Paris | Day 1 | The Louvre & Jard de l'Infante

We travelled to Paris via Eurostar from London St. Pancras which took 2 hours 15 mins. After arriving at Gare du Nord station we purchased a 5 day travel ticket, working out as the cheapest option for us as we planned to use the Metro throughout the week.

We stayed in Saint Germain, an area of the 6th arrondissement of Paris and home to the centre of the existentialist movement (associated with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir).

If you had to choose the most classically Parisian neighbourhood, this would be it. Saint Germain contains immaculate streets and a relaxed atmosphere that allowed us to feel safe whilst walking around at night. If you're staying in the area I'd advise you not to book bed and breakfast as the cafes are fantastic - both historically and for their food.




After checking into our hotel we headed across the river to the Right Bank in order to visit The Louvre, one of the world's largest and most visited museums.

Housed in the Louvre Palace, it was originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II, with remnants of the fortress still visible in the basement of the museum.

In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building. The pyramid was completed in 1989 and the second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion.

We then took a stroll through the Jard de l'Infante and headed back over the river to our hotel. Tired and hungry, we visited a restaurant on the same street as our hotel - despite raving Trip Adviser reviews we were not fans. Below you can see a picture of my starter of 'mushroom creme brule' (yuk). We swung by the supermarket on the way back for some over-sized midnight snacks.



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