Previously, I’ve done a day-by-day holiday recap of my trips, but I thought this time I’d do an overview post and follow up with a couple of themed posts.
This is my third trip to Paris. My first was just a few days as part of a whirlwind tour of Europe with my parents when I was 10. The second was a week in 2018 with G and our younger daughter. You can read recaps of that trip here, here and here. This trip was another full week, most of it spent on my own while G went to Italy and the UK for work. My plan was to see some of the smaller museums and galleries (G doesn’t like too much of this, so I took the opportunity to do so), shop, eat, and go on a couple of day trips. Now to the nitty gritty …
Hotel:
I stayed at the Hotel Saint Andre’s des Arts in the 6th. It is close to the Odeon metro station and convenient for walking to many sites. The hotel is a typical small hotel in Paris. My room was tiny, as expected, but lovely and very clean. We didn’t get breakfast included, but I had the hotel breakfast once—it was OK.
Transport:
Before leaving home, we downloaded the Bonjour RATP app, which allowed us to buy transport tickets and put them in our Apple wallets. We bought our ticket from CDG before we left home. It’s easier after a very long flight than having to fiddle around buying tickets in a foreign country. Just be aware that the app doesn’t allow you to have two types of tickets (i.e. the airport ticket and the normal metro ticket), so buy your ticket to Paris, and then you can buy 1,3,5 or a carnet of metro tickets. I also used the SNCF app to buy longer distance train tickets for my day trips. I generally bought my outbound ticket the day before, then once I’d finished most of my sightseeing I would check the timetable back to Paris and buy a ticket in the app.
Itinerary:
Day 1, Sat 28th September:
Our flight arrived at 7:35, and we were at the hotel by about 9:30 am, which was a pretty quick turnaround. We dropped our bags at the hotel, then went out for a long figure eight walk around Paris. Croissant stop at Odette – along the Seine to the Jardin des Plantes – Rue Monteguille – St Etienne – The Pantheon – cross the Seine near Notre-Dame – The Louvre – Jardin des Tuileries – Eiffel Tower – back to the hotel.
2pm. Check-in. Shower and a nap.
Dinner with our friends at Brasserie Des Prés
Highlight: being in Paris again.
Steps: 31,646
Day 2, Sun 29th September:
Walk to the Marais
10:30 -1:30 Paris by Mouth Food Tour. Vennesoiries, chocolates, cheese, patisserie, baguette and wine. G had to leave just before the end to catch his flight to Italy.
Musée Carnavalet
Wander the streets of the Marais
Musee Picasso
Highlights: chocolates from Les Trois Chocolats
Steps: 21,608
Day 3, Mon 30th September
Day trip Giverny to see Monet’s Garden
I ordered two books for pickup before I left home and received an email that they were ready when I was on the train home from Giverny. There was a queue, but people collecting orders get to skip that and go straight inside—it’s a good trick to skip the line if you plan to buy a book anyway.
Quiet time (the days when I was in Paris by myself, I usually picked a church to go to and have some quiet time): Eglise Saint Sulpice
Dinner: Breizhe cafe
Highlight: seeing the Japanese bridge for real
Steps: 24,485
Day 4, Tues 1st October
Late start, then window shopping
Lunch: Les Enfants du Marche
Catch the metro to Galleries Lafayette. Browse. Walk through as many covered passages as possible.
Quiet time: Saint Eustache.
Highlight: perching on a stool at Les Enfants du Marche counter enjoying fabulous food with a glass of wine.
Steps: 27,052
Day 5, Wed 2nd October
10:30 Paris walks Montmartre Tour
1:30 Lunch at Bouillion Pigalle
3:15 pm Musee Marmotten
Shopping in Saint Germaine.
Highlight: Classic Paris vistas in Montmartre
Steps: 18,630
Day 6, Thursday 3rd October
9 am Meet my friends at their hotel to walk to the catacombs via the Luxembourg Gardens
10:30 am Catacombes
11:30 am Walk to the Emily in Paris Square. Say goodbye to my friends.
12:15 I walked towards the Cluny museum and picked up a baguette for my lunch on the way.
1:15 Cluny Museum
3:00 pm Wander to The Seine. Patisserie stop. Shopping in the Marais. Stroll around Place des Vogues.
Dinner: sandwich from Cosi followed by macaroons from Pierre Herme.
Highlight: the Catacombes, for their macabre beauty and weirdness.
Steps: 30,457
Day 7: Friday 4th October
Chartres Day trip.
4:30pm Arrived back at hotel. G arrives 30mins later from the UK.
Dinner: Garance
10:15 pm Enjoy a last glimpse of the Eiffel Tower lit up before we walk home from dinner
Highlight: walking the labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral
Steps: 22,568
Future posts:
Eating my way through Paris
Day trip to Monet’s Garden
Day trip to Chartres
Smaller museums in Paris
Finding signs of the Camino in Paris and Chartres
Do you like (or imagine you’d like) travelling alone? What are you favourite things to do on a big city visit?
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