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Paris for the Return Traveller -- Site Seeing Pick n Mix Part 1

Updated: Apr 7, 2020

I am so privileged to have spent a week of my life in this beautiful city! Granted, that is the total amount of time added together from 2 seperate trips but still! On my first trip I spent 5 days in Paris and they were absolute heaven but this time around was much more of a quick trip, only 2 days. What with a full time job now its a bit harder to spend so long away 😜😜


If, like me, you've already seen the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versailles and Notre Dame and you've got a fair lay of the land already then this could be a great list of must sees for your return trip to Paris.


We all know what it was like, to walk along the banks of the Seine for the first time, under the moon, tears in our eyes, on our face, drowning in tears actually....just me? Paris was my dream for LITERALLY a decade so it was very emotional for me to finally be there.


But what do you do when you've already ticked the number one sites of your bucket list? Well this sort of depends on the kind of person you are. Maybe you've been to the Louvre but, because you need 3 months to appreciate every work of art and historical artefact in there, you want to go back and see more, or maybe you saw the basic hoe trio (more on that later) and you were like, "Sweet lets bounce." SO! I've come up with a cunning plan! I'm listing all of the places that I visited on my second trip BUT I've added a handy dandy little guide at the top of each attraction/site so you can figure out if its for you or not 😄


It's like a little pick and mix for all of your return trip to Paris bucket list needs 😜😜


I had originally made this post with both days side by side but I hadn't realised just how much I had done 😂😂😂 so it was veeeeeeerrrrryyy long! So, I decided to be kind to you and split it into 2 seperate ones 😜😜


Here's what I did on my first day as a return traveler with 48 hours in Paris:


The Pantheon

For lovers of:

Art 🎨 🖼
Architecture 🏛
History 📜
Classical Literature 📚
Philosophy 🤔🤔💡

The Pantheon is one of the many amazing tourist sites in Paris that gives you free entry if you are an EU citizen and under 25! So if you are, bring your passport with you, which you should do anyway because it is French law to have ID on you at all times, and get in for free!! I payed €3 for an audio guide because #history

(This is the first photo I took with my new camera ahah so just bare with me, they get better I promise 😹😹😹) It's very revolutionary focused, like, above the writing on this revolution inspired statue, "La Convention Nationale" are the words "Vivre Libre ou Mourir" which literally means "Live Free or Die" so...intense ahah but obviously it carries a lot of meaning for the French people, who literally died for their independence. VIVRE LA FRANCE!

Inside the Pantheon is some impressive artwork, architecture and one breathtaking pendulum which was originally installed in 1851!

(Please enjoy some one else's much nicer photo 😹😹)

But the reason I had wanted to go there was to see the crypt. For any of you who don't know, the crypt of the Pantheon has the tombs of Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas and Madame Curie. Not to mention countless other incredibly great French individuals, who lived and died from the 18th century onwards!


I personally find it disrespectful to take pictures of the graves of anyone, especially my literary heroes so I was quite disturbed when I entered the crypt of Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas and, in my moment of reverence, these two tourists entered, stood in front of me and began taking photos of one another smiling with the graves and then left. It just felt, wrong. Naturally, I apologised to two of the greatest authors who ever lived (my opinion but I doubt I'm alone in that 😜), much like Harry apologising to the snake in the Philosopher's Stone, except, thankfully, they didn't reply 😹😹

So, I stood there again in complete amazement to be in the same room as them and then, feeling too unworthy to touch the stone in which the casket of Dumas lies I touched the stone wall beneath it. Thanked them both for their respective gifts of The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables as well as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo and then I left. Absolutely bursting with the highest level of literary geek, star struck awe.


I highly recommend a visit here if you are a nerd of history, architecture, literature or art! You will not be disappointed!

Also, on your exit from the Pantheon you can see part of the Eiffel Tower which is quite nice too.

The weather was so overcast because I was there in December but look at all those Christmas Trees!! Paris at Christmas time 😍😍 just marry me now please! 🙏🙏


Also, random note, the mayor of 5th Discrict's offices are just to the left of this pic and they are beautiful!

You can't really see in this lighting but those columns are covered in twinkling lights and I bet this would be a super romantic place to visit at night 😍


Anywhosies, if you carry on down the steps and then head straight down the street towards the Eiffel Tower you hit one of my favourite parts of Paris...

