From August 21 - 24, I visited the French capital, Paris, where I stayed at the Hoxton Hotel in the 2nd arrondissement. On the first day, we walked around the local area and visited the Grand Mosque of Paris where we had afternoon mint tea and traditional Arab snacks in the Mosque's gardens. The Mosque is designed in beautiful Islamic geometric art and is one of the largest mosques in France.
We then visited the Jardin des Plantes, which is a beautiful botanical space containing a large variety of plants, and animals in the nearby zoo.
On the second day we visited the beautiful Saint-Chapelle in the Il-de-la-Cite. The church is built in a medieval Gothic style and contains gorgeously illuminated stained glass windows all around the walls. We then walked around the Seine, and saw other famous landmarks such as the Notre Dame Cathedral.
On the third day, we walked along the Rue de Rosiers and the Le Marais areas of the fourth arrondissement. We found lots of colourful street art in Le Marais, and had delicious bagels in the Rue de Rosiers, which means "street of the rosebushes" in French and is the centre of the Jewish quarter in Paris, and is also one of the districts of fashion in the city.
Some street art in the Marais:
We then went to the Pont de Bir-Hakeim which we crossed to take photos of the Eiffel Tower over the Seine. We also saw a copy of the Statue of Liberty, which was given to France by America in 1889 after France gave them the Statue of Liberty as seen in New York three years earlier.
On the final (half) day, we went to the Musee Jacquemart Andre, which formerly belonged to Edouard Andre and Nelie Jacquemart and is situated in the 8th arrondissement. Andre was the son of a Protestant banking family, and had a large collection of private art which is now exhibited in the museum.
Afterwards we attempted to visit the Musee d'Orsay, which was sadly shut by the time we arrived, though I still managed to capture the museum before it was time to board the Eurostar back to London.
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