LuLu has changed planes at Charles de Gaulle many times so we thought it was time for her to see the city so off we went! In April 2026, many EU airports began the new Entry/Exit System and we were looking forward to getting registered and seeing how this long awaited scheme worked. Unfortunately due to many issues with the system at CDG, it was suspended when we arrived.
For a couple years, I’ve been using a car service called Welcome Pickups in Europe and they are not only very reliable with professional drivers, they are affordable. An added bonus is the driver will meet you in the Arrivals Hall and is parked right out front making it a much more pleasant experience.
Our first full day was a bank holiday, Ascension Day, and everyone was out and about in spite of the rain…or at least it seemed like it at Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. Thank goodness we started our day with a café crème and croissant and pain au chocolat.
Notre Dame reopened in 2025 after the tragic fire in 2019. They did a beautiful job restoring Our Lady to her glory. The last time I was in Paris was for my 50th birthday in 2017 and it has definitely become a much bigger attraction and seemed less spiritual than previous visits. It is a beautiful church and I completely understand everyone wanting to see it but it seemed more like people were trying to get their perfect Instagram selfie and were quite aggressive. Don’t miss the medallion in the middle of the forecourt as it marks the center of Paris and it is from there where all the 20 arrondissements (districts) emanate (because of the crowds and rain, we opted to not place our foot on it (I showed LuLu a pic).
Admission is free to the main church but it is recommended to reserve a time to avoid the very long queue. I learned before we left that while we were here, the reservation system was suspended due to a festival and archaeological work in the forecourt. I reached out to find out if there were any accommodations for older guests so they don’t have to wait in the queue and was given a special entrance which was a life saver as we avoided a two hour wait in the rain. So don’t be afraid to reach out to sites and ask about accommodations for elderly or handicap visitors.
Just around the corner is Sainte-Chapelle. Louis IX commissioned the chapel inside the royal residence to house relics of the Passion of Christ with the Crown of Thorns being the most important. The chapel is also famous for its beautiful stained glass windows. They are absolutely gorgeous and I definitely recommend a visit to anyone coming to Paris. To reach the upper chapel, there is a narrow winding staircase of about 35 steps. As LuLu has difficulty with steps (heck my knees don’t love them either!), I had reached out to find out if there was a lift for those with mobility challenges and to our delight there is and we were given another special entrance. I would say in the last 10 years many cities in Europe have made great strides in becoming more accessible. We take this for granted in the US because of the passage of the ADA in 1990 but I will say making these accommodations in Europe is an even bigger undertaking given the age of most buildings.
One of our favorite things to do when we visit a new city is take a loop on the Hop-On/Hop-Off bus to get an overview. We don’t use it for its intended purpose as honestly it can be a giant time waste as you have to return to the stop and wait for the bus. The one is Paris is pretty good (some cities are not so good) but it does take about 2 hours because of the horrific traffic in the city. As an added bonus in Paris, it includes an hour cruise on the Seine which offers a different perspective. Here’s a few pics from the tours (we got lucky and the rains held off until just as we finished!).
As we were on the Seine River cruise, we noticed a lot of people would move their hands up and down as we passed. According to the all knowing internet, it is a gesture meaning "bon voyage", "enjoy", "I see you".
Our hotel was located in the Montmartre section of Paris…the area of the Moulin Rouge and Sacré-Coeur church (talk about a paradox of notable sites!). Montmartre is a hilly part of town and Sacré-Coeur sits at the very top (highest part in Paris). Don’t worry I didn’t have LuLu walk up to the church…they have a funicular and Uber/Bolt drivers are able to drive up to church. While Sacré-Coeur is a popular tourist destination, it had a much more spiritual feel. Since 1885, Sacre-Coeur has held Adoration day and night and I do believe this evoked the spiritual feeling. Because of Adoration, any time the noise level would get slightly loud, a recording saying silence in many languages would come on and helped keep the church quiet. Leaving the church to get back down the hill, you have three options: funicular, Uber/Bolt or walk. As it was raining (yes again!), we opted for Bolt right to our hotel.
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| Our hotel had a rooftop bar and they treated us to champagne |
Over in the 6th arrondissement are two beautiful churches…Saint-Sulpice and Saint-Germain-des-Prés. We started our day at Saint-Sulpice after a leisurely morning of café crème and pain au chocolat. Saint-Sulpice is the second largest church in Paris and while Notre Dame was closed after the fire, it was the official church of Paris. The church is also famous for its great organ that has over 7,000 pipes and it takes 2 organists to pull the 102 stops!
