After a day full of sight-seeing, we decided to do even more sight-seeing! Our last swipe on our two-day Museum Pass was the Arc de Triomphe. Yay, more stairs! Although, relatively speaking, it wasn’t too bad of a climb. However, the view from the top wasn’t that breathtaking – especially compared to our Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame experiences.
We got the Arc out of the way so we could focus on strolling the Champs Elysee. Unfortunately, it was getting late, so most of the stores were closed, but we did get to window shop a little (which, let’s face it, is all I can afford to do at this point anyways!) and spotted the humongous Louis Vuitton store.
Across the street from the LV store, there’s a well-known cafe called Fouquet’s that allegedly offers celebrity sightings. We didn’t get close enough to see if there were any celebrities dining there at the moment, but we did see a hot pink Ferrari pull up for dinner!
After dinner on the Champs Elysee at a less-exclusive venue, I took a page out of my Rick Steves’ Europe book (literally) to guide us on a nighttime walk through Ile St. Louis. The island was so peaceful and charming, the type of area that really makes you feel like you’re in Paris. Our stroll took us across the island, over the Seine to Ile de la Cite for a view of the lit-up Notre Dame.
Seeing these historic landmarks lit up at night is such an experience, you really can’t capture it with a camera. Literally, it won’t come out that great on film, and beyond that, you just can’t capture the feeling of being on an island in the Seine River on a hot summer night, staring up at the Notre Dame flooded in light.
The last part of our walk – not in Rick Steves’ guide – was strolling back to our hotel.
Multiple Destinations 