There are requests that you simply cannot refuse. Especially when there is an apartment in Paris at a friends disposal and he asks you to join him for a long weekend. Obviously I said yes and found myself back in the French capital after a few years of absence.
I still remember my first time in Paris. The city met all the high expectations that I had prior to my first visit and everything seemed to be simply beautiful and romantic. I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful architecture, picturesque parks and the bustling life on the streets. But my impressions numbed with each time that I came to visit. Soon I couldn’t look past the typical metropolitan problems and found myself annoyed by crowded attractions, inaccessible metro stations or beggars on the trains.
I was curious how my recent visit would turn out and as it appears my expectations were exceeded once again. Looking back I wonder how I could ever have doubted this wonderful city.
Jardin du Luxembourg – an oasis of peace and quiet in the middle of of Paris
Odette is a place straight out of a movie scene. I remember walking by and suddenly realizing that I saw this place before- most likely in the Instagram feeds of Sam J or Oliver Wong.
Long strolls along the Seine are still one of my favourite things to do in Paris no matter how crowded it is. We were close to Pont Neuf where I wanted to take a few photos from the classic bookstalls when this father-daughter duo walked into my picture. The bohemian look of those two is simply mesmerizing.
Lunch with a view: On deck of one of the houseboats along the Seine
Our apartment was located in the 13th arrondissement, south of the city centre and close to the Asian Quarter. This gave us the opportunity to visit an area that we wouldn’t have seen under normal circumstances by following the common tourist paths. The Asian Quarter made a lasting impression on me for it’s culinary delights. The sheer number of restaurants left us with an impossible choice to select single restaurants for dinner but we were rewarded with excellent Vietnamese food. Apart from that our arrondissement is known for it’s small pubs and restaurants that we also made good use of.
View from our balcony during golden hour
For our obligatory visit to Montmartre we left early in the morning to have Sacre Coer all for ourselves before most tourists arrived. I can’t remember to have seen the stairs of the church without tourists at any time before.
What I particularly enjoyed were strolls through the Marais. The bustling streets with its’ small shops and cafés are one of the places where I felt closest to the often quoted French art of living.
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