Hi all, and welcome back to rumblewrites. This week’s post is a little different: it’s a summary of my time in Paris! I visited earlier this month, and I got an opportunity to visit (most of) the museums, galleries and historical sites I have long loved from a distance. If you’re not comfortable with seeing human skeletons, look away now!
I often write posts about French history on here, so feel free to check out my archives if you enjoy this post, and please consider subscribing for more:
Also, just a note to say that I currently have covid. This post was written in advance but I have nothing prepared for next week, so don’t be surprised if I skip a post! Hopefully I’ll be back to my usual self soon.
Tuesday
We took a Eurostar train from London St Pancras to the Gare du Nord, Paris. We grabbed a quick lunch at a nearby café then headed to our Airbnb, which was located in the 13th arrondissement, and well-connected.
In the evening, our first activity was to visit the Catacombs!
We then grabbed dinner, and headed to the Eiffel Tower. We managed to catch a light show.
Wednesday
The first of our full days in Paris. We started bright and early with a trip to the Musée de l'Orangerie at 9am sharp, where we got to see Monet’s waterlilies!
Claude Monet, The Water Lilies - Morning (c.1914-26)
We then strolled out through the Jardin des Tuileries into the nearby streets. We walked past Robespierre’s house, the Colonne Vendome featuring a statue of Napoleon, and then made our way to some antiquarian bookshops.
We grabbed a quick lunch before standing in the sweltering heat to queue for the Louvre (hard to imagine this was only a few weeks ago… I’m absolutely frozen now!). There we, of course, saw Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (c.1503-06):
alongside some French paintings I had been dying to visit:
Eugène Delacroix, Liberté guidant le peuple (1830)
We were ahead of schedule, so we decided to take a quick trip up the 284 steps of the Arc de Triomphe before dinner. This was our view:
After a lovely outside dinner, we headed to the Place de la Bastille. If you want to read up about the significance of this place for the Revolution, you can check out my article on it here. I was clearly very happy about this one:
Thursday
This day was the killer. We woke up not-so-bright and early again and took the RER service towards Versailles. It was pouring with rain when we arrived and had to take a 30 minute walk across the muddy gardens to reach Trianon. It was beautiful, if somewhat difficult to enjoy in the freezing cold!
Luckily, the weather had cleared up a little by the time we made it outside again and we were able to take some nice shots at the Temple of Love:
After lunch, we made it into the Chateau de Versailles itself, and we saw it in all its decadence:
After a few hours of walking around, we went out into the surrounding town and paid a visit to the Quartier des Antiquaires de la Geôle et du Bailliage. I’d seen the Au Facteur Cheval bookshop on TikTok and knew I needed to visit. It absolutely did not disappoint! [I may do a separate post on the books I picked up…]
We then took the RER back into Paris and indulged in a lovely dinner, before heading to the late night opening of the Musee d’Orsay (yes, the day is somehow still going). We saw the iconic clock face of the old station and lots of impressionist works!
Edgar Degas, Danseuses bleues (1897)
Friday
After doing just shy of 30,000 steps the day before, we had a little lay in the next morning and checked out of our AirBnb around 9am. We then headed to a boulangerie where we had breakfast, before heading to the Hôtel National des Invalides. There, we visited the tomb of Napoleon:
and saw lots of other Napoleon-related items!
We loved our breakfast so much that we decided to head back to the same bakery for lunch, and then I headed to Musée Rodin for a quick look round while my boyfriend guarded our luggage (thank you).
Auguste Rodin, Le Penseur (1904)
We then had a more gentle afternoon as we took a walk down by the Seine. We passed Notre Dame and paid a visit to a couple other bookshops I’d been recommended: Abbey Bookstore and Shakespeare & Co. Finally, we grabbed an early dinner and made our way back to the Gare du Nord, satisfied that we truly had made the most of our trip!
I am super jealous! Get well soon! 🖤
Looks like a great trip. I've only been to Paris once and didn't go to the catacombs but I would love to someday! Really hope you feel better soon! 🙌