I apologise to my readers for having to read so many articles on just one weekend in Paris but it's truly a reflection of the intricacies of the city and how packed in our weekend was. So here goes our day two in Paris, which was a Sunday; another beautiful sunny day and my husband assures me that this was quite unusual for late October, therefore making us very fortunate indeed.
Having slept in too much to rest our aching feet after day one (remember to bring comfortable walking shoes), we gobbled down breakfast at Pret a Manger (a pesto cheese toast and coffee, pain a chocolat for my husband of course), mostly because it was on our street and also on the way to our first destination, Saint Madeleine Church. Sunday morning is a great time to go church hopping and we unknowingly were lucky to hear a part of the service and church choir everywhere we went.
From St. Madeleine church, you will spot other churches, names of which I do not know, just as beautiful, which we decided we wanted to visit.
So within about forty five minutes, three churches later, we were proceeded to the Obelisk, a gift from Egypt to Paris, which was a short walk away. The Obelisk and its fountains at one end located at a busy Parisian junction (watch out for the traffic), and the Arc de Triumph at the other end of the street seen far away joint by the famous Champs Elysees, Paris' largest shopping street for designer clothes, car showrooms, you name it; it was a sight indeed.
Also a quick walk from the above named junction, was the Royal Palais, yes that's right, more museums and exhibitions displaying crystals, sculptures, art etc. As we were short of time, we did a quick walk around of the Palais (which was free, the individual exhibitions e.g. crystals were not) before catching the metro to the Arc. Depending on which exit you take from the metro as we figured out the hard way, you can actually stand under the Arc itself, and if you pay for the ticket you can enter the Arc inside for a tour. We decided we were happy just taking photos on the outside, honouring the soldiers who fought in the various wars for France.
A quick walk along the Champs Elysees, we checked out the Louis Vuitton store, the Hermes store was unfortunately closed, the Mercedes showroom and a few others before jumping back into the Metro to head to our final destination, as we were both keen to see the Pantheon, located further out into the suburbs of Paris on the other side of the river, only accessible by train. The Pantheon looked very similar to the one in Rome, and the inside was grand yet solemn, the vast maze like crypt down in the basement of the Pantheon being tombs of various nobles and scientists of France.
Grabbing a late lunch at a cafe overlooking the Pantheon, munching on delicious gourmet crepes, was a perfect way to end our 'romantic' weekend in Paris...
Bonswa, Orevwa and s'amuser..
