“If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
― Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
Bonjour! It's been a long time between travel posts. I apologise profusely. Here we are now, in Paris, the city of romance. From these images above I hope you can see why. On our first day in Paris we headed out to see the most notable sights: the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and the Champes Elysees. I truly underestimated the popularity and scale of people who flock daily to snap away at these famous monuments. It was exhausting to walk through the teaming crowds of people and to watch them all crowding around these magnificent icons, selfie sticks in tow. We managed to negotiate the crowds to take our own token tourist shots before being quickly squeezed out.
After a massive afternoon of walking and negotiating crowds in the sprawling city centre we plonked down at a signature Parisian cafe' for our first French meal and a glass of rose to unwind. Day one of Paris felt very overwhelming and a little unsatisfying.
It wasn't until the second day when we went on our Hidden Paris Walking Tour of Montmartre that we felt like we had discovered the real, raw, magical Paris that we had been hoping to discover. Montmartre is home to so much history, especially in the arts and writing movements. It's where Picasso lived and worked for a lot of his career. He would meet up with Dali, Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Gertrude Stein in the 1920s. It's where 'bohemia' emanates and where one of my favourite movies of all time is set, Midnight in Paris. We walked around winding cobblestone alleys, saw forgotten windmills and a secret vineyard. Marvelled at the mixture of architectural influences that make up the Sacre-Coeur and the hidden convent that resides next door. Our wonderful tour guide pointed out all of places to eat including a bakery which had won the "Best Baguette" in Paris - which turns out is a pretty big deal as the winner becomes the official supplier of bread to the President and the Elysees Palace for a whole year! Once the tour was over we made sure to eat as much amazing food as possible and shopped like true Parisians at the many amazing boutiques.
That evening, continuing with the Montmartre theme we had a quick creme brûlée at Le Chat Nior and then took ourselves to see a cabaret show at the La Nouvelle Eve. To top it all off and come back to present day Paris we took and Uber back to our hotel.
