Return to Paris, Bonjour!

When in you're in need of a holiday, I would always advise you to take the opportunity to go on holiday! Its a no brainer isn't it? Get away from the grind for a bit, explore somewhere new or familiar, and loose yourself for a weekend. And thats exactly what we did!

We caught the Eurostar, which is fantastic. Before you know it, you're arriving in Gare Du Nord in Paris, and you're ready to begin exploring. I took it as a great chance to see some more of Paris that I'd missed last time, as (surprise surprise) I'd ran out of time. There really is so much to see and do in Paris, they say you could visit for a thousand days and still not get to see everything.

We started our tip by visiting Madeline Cathedral, a beautifully bold and classical styled building that I'd not known about before. Inside was charming with long view through the building and stunning ceiling designs. Then, as any true traveller would, I stood on the edge of the traffic light island to try and get a photo up the avenue towards the Madeline. It made a fantastic photo, even if I did feel wholly unsafe attempting it!

The Christmas decorations were starting to appear, with this gorgeous yet simple tree found in one of the side streets around Madeline.

The French really know how to do good mood lighting!

The next day was our visit it Louvre, perhaps one of the worlds most famous art galleries. A lot of people find it overrated, but I disagree. It's quite a sprawling museum, and not the most easy to navigate, but it's got some fantastic exhibits, including some very well known ones (Mona Lisa & the Venus De Milo) but it also contains thousands upon thousands of other pieces. But of course, I had to visit the Mona Lisa. The funny thing about it, is it's not the most remarkable thing I've ever seen. Its not huge or expansive, its not emotionally connecting, its not even the most artistic of art. But, there lies its charm. The slight smile, teasing you and drawing your attention in, making you wish you knew more. Wishing she could tell you, quite what has happened to give her that look. But alas, I guess we will never know. It also amuses me quite how the painting has encaptured the worlds interest so much, it's certainly one of the worlds most recognisable, and parodied pieces of art. But what I loved about it, was that everyone that saw it, seemed to be drawn in by it, just like me. And as this picture shows, there was an air of excitement every time someone else saw it for the first time.

A Louvre shaped cake is a piece of art in itself.

Not the type of bird you can feed, but a friend none the less!

The final thing we did before heading back home was to visit the flea market. With various different names, the most common being the Marche aux Puces. Just north of Porte De Cligancourt Metro station, its a fun mish-mash of actual antiques, vintage wares, cheap tut and designer gear. We had a lovely morning wandering through, and I brought some old French coins with holes in the middle, as well as grabbing a nice brunch from one of the cafe's there. W e also saw this fabulous little café in what seemed to be an old spaceship in the centre of the market. But we couldn't stay long, as the weekend was nearly over and we needed to catch the Eurostar back home. Time seemed to fly by, but it was nice to be away for a couple of days. 

Don't worry Paris, we will return soon!