Louvre | next stop: tbd

Big news!!! I’ve decided to start a little side business here trading in on my love and knowledge of the City of Lights! For a small fee (depending on the length of the trip) I will plan your trip to Paris and the environs for you. I will take stock of all of your likes and dislikes, budget, food preferences, and desired activity level, and plan a customized trip. I will then supply you with an itinerary, maps, useful information and any necessary restaurant reservations. (I won’t be making flight arrangements or hotel bookings, but I can recommend some nice hotels/Airbnbs or areas to stay and also give you information about transportation from the airport and all around town.)

I’m also willing to step up my research and plan trips to other European and Caribbean locations to which I’ve traveled…just ask!

While you are contemplating your next Parisian adventure, daydream on these photos from our trip in May. (I apologize that some of the photos are grainy; as I may have mentioned before, I didn’t realize I should’ve been compressing my photos all along, and now I’ve run up against my WordPress media limit. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s feasible to go back, delete, compress and reupload all my photos from all my other posts. Ugh.)

Arriving on Thursday, we met our Airbnb host at the charming studio apartment we rented in Le Marais, which actually even had a balcony! What a view! (As might be expected from a 5th floor walk up with old wooden sloping spiral stairs….just added to the charm.)

We stayed on Rue Rambuteau which cuts East-West from Le Marais to Les Halles, which is in generally the center of the Right Bank. Les Halles was once a huge market, but when the market was moved to the suburbs, an underground shopping mall was created. For the longest time, the park above the mall (pictured below) was the haunt of junkies and the homeless, but the government is continuing its beautification efforts.

Le Bon Marché is one of the original grands magasins – literally big stores – aka department stores. La Grande Épicerie is a giant food store on the ground floor of Le Bon Marché, featuring beautifully crafted baked goods, international, and artisan products. There is even an extensive wine cave a floor below. Here, approaching the side of the store, you can faintly see Le Bon Marché painted on the side of the building.

Le Conciergerie was once a Parisian prison. Located on Ile de la Cité, it is where Marie Antoinette spent her final days, and you can see a real life guillotine blade hanging on the wall. Sweet. The vaulted ceilings and this particular rat relief on the column show the grandeur and the detail that went into this. Hardly the cinder block and steel of today. <–See the rat?

Buble but, obviously. Some sort of traditional ethnic dances being performed in front of Hotel de Ville (City Hall) during a “young persons festival.” Release the Kracken wall art.

Place de la République.

Canal Saint Martin and a boat going through a lock. We walked along the Canal to Little Sri Lanka in the northern part of the 10th arrondissement. And I even bought a few pre-made sari tops to hopefully wear to a friend’s wedding this summer. For 8 euros, they tailored it right there while I waited in all of about 5 minutes! Good deal – I’ll take 2!

Approaching the base of one set of stairs hidden in a residential neighborhood leading to Sacré Coeur.And all the motorcycles parked in front of this café at the bottom. Looking back down. Sacré Coeur (Sacred Heart) where we took shelter from a deluge.

A church and a moto.

Place de la Bastille.

Sunset in the streets of Paris.

Approaching the interior square of the Louvre. Square in front of the Louvre.

Jardins de Tuileries on an overcast day. Chairs and flowers. More chairs and flowers. Flowers. Chairs. A statue in a square among les jardins (the gardens); Found the real “buble but.”

Some window shopping at Christian Louboutin of course. Roses in the square of Le Palais Royal.Caryatids at the Louvre. Pont des Arts where couples place locks as a symbol of their unbreakable love, and then they throw away the keys. I wonder if anyone has ever come back and cut theirs off after a divorce?