The Latin Quarter Paris & L'Arc de Triomphe| Exploring Paris 2

So we awoke the next morning bright and early to a drizzly cloudy Parisian sky, but we didn't let that get us down. Our bags loaded with juice boxes, fruit and crackers we started our tour of the Latin Quarter with the Jardins de Luxembourg.

Everywhere you go in the park there are plenty of chairs and benches to sit yourself down on and take in the day. If it had been better weather I may have been tempted to sit and sip a cup of coffee and watch the other park goers doing tai-chi, martial arts practice and of course admire the determination of the joggers.

By following the outskirt of the park walls you'll find yourself nearly bang on with the Sorbonne Université, the university of Paris. You can't actually go inside without a student ID but it's great to go see and imagine you one of the lucky ones who can study in the centre of Paris.

To round off the Latin Quarter I highly recommend you pay a visit to the Panthéon, and because the french like to treat their tourists right if your under the age of 25 and an EU citizen, bring along your passport and you'll get into most tourist attractions for free!

The Panthéon was originally constructed as a church dedicated to St. Genevieve but now stands as a burial place for some of the most famous French icons in history. Marie and Pierre Curie, Louis Braille, Victor Hugo, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Voltaire.

And the day didn't end there, oh no. After a short re-con at the hotel and a spot of dinner we made our way to the Place de la Concorde, walked up the Champs Élysées and climbed the 273 or so steps up the Arc de Triomphe (Ladurée macarons in tow...). 

Quite the eventful day but completely worth it! I still have two more days of my Paris adventures so remember to stay tuned for those.

Thanks for reading,

Ciara xx

Sacré Coeur |Exploring Paris 1

Hello lovelies!

I've been in Paris the last couple of days with my sister and thought I'd share my trip with you. We've been to Paris twice before with the rest of our family but this time it was just us two and we were in charge of what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. We even had a highlighted map of Paris that was going to serve as our tour guide for the trip. Would have been very handy if we hadn't forgotten it at home!

The first day we arrived we'd been up since 6am and had braved the crowds of the metro system with our suitcases. But we finally set our things down at our tiny slanty floored hotel (there was about a 2 inch incline!), stocked up on snacks and fruit for the few days and head off to Sacré Coeur.

After walking up the wrong streets in the wrong direction we managed to climb the steps to the basilica. 

After roaming about inside (which is free) the day of travelling started to catch up on us so we decided to call it a day and read back to our hotel. Turns out we definitely needed the rest because the next few days had us walked off our shaking legs!