Paris Through My Lens (Part 3)
If you follow me on Instagram or Snapchat, you’ll know that I just had laser surgery done on my eyes, which means they are very sensitive. And even though I am keeping them protected from the elements by staying indoors a lot, my doctor has recommended steering clear of laptops, tvs, phones, etc. as much as possible, which is why I haven’t been blogging as frequently as I normally would. I am just about starting to nurse myself back to health (thanks to the 15 doses of eye drops I need to put in through the day) and have written this post in short doses to avoid straining my peepers too much. Here’s where we left off after our second day in Paris:
.
Day Three was a special one – it was James’ birthday! We decided to indulge ourselves with a little lie-in, after which he opened his last present (he received all his other presents in advance), then got dressed and went right back to our favourite Café Richard for a spot of brunch. Appetites satisfied, we decided to work off our decadent meal by walking to The Louvre.
.
We began our long stroll down and past the Champs-Élysées and a long, bare tree-lined pathway which would have been lined with Cherry Blossoms in the Spring, until we got to a lovely garden with a beautiful pond in the middle and then made it to the giant ferris wheel at the Place de la Concorde, very close to the Louvre.
.
Once at the Louvre, we were greeted with a mild heart attack when we saw the queue outside the famous home of Mona Lisa, so we decided not to actually go in so we could avoid spending most of James’ birthday moving along a queue in the freezing cold at a snail’s pace. Instead, we decided to walk around and take some more pictures.
.
We happened to be in Paris around the same time as Paris Fashion Week, so the area was buzzing with excitement and filled with fabulously dressed women milling about chatting, having their outfit pictures taken and taking long drags of cigarettes.
.
We even saw one fashion blogger (although I couldn’t get close enough to make out who) climb really high up onto a wall / railing near the Louvre and pose while street style photographers snapped away in a frenzy. I was invited to attend a few presentations at PFW but since we were away on a romantic anniversary / birthday getaway, I decided not to bore James with a fashion overdose, and chose instead to put work out of my mind and just enjoy myself.
.
We then began our walk back to the Champs-Élysées, passing a charming old bridge, some very impressive looking art galleries and then a small row of street side shops selling antiques where we stopped and bought some vintage French newspapers which we thought would look lovely framed in our living room.
.
Weary from all the walking, we made our way back to the hotel where we rested for a bit and then head out on another massive trek – to climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe!
.
After waiting in the queue for about 30 minutes (which wasn’t bad at all considering it was underground and, so, not cold at all), we finally began the 284 step climb to the top, which was worlds better than our climb to the top of the Sacre Coueur as the staircase was wide and airy, the distance was shorter and the step height was a lot less, there
were periodic breaks with ample seating and even a museum and gift shop to help break up the climb. I was running up these steps and was barely out of breath at the top.
.
The 360 degree view of Paris from the top was absolutely mesmerizing, enchanting and unlike anything we could’ve hoped for. It was magic. After gazing out at the view from every possible angle for the better part of an hour and pausing to take our mandatory selfies, we stopped at the gift shop where I bought a coffee table book for our home (something I insist on wherever I go) and a jigsaw puzzle for my mom before we walked downstairs and made our way to a Casa Luca, a quaint little pizza place at Avenue Marceau where we settled in for for dinner.
..
A scrumptious meal and a few glasses of champagne later, we ended James’ birthday with a visit to the Mont Blanc store and the Nespresso boutique at the Champs-Élysées where we did a little window shopping and then called it a night. Check back real soon to see what we did on our final day in romantic Paris (which just happened to be our very first wedding anniversary!) À plus tard!
Can't Get Enough?
- Paris Through My Lens (Part 2) March 23, 2016