Long Weekend in Paris - Travel Guide, Part 2
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For Part 2 of my Paris travel guide, we head a little bit away from the Opera district to explore all the other equally worthy places to visit!
1. RUE CREMIEUX
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Wearing: Mister Zimi dress | Lucid Label coat | Bared Shoes Pintail sneakers
Rue Cremieux is a colourful residential street not far from Gare de Lyon. It's a bit of a hidden gem, as it's not the typical place you'd find tourists visiting but if you're a fan of cute houses, especially when they're in a pastel rainbow, then this street is definitely not to miss. It's filled with houses with unique personalities and heaps of house plants dotted along the road. Be respectful though and don't have a crazy party here, as it is after all a residential street.
2. NOTRE DAME
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Wearing Lack of Colour Sunnydip hat | The Tinsel Rack Izabela dress (Use the coupon code ‘TTRXCONNIE’ for 10% off all orders from The Tinsel Rack – excludes sale and resident brands) | Bared Shoes x Carla McRae Pintail sneakers | Strathberry nano tote in vanilla
Notre Dame Cathedral is a stunning medieval Catholic cathedral located on the banks of River Seine. It's popularity means that is of course, super busy throughout the day. Luckily for us, there are a few different ways and places you can enjoy Notre Dame - you can visit the front and inside (the busiest areas), stroll around the small garden out the back (much less busy), climb 387 steps to the top of the tower to view the city, or see it from the river banks. There are also lots of souvenir stores nearby and the pretty as a picture Au Vieux Paris D'arcole cafe around the corner.PARIS TRAVEL TIP: Take the bus! One of the things I didn't enjoy about Paris the first time I visited was their metro system. It is super convenient and all, but is famous for being rife with pickpockets, is stuffy and is smelly (to be honest, I don't really enjoy the London Underground anymore - it is super convenient as well but I just don't enjoy the stuffiness and the steps). So this time around, we only took buses in Paris and that changed how much I enjoyed Paris hugely. Buses don't require 100s of steps to access, aren't stuffy and BONUS! You can see a view of where you are heading as well as use wifi. All that makes up for the fact that they are a slower than the metro, but it's so worth it!
3. TROCADERO, TO VIEW THE EIFFEL TOWER
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See my dedicated Eiffel Tower post here
After seeing the Eiffel Tower from numerous viewpoints, I really do feel like Trocadero is the best place to see it. Trocadero is a beautiful little garden area with a fountain as the main attraction in the middle. Trocadero is across the river and right in line with the Eiffel Tower, so it gives basically a very pleasing, symmetrical view of the Eiffel. Being one of the most famous landmarks in the world, there isn't an hour of the day where this place ain't busy. So be prepare, there were definitely dozens of people there when we visited!
4. PONT ALEXANDRE III
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If you're up for a walk around the area, you might as well make your way through Champs de Mars and all the way past Post Alexandre III. It's that iconic bridge of Paris and makes for a beautiful river crossing.
5. TOUR MONTPARNASSE
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There are a heap of places to see the city from above in Paris, but not many with elevator access. So if you're not keen climb those 34243 steps of the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe or Sacre Coeur and then miss seeing the building you climbed in the view, then head to Tour Montparnasse to see it all. It's a skyscraper with elevator access to a 360 view at the highest viewing platform in Paris. I love visiting observation decks like these as it helps you get a good idea of where everything is in the city you're visiting and how close attractions are to each other - kind of like a 3D Google maps to help plan your itinerary.
6. PETIT PALAIS
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Around the Eiffel Tower area is also the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. If you're taking a stroll around the area, don't miss the huge golden doors at the entrance of Petit Palais. They happen to open to Paris' Fine Arts Museum but it was unfortunately closed when we passed by.
7. LUXEMBOURG GARDENS
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Looking for somewhere to just chill out? We headed to Luxembourg Gardens on one of the afternoons to check out this pretty place. I love how there are just hundreds of chairs scattered about in Parisian Gardens. Instead of immovable benches we often have in Australia, in Paris, it's all about movable chairs. People move them around and place them in all sorts of odd places to sit. I think it's what gives the gardens here that Parisian feel!Hope you enjoyed my Paris Guide!