love padlocks at ponts des Arts

We had arrived Paris very late on Monday, 17 June 2013. Our flight had been delayed. We flew from Geneva, Switzerland via Air France. The good news though, the airline gave the four of us each 15euros worth of meal vouchers that we could used within the Air France' area at Geneva Airport.

We were booked at Hotel Du Midi Paris, located at 4 Avenue Rene Coty 75014 Paris, France, opposite the RER B Denfert-Rochereau and near the metro station. We had stayed in the hotel for 5 nights. We had booked the hotel thru booking.com as early as October 2012. The room was not big, 25sq m area. The ensuite bath was big, the bedroom was enough for 2 big beds, to squeeze our 5 big luggage and for us to move a little. It was clean and the staff were really helpful. There was also a small fridge, electric kettle and free wifi. Location is good, very close to RER and Metro stations and many restaurants around the area. We had stayed in this hotel till our departure back to Singapore on the 22 June 2013, Saturday.

Our Itinerary in Paris – Europe tour 2013 as follows:

18 June Palace of Versailles (please click the link for our visit to the palace)

19 June Paris walks & EiffelTower (please click the link for visit to Eiffel tower)

20 June Shopping and rest

21 June Disneyland Paris

22 June Seine River Cruise and departure

We would be sharing in this post our Walks in Paris from Notre Dame Cathedral to Eiffel Tower. The photos posted are in their largest. We understand most of the viewers/visitors are not keen of reading so much and they are more of appreciating pictures. For those who are history buff and who are interested what's the picture all about, I would be glad to share with you what we have learned from our trip and of course with the help of everyone's best friend, Mr Google. Likewise, we have tried to shorten the captions so as not to bore you but could still visualize though the description as in you were walking with us.

Our hotel is located opposite of RER B Denfert-Rochereau station. We boarded the train bound to Charles de Gaulle or Mitry Clay and we alighted after 3 stops, at St Michel - Notre Dame station. From the station, the very famous Cathedral in Paris, Notre Dame is just a few meters on foot.

It was then we had felt we were in PARIS. It was our 2nd day though, we have spent our 1st day at Versailles.

Notre Dame Cathedral is situated on the half of Île de la Cité (Island of Cite)

statue of Charlemagne

The Seine River in Paris, France. On the left is the Island of Cite, where Notre Dame Cathedral is situated.

We could see on the photo the

Pont de l'Archevêché or Archibishop bridge. the photo was taken from Pont Au double

Crossing the Pont Au Double to Quai de Montebello

We had our lunch at Cafe Panis

view of the southern side of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from Quai de Montbello

View of the Cathedral from Quai de Montebello

Buildings along Quai de Montebello

We walked along the Seine River. We started from Pont Au Double. Apparently, the bridge is the link from the Island of Cite to Quai de Montebello

We could see the next downstream bridge, the Petit Pont or Little Bridge. It is near the Metro Station Saint-Michel.

The next upstream bridge from the Pont Au Double is the Archibishop bridge.

We are approaching the Pont Saint-Michel. The bridge is linking the Place Saint-Michel to the Island of Cite

On the right is the Palais de Justice and the Tribunal Correctionnel

The view of Notre Dame Cathedral and Petit Pont under the Pont Saint-Michel

Far end is the Pont Neuf

zoomed view of Pont Neuf. I have more photos of Pont Neuf to post at Seine River Cruise blog.

closer view of Palais de Justice

Stairways to Pont Saint-Michel

Place Saint-Michel, - a public square in the Latin Quarter.

Palais de Justice, Paris, France

Institute de France. grouping five academies, manages over 1000 foundations including museums and gardens.

Pont des Arts links Institute de France to the Louvre

Pont des Arts is popular for love padlocks. Tourists mark their names or initials on the padlock and hook it onto the bridge as a sign of unending love. Due to weakening structure, the officials have removed the love padlocks in May 2015.

So funny the bridge was designed to carry hundreds of people and now threatened by these love padlocks. this is not the first time the padlocks have been removed from the bridge.

Standing on Pont des Arts could give you panoramic view of the Landmarks of Paris. The next bridge downstream is the Pont du Carousel.

Across is the famous Louvre

The next downstream bridge is Pont Neuf

Taken from the right side of Pont des Arts we could see the Pont du Carousel above the Seine River and the Eiffel Tower

zoomed view

Across is the Institute de France

LOUVRE MUSEUM EXTERIORS

Louvre Museum facade, Paris, France

Louvre Pyramid, Paris, France

Louvre Museum facade, Paris, France

Louvre Pyramid, Paris, France

Our schedule for visit to Eiffel tower was 5pm. We still had enough time to find the Galeries Lafayette

Academie Nationale de Musique

We finally found the famous Galeries Lafayette, a french department store. We did our shopping the next day.

Galeries Lafayette

After learning on how to get to this department store, we headed to Champ de Mars for our scheduled visit to Eiffel Tower. Please click the link for the Eiffel tower visit post. On our Seine River Cruise, we would be talking more of the bridges crossing the Seine. As well as the landmarks of Paris links from the left bank to the right bank.

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