romance | Alex at Liberty

By this part of the trip our jet lag had worn off and we were really starting to settle into being in Paris and knowing the city a little bit. We spent another morning walking around our neighbourhood and the Marais district, and this was when we first discovered their amazing bike system. Once we started renting bikes we did it every day, we biked everywhere – all over the city. They have these bike rental stations where they lock in and lock out, you just put in your credit card to use the bikes for the day and it prints out an individual ticket and I.D. number that you can use for the next 24 hours. You can drop off the bikes at any bike station and then pick up another one at any station. It is such a great system and biking the city was fantastic.

At first the biking was a little terrifying. Even though the city is very bike friendly, you are really in the traffic. And it is such a busy city, tons of traffic and not as strict road rules as we are used to. We made our way to Champs-Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe, do some shopping and have some lunch.

The Arc de Triomphe is so huge, any picture I’ve seen before did not do it justice. The Champs-Elysees is beautiful with lots of shopping and cafes but very very busy. Line up around the corners to get into stores, people everywhere, cafes full.

We did some shopping while we were there, I got a jacket at a store called Blue Mountain which has tons of cute stuff. We also did some shopping at Louis Vuitton which has their flagship store here and it is amazing. Multiple stores, incredible service and when we got our wallets stamped with our initials they took us to the fourth floor on a private elevator and served champagne. It was pretty dreamy!

They also have a Laduree (a pastry shop with a ton of history) and it is so amazing. It’s macaroons in every colour of the rainbow, pastries, chocolates, teas. I can’t even put into words how insanely delicious the pastries are, I had a religieuse and oh my god there are no words. Best thing I have ever eaten. I absolutely loved going there, it is so charming and fun.

We spent that whole evening biking around the city, it was probably my favourite night of our whole trip. It was just so fantastic seeing the city this way and really romantic.

Fontaines de la Concorde

Petit and Grand Palais, right across the street from each other.

Pont Alexandre III, one of my favourite spots in the whole city, it is just so gorgeous with awesome views.

Everyone spends so much time outside there, the streets are filled every night with people walking, talking, smoking, drinking! This candy stand just pops up around the city, then they close it up at the end of the night and haul it away. So good!

This was such a great day, I spent this whole post talking about it! Many more updates on our Parisian adventures to come!

I have been terrible in neglecting my pet project blog! My last post was September 7, awful! But I’ve been so busy, working lots and we recently got back from Paris! Amazing trip, amazing weather, amazing experience. It was just Ryan and I and we went for about 12 days. We rented an apartment through AIRBNB and it was right between Montparnasse and St Germain de Pres, the location could not have been more perfect. Ten minute walk to Luxemburg Gardens, 2 minutes to tons of cafes and shops and we even walked all the way to Seine from our apartment.

The cafe Le Select, which has a lot of literary history – it was a haunt for Hemingway, Picasso and Henry Miller, was at the end of our street. We went there for breakfast the day we got there and had the Petit Dejeuner, which was a cafe creme, orange juice, croissant and a basket of bread served with jam and butter. SO much bread every where you go! If you’re going to Paris get ready to carb load!

We spent a lot of time walking the streets and just exploring and being in the city. It’s just so Parisian! Exactly like I imagined, like all the paintings and old movies.

We found so many adorable old bookstores, outdoor flower markets and fruit stands.

We walked our way down to the Seine with a plan just to walk along the river and walked right into Notre Dame. It was gorgeous, huge and every public space you go to has these beautifully kept gardens.

We made our way to Pont de l’Archeveche which is one of the love lock bridges. I know the Parisians hate these love locks and they are really hard on the bridges but I loved putting one on and the whole idea behind them.

We ended this first day with a drink on a restaurant boat on the Seine with the sun setting behind Notre Dame . It was pretty perfect!

The next day the jet lag got us pretty bad, we were up for hours in the middle of the night then slept in way too late. One of the things I really wanted to do was have a picnic at the Luxemburg Garden. So we got a bottle of wine, some snacks and many macaroons and had a seriously dreamy picnic.

We spent some more time walking and exploring our neighbourhood then ended the night with dinner at a cafe called Odessa. It was our first real outdoor cafe experience, sitting on the street facing out to people watch.

The next day we started out again for breakfast at a very picturesque cafe called Bullier, the food was good as well as the service, and it just looked like it was out of a painting.

Then we took a long walk down to the Seine and explored the Marais district. After that we went down a level and walked right along the river. Walking along the Seine was one of my favourite things that we did.

Our first glimpse at the Eiffel Tower! We are such tourists!

That night we went to the Eiffel Tower and ate at one of their restaurants 58 Tour Eiffel, the food was good and the view was incredible.

You can’t go to Paris and not go to the Eiffel Tower! When we got there it was still daylight but I would suggest going at night. It’s not as busy and it is far more romantic, special and fantastic. We went back later in the week during the day and I didn’t get that same magical feeling as when I went at night (maybe it was the wine at dinner but who can say really?)

The next day we spent at the Louvre, and it is really something else. We were there for seven and a half hours and didn’t even see one full floor. We saw some of the most famous works and also explored a lot of the sculpture exhibits. It is really something else there, a really amazing museum but very very busy! If you’re not crazy about crowds you might find this a little overwhelming. This was our only rainy day but by the time we left it was clear so we had time to enjoy the Tuileries Gardens outside the Louvre.

Winged Victory

Mona Lisa

Venus de Milo

Beautiful Tuileries Gardens

That night we walked to a cafe on Boulevard St Michel called Le Luco. One of our favourite dinners where we closed the place down while drinking wine and then walked back to our apartment in the night time drizzle.