Place des Vosges, Le Village de Saint-Paul, et l'Île de la Cité

Boy, did I pick an awful day to forget to charge my camera! Phone to the rescue!

The sun decided to come back today, so we headed down to Place des Vosges, the most beautiful square in Paris. Most shops were shut on the way there, despite it being 10am. I am yet to fully understand the peculiar opening hours here. We poked our noses into the Musée Carnavalet and it's attached bookstore, making a note to come back here on a rainy day after spotting the ancient maps of Paris, some as early as 1551.

Place des Vosges

Place des Vosges

 Eventually, around a small bend in the road, the most magnificent square appeared before our eyes. Well-groomed trees lined the park, some almost bare of leaves while others were still green. The buildings were a gorgeous red brick, and if you stood just so, you saw that the walls are not straight - there is a lot of that in Paris.

Place des Vosges

We wandered across to the Victor Hugo museum, which had an exhibition going, then on to Hôtel de Sully and its gorgeous hidden courtyard. I spent a very long time pouring over the books at its librairie, and appreciating the ornately painted 17th century ceiling. No luck in finding Les Misérables in French, but I picked up Elle et Lui by George Sand, an author I've been meaning to read, and a (slightly touristy - gasp) pop-up guide of Paris; I just couldn't resist. I eventually had mercy on mum, who had been waiting outside, bored, and left the lovely store.

Hôtel de Sully

La bibliothèque

We then crossed over into Village de Saint-Paul, with it's narrow cobbled streets and deserted courtyards. All the shops were closed, except a cute little hat store (Lynette's favourite) where I was almost persuaded into buying a lovely woolen beret. We stumbled across a school, and the world's most beautiful bibliothèque (I was sure it must be a castle!)

Tarte Tatin

Before us again was La Seine, so we crossed onto Île de la Cité and found a cute little bistro for déjeuner. The waiter was just lovely, although he spoke to us in English more than I would have liked (I determinedly answered all his queries in French), and the food was just what we needed - poulet rôti, et pour dessert, une tarte tatin.





We then walked around le petit île until I got my first glimpse of la Tour Eiffel. I was more excited than I should have been, but standing there seeing the back of the Notre Dame and the Tour Eiffel in the background, I properly realised that I am in fact in Paris. The biting-cold wind, however, hurried us along, around the rest of the island and back over to the correct bank (thankfully) of the Seine.

La Tour Eiffel (left beside the tree) et la Notre Dame

We came across more stores on our walk home, including a cute little bijoux store where I purchased a funky arrow ring and restrained myself from buying more (I think I'll have to go back there). The shops here are so cool, but prices are certainly not cheap! Budgets suck. Anyway, after a short break we're about to head off again pour faire des courses, and I fancy a real Parisian chocolat chaud. 

À bientôt!