The Luxembourg Gardens

For lovers of

Natural Beauty 🌼🦋🐝🍀
Picnics 🧺🍓🍎🥖🥐
Plants and Flowers 🌲🍃🍂🌷🌹🌻🍁🌿🌳
Photography ⛲️📷 📸

This one is 100% seasonal. So, like I mentioned, I was here in December and it was just a sad sight 😔 the trees were lifeless, the flowers were dead and the overall lack of colour and life made the vibe bleak and depressing 😭😭😭


So here's a photo from my first trip to Paris back in October when it was stunning, sunny and everything was in bloom 😄🥰☀️🌺

#followme insta handle: adventuresofhanhan 😜😜😜


From the Luxembourg Gardens it's about a 20 minute stroll to my favourite monument in Paris. This was my Eiffel Tower, like when I first saw the Eiffel Tower I was like "omg thats the Eiffel Tower! Cool!" But when I first saw this...my Uber driver thought I was dying 😂😂😂 It's not my fault though! It jumped out all at once, no slow reveal, just "blah blah blah having a lovely chat about Versailles, blah blah pro tips about Paris" then BAM...


Notre Dame

For lovers of,

Architecture 🏛
Disney 😂😂😜🐭
History 📜
Classical Literature 📚
Photography ⛲️📷 📸

Yeeeah this probably has a lot to do with why Notre Dame gives me life 😂😂 read more about that here if you like.


But yes ma cherie Notre Dame is the epitome of Paris for me and so of course I go there at least twice a day whenever I'm in town 😜

No one shines like my baby 😍😍


Yes, I refer to Notre Dame as my baby. Yes, I know that's weird. No, I won't stop.


Literally, breathtaking.


BUT something that gets constantly overlooked is the garden hiding behind the Cathedral!


Notre Dame Gardens

For lovers of

Natural Beauty 🌼🦋🐝🍀
Picnics 🧺🍓🍎🥖🥐
Plants and Flowers 🌲🍃🍂🌷🌹🌻🍁🌿🌳
Photography ⛲️📷 📸

Baring in mind how much Notre Dame means to me, I still think the Luxembourg Gardens are the best ones in Paris and that's including the Tuileries. Notre Dame's Gardens are smaller and less showy than the aforementioned ones however, these gardens have Notre Dame, so you know, just as good really 😂😂


As you can see, December really isn't the time to visit any of them 😂😂


Still beautiful! Just in a very dark, wintery and morbid sort of way but here's how beautiful they can be!

😍😍😍 Thank you google images 😂😂😂


Deportation Martyrs Memorial

For lovers of

History 📜
Lesser Known Sites 🔍 🗺

Now if you want to talk about sites LITERALLY NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT then this a place you HAVE to mention.


This museum/memorial was dark both in subject matter and actual lighting 😜 they made the ambience of this museum so engulfing that it makes you feel, trapped, afraid, alone and scared. Right down to the style of paint and writing they used on the cement walls. It was haunting and harrowing to walk through this place but it was vey fitting for it's topic; the deportation of Jews from France during WWII.


I wish I had realised that they had audio guides before I entered because that would have made this whole experience even more immersive and informative.



"They went to the other end of the earth and they did not come back."


This museum is 100% free entry to all and I cannot recommend it enough, each exhibit has an English translation of whatever you are looking at but with a basic to moderate command of French I think your experience is doubly touching and immersive. I came around 2:30 pm on a Wednesday and I had the whole place completely to myself which made it all the more scary but on the other hand it was also a much more personal experience as well.


It's also literally the other side of the road from the Notre Dame Gardens, in a small park right on the Seine. Peaceful, heartbreaking and very well made.


Now after something so dark and so upsetting but so damn important to remember, you will need something low key, relaxing and uplifting. My solution is....


Shakespeare and Co. Bookshop

For lovers of,

Books and Reading 📚📖
Rest and Relaxation ⛱💆‍♀️
Quiet Time 🏝🧘‍♀️

This place is book lover heaven! It's a stones throw from Notre Dame, so minutes from the Museum of Deportation and I'm talking floor to ceiling, wall to wall books and bookshelves and more books. It's also really cozy so even when it's packed with book lovers down stairs and you're feeling claustrophobic, just head up stairs and chill in the reading room with a stunning view of the towers of Notre Dame 😍😍

PRO TIP: The Cafe next door is mad cute AND has vegan options 🙊🙊😜 Now at this point in my first day in Paris, after a 10 hour bus journey the night before I was cruising for a snoozing, saying yes to a rest, happy for a nappy, fiesta-ing for some siesta-ing....I'm all out of jokes 😂😂🤣 So, I headed back to my hostel, dropped my things and made my way to the land of nod.


When I awoke

😂😂😂 It was getting dark and I was like, its finally time. I'm going to see the one thing that I wanted to see that I didn't get round to last time. Technically two things, but they go hand in hand. Have you guessed them yet? That's right, the Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe!


