Bonjour!
Welcome to my final day of my Paris Travel Diary, I actually left Paris on the fourth day in the afternoon, but there isn't all that much to tell apart from we had crepes for breakfast and sat beside the Eiffel Tower until about 1pm.
Day 3 however, was very interesting! This was a day full of churches and landmarks that we hadn't previously seen. It started out when we walked out of our hotel and took a picture of the original Statue of Liberty. She was right outside our hotel entrance and the sight became so familiar that we had to take a photo. We then went around the corner for breakfast in the shopping centre right behind our hotel (I really don't know what it's called I'm afraid but any Parisians out there might know - it's in the 15th arr. and has a very modern structure). After that, we walked down to the metro station and headed up to Montmartre.
There are people trying to sell you bracelets, but they won't come up to you and ask if you want to buy one. They will literally grab your arm or hand and start braiding this bracelet onto you and then will not let go of you until you give them payment. Although we were aware of this scam, it didn't mean we were any more prepared for it. There were two or three men at a time and they didn't think twice about grabbing you and dragging you off to the side. If you politely say you don't want a bracelet, they tell you it's for the church, everybody has one and you have to have one too. If you then continue to tell them no, they will accuse you of being racist and disrespectful towards them. Now, this may not apply to all men selling bracelets outside the Sacre Coeur, but they did target a particular type of people - anybody who was English, or anybody who was white and blonde for that matter. It may not be all the time, but we felt that all other nationalities were being ignored and they would steer for us. It could be that we were young, blonde, English, small, whatever. But we were definitely being targeted. Watch out for this.
Putting those several incidents beside, once you reach the top of the hill and are staring up at the Sacre Coeur, it really is breathtaking. The church is gleaming white and the views from the hill looking over Paris are stunning. There are armed guards at the top, so the men I mentioned previously were not around, but that doesn't mean that there weren't pickpockets. We didn't see anything happen but we definitely got some dodgy vibes from a few people.
After admiring the Sacre Coeur in the sunshine we headed on down to gaze upon Notre Dame. Another seriously beautiful landmark church that Paris has to offer. It's amazing that it took over 200 years to build Notre Dame and that it's around 700 years old now, but looking at the towering buttresses and gargoyles, you really appreciate how much work went into constructing it. It is a gothic architectural masterpiece.
We then walked over to Pont des Arts (otherwise known as Love Locks bridge) to see that it was all boarded up. This really hit home about how a trend can become so catchy and everyone has to do it to get that perfect instagram picture so that it ruins the idea entirely. The bits of the bridge that were exposed were so over-filled with locks upon locks that it was just sad to look at. Nevertheless, it did offer some of the best views of the city that we've seen.
We then walked down to the Jardin de Luxembourg, doing some shopping on Rue de Rennes on the way, to chill for a little bit before exploring the Latin Quarter. The gardens were extraordinary and it was so cool to see this city just rest for a little bit. Children were playing, there were people young and old just sitting on the grass reading books. It was great.
The Latin Quarter was pretty cool too. We definitely felt the vibe that it was the area for students and 20 somethings. We had some great pizza while we were people watching, then took a quick look at the Pantheon before heading back to the hotel for some rest! Phew!
Night time came around and we didn't go out until like 9/9:30 so we decided to hit up Hard Rock Café. Something we always have to do when we go to a new city. As we were nearing the entrance, we actually saw a guy get mugged! That was me deciding to get a taxi back tonight ... the wait was short and the beer was the cheapest we'd seen in Paris! We sat down and I usually order the local legendary burger but when I found out that Paris' specialty was mashed duck I decided against it.
The taxi ride back to the hotel was great and our driver even pointed out the Hotel des Invalides which we hadn't seen before! So that was a good way to top off our last day.
All in all, I absolutely loved Paris and there are only a few things that we didn't get to do - which I find amazing because we managed to cram so much in! There are obviously some down sides but it really is a beautiful city and I can't wait to return.
Au revoir,
CJ x
If you missed any of the other Paris blogs you can catch up here:
Day One
Day Two
You can also check out my other travel diaries from previous cities!
London Travel Diary
Prague Travel Diary
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