27. A Tour of Pere Lachaise Cemetary

The sky is a brilliant blue today in the Marais.

The sun peeks through the light cloud cover; bright enough to put a skip in my step but not quite strong enough to melt away the chill in the air. The perfect weather for a romantic stroll through Cimetière du Père-Lachaise a.k.a. Pere Lachaise Cemetery – arguably the most visited cemetery in the world.

We jump on the metro and disembark at Gambetta for the quickest route to our date with Oscar. It’s the farthest out of Paris’ city centre that we’ve travelled so far, but the map makes it look much further than it actually is. The trip only takes us fifteen minutes or so from our apartment, near Hotel de Ville.

On the short walk to the cemetery entrance, we pass a strategically-placed flower shop, and stop to buy some roses for our fallen friends.

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26. Top Tips for Visiting the Louvre & Moulin Rouge

The last time I went to Paris it took me three days to explore the long galleries of the Musée du Louvre. This time, experience under my belt, we nailed it in a day.

Walking the great halls of this immense fortress-turned-palace-turned-museum, I wonder at the nobles who served here in an age long ago, the kings and queens who ruled from here, the artists who lived in this epic building. Was it just as grand before Napoleon I renovated and restructured it? In any matter, the Louvre is a work of art itself, from it’s medieval foundations to it’s French Renaissance architecture… let alone the fortune lying within its belly. No wonder the monarchy was overthrown!

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Even the walls and ceilings are a work of art in itself.

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25. A Walking Tour of Paris on the Champs Elysees

We step out of our apartment and tip toe down the narrow, lopsided, spiral staircase. The steps are uneven with wear and some have crumbled away over time. I don’t mind the steep descent so much this morning, but it wasn’t much fun lugging our suitcases up these yesterday. (Or at least, it wasn’t much fun for my husband, while the house-keeper chatted to me about the local restaurants and showed me around the apartment!)

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It is Saturday and the Marché Baudoyer has sprung up across the road. Wandering through the marquee-ed lanes, it is exactly like what we’ve read about Paris’ open air markets; everything we’ve expected – and more.
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24. Eurail & Restaurant Review: Thalys Trains & 58 Tour Eiffel

The city of lights; an icon of romance, and the center of cuisine at it’s finest, has fascinated me for as long as I remember. There is a magic about her that is undefinable, undebatable, and unrivalled… a charm that can be found in every fromage-filled baguette, in the two-minute stillness between metro services, in the late-night aperitifs of the Marais, and the luxurious boutiques selling designer books, designer ballet shoes, or designer incense. Even in the way the Parisians love their dogs, and the way they smoke cigarettes without a care for tomorrow. From the lawns beneath the Eiffel tower, to the pyramids of the Louvre, and all the tourist traps inbetween – I love the very essence of Paris. I can still hear the buskers singing tribute to Edith on the street-corners, still feel the rain on my face as we zipped around Paris one midnight on the back of a scooter, still feel my heart jump out of my chest as we stepped off that train at Paris, Gare du Nord, September 7th 2012.

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