chocolate chip, shortbread, chocolate shortbread, just to name a few of the flavours!  As a treat, we brought some home with us to enjoy!  They are incredibly rich and delicious!

After browsing around the small, quaint island, we decided to walk towards Place des Vosges, one of the many city squares.  Here are some of the things we saw along the way...

Window shopping

Another boulangerie we stopped at along the way.  Isn't this lovely?

And here we are, Place de Vosges Square - Paris's oldest square.  Victor Hugo used to live in one of the homes here.  His home is now a museum.

There was a playground for the children (and adults too)!  We spent some time here, playing with the girls.  Then, we headed back to our apartment.

Newspaper/magazine stand

Annabel wanted a picture standing in front of the fruit stand.

Fabulous flower shop!

This is moi, picking up some hot baguettes from a local boulangerie.  We went to the supermarche and bought salami, goat cheese, butter and a nice bottle of wine!

I fell in love with the studio's tiny kitchen.  Don't you just love the red?

And that, dear friends, was day 2 in Paris.  I have many more pics of this day, but I only put up the ones I think you'd most like to see.  I hope you enjoyed coming along with me.  We are getting closer and closer to London now.  Stay tuned for more!!