Now it's probs worth mentioning at this point that Paris is a walkers city. I always walk everywhere, unless I'm pressed for time. I will walk 6 kms if I have to, but then I love Paris so much that 6 kms there is like a gift so....maybe thats just me? TBH I will normally walk most of the way and then if I can get an Uber for under €10 the rest of the way I'm happy 🤣🤣 BUT MY POINT IS, the Champs Elysées was a DAMN LONG WAY from where I was staying but I was like eh I can walk that.

So can you guess where I went?

That's right! 10 points to your house!

My baby 😍😍😍

I took some wicked night time snaps that you've most likely already seen...but just in case! 😂😂

Then I walked along the Seine away from Notre Dayum towards...


The Louvre

For lovers of,

Architecture 🏛
Art 🎨 🖼
History 📜
Photography ⛲️📷 📸

Now, quite honestly if you didn't go to the Louvre on your first trip to Paris then you dun fucked up, excuse my French 😜 because the Louvre is literally the largest museum on earth, an ex palace -- so it's a freaking work of art all on its own -- AND it has mega pleasant gardens to stroll through and picnic in, seriously what are you doing? Just go already! Did you know that the Louvre is so big, it would take you 100 days to see every piece of art -- just the art -- there? But you could ONLY do it if you spent no more than 30 seconds looking at each piece. Reading fun facts about the Louvre is literally my idea of time well spent 😂 Now, if you want to be one of those basic hoes who just comes to the Louvre to get a selfie with the Mona Lisa then I'll try not to judge you, but like I DON'T UNDERSTAND? Like actually, there are so many freaking photos of the Mona Lisa, professional photos, movies about the Mona Lisa, TV shows about Da Vinci that feature the Mona Lisa, we all know what it looks like, we all have access to google in case we ever somehow forget what it looks like, WHY DO YOU NEED PICTURES OF IT!?! Anyway, if you can recover your eyeballs from the shatteringly intense rolls you'll be going through when you reach the Mona Lisa, there's also the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace. That's the basic hoe trio. BUT, there is so much more that the Louvre has to offer, open your heart and your mind and you can spend months of your life marvelling at the greatness and beauty that man kind is capable of.

But I digress, I walked to the Louvre because its on a direct path with the Arc Du Triomphe which, in case you didn't know stands at the far end of the Champs Elysées. Now right in front of the Louvre is the Tuileries gardens and this time of year I was overjoyed to find....


Christmas Markets in the Tuileries

For lovers of,

Christmas 🎄🎄🎁
Pretty lights
Markets
Fairgrounds
Fairground Food
Mulled Wine


Now, foolishly, I spent my whole time here filming for my vlog 😅😅 so I only have 1 photo, thank God for Google right? 😂😂


This place reminded me so much of Oktoberfest with all the little stalls and fairground attractions except with a heavy focus on Christmas instead of drinking 😜 Definitely my kind of priorities 🤣🤣


Here's my one photo,

👏👏👏 Well done Hannah, you're killing this blog thing 😂


I found a great list of Christmas Markets in Paris while I was hunting for more photos, here so if you're heading to the City of Lights at the most wonderful (and light-ey) time of the year then definitely check it out 😊😊


As I walked out of the other end of the markets, at the furthest exit of the gardens, it was almost a straight line to the....


Champs Elysées


FACT: As I was walking down the Champs Elysées one of my best mates messaged me and asked me if I was having fun and I looked up and right in front of me was...


Needless to say, I was having A LOT of fun from that point on 🤣🤣


I spent an AWFULLY long time trying to get the perfect shot of the Arc de Triomphe while standing in the middle of the road (don't worry everyone does it) but I found that every time I got a bit closer the shot was better, so my personal opinion is to wait until you're as close to the Arc as possible. The Champs Elysées is a damn long street, trust me, the closer the better. Don't fill up the storage on your phone or camera the way I did 😂😂 In the words of (captain) Jack Sparrow "Wait, until the opportune moment."



It was my original intention to go up the Arc that night but by the time I got out of the Disney store it was about 10pm and I was needing a feeding, could steal a meal, sell crack for a snack 😂😂 In the wise words of Pooh there was a rumbly in my tumbly and I was hella hungry 😜😜 and this was back when my phone was the most reckless kamikaze and would shut down at any given moment so of course it died before I could Happy Cow my closest veggie food 😫😫 So I was forced to return to the Christmas Market in the vain hope of locating something Vegan. In case any of you are wondering the veggie soup at one of the stalls was bomb 👌👌

I headed back to Notre Dame one more time and then caught an Uber back home because it was another big day of site seeing tomorrow! And so ends Day 1.


I hope you guys have all found some cool recommendations and exciting inspiration for your return trip to Paris!


Stay tuned for "48 Hours in Paris -- The Return Traveler -- Day 2" 😽😽 Much love,


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