Can you really be lost in Paris?

/ 3sistersabroad

Its hard to believe that this post was back in 2016!  Musee Carnavalet is still closed and the website says it will be closed until the end of 2019.  Renovations must be taking longer than anticipated.

 

After our amazing visit to the Louvre in the morning we decided we would catch a taxi back into the city and wander around this fantastic city before catching up with Richard for dinner. It would be his last night before flying out the next day.  We 3 still had 2 more days before going home.

We asked the taxi driver to drop us near the Marais district on the Rue Vieille Du Temple.

Le Marais (district of Paris )

Rue Vieille Du Temple

We could see a crowd of people up head and when we got there this is who we saw.  What an amazing mode of transport and loved his colorful clothes.  It was like something out Leonardo Da Vinci’s Inventions.  If anyone reading this post knows who this wonderful person is let me know please?

Very colourful

New mode of transport French style

 

 

 

 

Le Marais (district of Paris)

Le Marais (district of Paris)

 

We kept walking looking around looking for somewhere to have a cuppa/wine/food when we happened to come across these wonderful musicians.  I wish I had taken a video of them  as the music was brilliant.  We stopped and watched them for a while.

Jass Musicians

Jazz Musicians

Jazz Muscians

Jazz Music

 

We then walked a bit further and found this amazing place.  The Musee Du Carnavalet.  This is a museum on the history of Paris.  We thought let’s go and have a look.  We got in for free!  Most museums are free on Sundays for families and with Paula’s French  she managed to convince the gentleman behind the counter we were sisters. We are sisters blood related but we look nothing alike!   I only took pictures of the courtyard.  This is an amazing museum and very French.  Nothing was in English and we were the only “English-speaking people walking around.” Lots of security were in every room so I didn’t want to risk taking a picture in case it wasn’t allowed.  It’s now closed till 2019 for renovations so we were extremely lucky to have made the decision to go inside.  The day we were wandering around Paris it was very hot, so to be inside this amazingly beautiful building with its high ceilings and double thickness walls was a nice break from the  heat.

If you get the chance to visit this amazing museum from 2019 do so.  So much history.

 

 

Du Musee Carnavalet

Du Musee Carnavalet

 

 

Le Marais (district of Paris)

Du Musee Carnavalet Le Marais (district of Paris)

After the museum, we kept on walking and found this park.  So nice to find a park that you can actually sit on the grass in Paris.  Very pretty.  One day I will go back and sit on the grass just like all the French are doing in this picture.

 

Square Louis XIII.

Place des Vosges

 

I was blown away with the architecture in Paris.  Here is another example of the rooftops.

Square Louis XIII.

Beautiful Architecture – Place des Vosges

 

amazing architecture

The architecture

This is the home of Victor Hugo from 1832 – 1848.  It’s now a museum at number 6 Place Royale – now known as Place des Vosges.  Victor Hugo is a celebrated French romantic author best known for his poetry and his novels, including Les Miserables.  Perhaps next time we will go in and have a look around however after all our walking we were tired and hungry and thirsty, so finding a cafe was more important.  Plus there was a EU$7 charge to go in and we thought at the time that money would be well spent on food and drink.

Maison De Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

 

We finally found a cafe and sat in the seats out front.  A lovely young lady came to serve us.  Of course we ordered wine, water and the chips. Pommes Frites x 3.  We could have shared one between the 3 of us the serving was so large. Did we leave any?  No the little piggies in us we ate the lot!  Our waitress didn’t understand our English or our poor attempts at some French.  We asked what was the name of the cafe, mainly for this blog and where the River Seine was in relation to the cafe.  She had no idea the poor thing.   Ordering we pointed to what we wanted on the menu.  However, she was polite and smiled a lot.  Later we were told she was probably a refugee and that they get bussed in every day for their jobs.  No wonder even French was not her language.  We asked some people at the table next to us and they gave us instructions on how to get back to where we wanted to go.  We should have written it down.  Left, right, right, left.  We turned right when we should have turned left and so on.

Wine?

Our view from the Cafe

 

 

pommes frites

Chips – pommes frites

The Chips were crispy and yummy.

The Wine

The Wine

The Wine was wet and hit the spot!

This picture below was just around the corner from the cafe.  This was where we went wrong with our directions we got from the couple at the cafe.  I think we should have gone right  but we went left.

 

Street View

Street View

 

Golden angel statue on top of Bastille Monument, Paris, France.

Golden angel statue on top of Bastille Monument, Paris, France.

So as I said earlier we turned left instead of right and ended up at the Bastille Monument in Paris.

We wandered along a bit more and somehow found the Seine but we were on the wrong side.  All the way along there is Bocce being played.  In Australia it seems to be only the old who play it but as we walked along we found young people playing it as well.

Playing Bocce by the Seine

Playing Bocce by the Seine

 

It was so hot walking and we started to look for a taxi but on a Sunday with the crowds it was proving hard.  Plus the cars were going in the wrong direction to where we wanted to go.  So we kept walking, and admiring the view.  Can you really be lost in Paris?  I don’t think so.

What a view

The View along the Seine River

 

The views of the Seine are amazing.

The River Seine

Parisians cooling off by the River Seine

 

Everywhere you go there is police and army walking around with their rifles over their chests.  I actually felt a little nervous but safe at the same time.  Knowing if anything was to happen they would be there.  Here at home I think our police need to take on board what they do in Europe.  Get out of the cars and go back to walking the beat.

Normal street scene in Paris

Feeling Safe on the streets of Paris

 

Finally we began to  notice landmarks that were looking familiar.  We found the taxi stand where we had caught the taxi the day before.

Back to the hotel in time to clean up to go out to dinner with Richard.

What an afternoon.  We had walked miles. Apart from the 30 mins to have something to eat and our taxi ride we had been on our feet from 12.30 to 6pm.  I think from the time we left the Cafe to when we caught the taxi it was about 2 hours.  I might be stretching the truth here but that’s what it felt like.  We covered a lot of miles in the 2 half days in Paris and we still had 2 more days to explore.  I wonder where we get to next?

 

 

 

Paris

Finally things start to look familiar

41 thoughts on “Can you really be lost in Paris?”

  1. Pingback: The beginning of 3 Sisters Abroad – 4 year Anniversary of blogging! – 3 Sisters Abroad

  3. Oh! How I’m dying to get to Europe, especially Paris! I haven’t been yet and I can’t wait to go! Thank you for sharing your story!

    ~Allison
    #MLSTL

    Liked by 1 person

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  5. It sounds like an absolutely fantastic day – finishing up with chips (my favourite!) and getting lost in Paris is easy to do – we managed to do it within hours of arriving – one wrong turn and you’re completely lost and finding someone to direct us in English was a challenge too!
    Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 😀

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  18. Getting lost in Paris is my favorite pastime — and the surest way to find happiness. (Unless you’re running late for your flight, I suppose, in which case it’s a maddening nightmare, LOL.) I don’t know the name of the man with the Da Vinci bike but have seen him a couple of times on the Pont D’Arcole near Notre Dame, where he was posing with tourists in exchange for a coin or two. If I see him again I will inquire further, though.

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  22. It was very sporting of you not to mention that once again i was the one that got us lost.
    In fact i think i made us all walk in a circle. If only it hadnt been so hot.
    However we made it back and lived to get lost another day !!

    Liked by 1 person

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