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| Always nice to see our old friend, St. Anthony |
We had lunch at a nearby cafe that offered some great people watching to go with the delicious duck foie gras, quiche (me) and the French Hot Dog (LuLu). One of the things we take for granted in the US is that tap water is free and offered immediately as you sit down in a restaurant. In Europe water is not free and only available in bottles (usually glass) of either still or sparkling. In most places in France, if you ask for une carafe d’eau (or you can say tap water) they will bring you free water…something I have not experienced anywhere else in Europe. Yes the water in Paris is safe to drink and tastes good.
While doing a little research for the trip, I learned about Chapon Chocolatier and their chocolate mousse bar! As fate would have it (or perhaps I planned it that way…I’ll never tell!), it was right around the corner from our lunch spot. It is a very tiny shop but it offers so much joy. We opted for the dark Venezuelan chocolate with hazelnut and citrus…and they also give you a sample piece of chocolate (joy of joys). The mousse was so light we decided it didn’t have any calories!
After dessert, we headed to Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Founded in 543, this is the oldest church in Paris. The church was beautiful and was the least crowded of all the churches we've visited. We saw our old friend, St. Anthony which we noticed was covered with writing. A little online research told us that the faithful have written prayers or names of their loved ones on the statue in spite of the church trying to halt the habit.
Paris is a BIG city so it is really important to have a game plan each day of what you want to see to make sure you’re visiting sites in the same area otherwise you can crisscross town which can cost you valuable time if you are only in town for a short time. In the fall, a friend told me how she used ChatGPT to plan a trip to Rome so I thought I’d give it a try for Paris. I knew the places I wanted to show LuLu and their proximity to each other so I would tell ChatGPT to plan a day with the names of 2 places and then surprise us with something a 79 year old woman would enjoy. I also told it the name of our hotel so it knew our starting point. It actually came back with some good itineraries and once I would ask it to tweak a thing or two, it would give me a final itinerary that included the best mode of transportation for each activity for someone of LuLu’s age. Something very important to know about Paris is the vast majority of the metro stops do NOT have an elevator or escalator and have A LOT of steps so if you do have mobility challenges or bad knees like me, make sure you check the route…buses are the best overall for public transportation but Uber/Bolt is probably the best as it offers door to door service. FYI, Bolt is usually a few euro cheaper than Uber.
On previous visits to Paris, I have taken walking tours that included a quick walk through Marche de l'Algerie so this visit, I wanted to make sure to spend a little more time there. Fortunately, we found Silvia and her fabulous tour of the market and surrounding area. What an absolutely fabulous time we had with her! The tour began with the absolute best (and warm) pain au chocolat and it just got better from there. Silvia lives in the neighborhood and we ran in to many of her friends throughout the tour. She's such a local at one of the stops she was behind the counter making our cafe noisette (espresso with a splash of milk)!
Before the savory, came the sweet as we stopped at Aux Mereilleux de Fred for a mini meringue. As we made our way through the market, Silvia collected a variety of fruits, olives, marinated garlic (oh so tasty and not garlicy), cheeses, meats, butter and of course a baguette and we set up a make shift picnic on a counter in the covered section. Everything was delicious and Silvia packed up a little take-away box with the leftovers for us (hello dinner picnic!!). Definitely a tour where you need to come hungry!!
I absolutely love cheese and in France, there are 365 different cheeses so one of the things on my bucket list is to spend a year in France and try all the cheeses! This counter actually had 400 as they also had cheeses from other countries.
The final stop of the tour was a wine shop...perfect ending to the tour. Silvia said it is the hot spot in the neighborhood. It was 12pm when we were there and there was a nice crowd. In addition to an extensive wine selection, they have 5 barrels of wine and if you bring your own wine bottle, you can fill it for 1 Euro!
I mentioned to Silvia that LuLu likes churches and she told us about Saint-Etienne-du-Mont church over in the Latin Quarter so we headed over there after we took a little rest to enjoy a café crème. Saint Genevieve is the patron saint of Paris and is venerated in Saint-Etienne-du-Mont. Originally, churches had a screen (made of stone) that separated the clergy from the parishioners but in the Counter-Revolution, they were removed. Saint-Etienne-du-Mont's screen was spared.
Next to the church is the Pantheon so we popped in for a visit. This one is very different from the one in Rome. First of all there is no hole in the roof and secondly it is no longer a religious site but a mausoleum holding the remains of many important French citizens. During the French Revolution, it made the change and never went back...prior to the Revolution it went from church to other purposes to church.
In spite of raining off and on every day of our trip so far, we have enjoyed our time in Paris. We are off to Rouen in Normandy but will be back later in the week to explore some more.
