La Ville de l'amour

Right before the Easter weekend, it occurred to me that I had four whole days to do whatever I want and being the travel fanatic that I am, of course I couldn’t just stay in the same place – regardless of how beautiful Switzerland’s lakes and mountains may be. After some hardcore Google-searching and Facebook-messaging, I decided to visit a dear friend in the city of love.

As soon as I arrived in Paris I had to take a wander through the beautiful streets of the first arrondissement like a real flâneuse. In my slightly uncomfortable heels, I teetered from Opéra Charles Garnier to Place Vendôme – one of the prettiest squares in Europe - the whole place just oozes glamour. The square is surrounded by all sorts of fabulous finds, from deluxe boutique hotels to designer fashion houses.

A big chunk of of my time was spent in either the Louvre or Musée Carnavalet, and this still wasn’t enough. If you’re interested in learning about the history of Paris, I would highly recommend a visit to the Musée Carnavalet. It’s free to enter and if you’re an art nerd like me, you can buy a headset with an automated guide for €5.

The rest of the trip was divided between a relaxing boat ride through the seine… Trips to the Notre-Dame, Sacré-Cœur and Moulin Rouge… Strolls by the Hôtel de Ville, Jewish quarter and Latin quarter… As well as visits to tasty French restaurants, pâttisseries and crêperies, delicious!

We visited the sacré-cœur on Easter Sunday and there was a service being held. As a Muslim, I’ve never seen a live service in a church before, so it was really exceptional being able to see this for the first time. There were hundreds of people and at least double that number of candles, so it was all very grand and the sense of unity was very moving.