An easy train ride to Paris from Lyon in just over 2 hours. We are staying at an apartment style hotel. We stayed here last year and loved it. It’s not far from Gard de Lyon, where our train arrived, has lots of local restaurants close by (that are fabulous) and is not far from the city by bus (so so good) or the metro. After settling ourselves in (and doing some laundry) we head to one of the local restaurants for happy hour and a meal.

Things have changed at Notre Dame since the 2019 fire. Gone are the days of turning up and simply wandering through at your discretion. Entry is free but you do need to have a ticket. Tickets go on “sale” at midnight the night before you wish to visit and so Steve was on the website but sadly we missed out. However, when he rechecked the next morning there were a couple of tickets available for a 10.30am entry. It appears that tickets are slowly released so that they are aren’t all picked up by big tour companies (well that’s our theory anyway 🤣), and so those of us not doing tours are I with a chance. You can get tickets on the day by queuing and to be honest that queue was moving pretty quickly. The place was packed, I guess I’d expected that it wouldn’t be as crowd numbers were being closely monitored. It is as awe inspiring as it was before the fire, its such a special church with such rich history – a must for every Paris visit. Oh yes and in case you wondered yes they still let you light candles 🕯️.

Beautiful Paris, as you walk along the streets the loveliness of this place is amazing. For the first time I heard about a phenomenon called “Paris Syndrome”. This is where a person has a sense of extreme disappointment that the city of Paris doesn’t live up to their expectations. I can’t imagine it and actually feel really sad for anyone experiencing this. Paris is an incredible living breathing city that is edgy and fun. We both love it here so much that I can’t imagine a time when a trip to Paris is on the offer and we decline it. I guess it has a lot to do with the imagines people see and then the reality of what it’s like being in a centuries old city that has the same problems as every other big city in the world.

We are making an effort to see a few places we’ve never been to before and one of those is Musée de L’Orangerie and it is absolutely glorious. You are able to pre purchase tickets, we didn’t and had to queue – it was hot and there’s not a lot of shade – so in hindsight we should have secured them. Tickets cost 12€50 with free admission on the first Sunday of the month. It is a really lovely gallery. Of course the Monet’s are exquisite – they are in two big rooms when you first enter the museum. Then on the lower floor they have a range of impressionist and post impressionist works, that are really diverse – below are a peek at a few of them that I liked.

It’s been a great day using the bus system here in Paris. Just purchase the app and then buy as many tickets as you need. We’ve usually stuck with the metro here but I’ve got to say that bus system is really excellent and very simple to use. We’ve loved our first 24 hours in this glorious city so what better way to end it than with another fabulous meal, at a different restaurant, also within a 5 minute walk of where we are staying 🥂.