Bridge over a river and buildings both modern and older
Monday walks,  Paris

A chilly walk in Paris

January 16, 2024 / 43 Comments

We had been to Paris just a couple of months previously, in September. So why return so soon, and in chilly (make that freezing!) November?

Well, this was to be a rather different visit. Newcastle were to play Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League and although we didn’t have tickets we wanted to meet up with friends and enjoy the atmosphere. Besides, as Audrey Hopkins once famously said, ‘Paris is always a good idea.’

We had experienced a heatwave on that September trip (temperatures above 30 C), and now we had the opposite. Is there such a thing as a cold wave? But despite the cold, match day dawned bright and sunny. And with kick-off not until 9.00 pm we had plenty of time to spend enjoying Paris with our friends.

So after a leisurely breakfast in the Bar du Marché, where Chris and I had been several times on our September visit, we set off for a walk. As it was a much brighter day, although cold, we decided on a walk across to the Right Bank and some explorations around the Rue de Rivoli. Although some of our route retraced the walk Chris and I had done in September, the scenes looked very different now.

As then, we started by crossing the river via the Pont Des Arts, which offers possibly my favourite view in Paris (my feature photo was taken from the bridge too, looking west rather than east).

River in a city with a bridge and elegant houses on an island
View of the Île de la Cité from the Pont des Arts (possibly my favourite view in Paris)
Group of people on a bridge over a river
Barry, Pete, Chris, Joanne and Peter on the Pont des Arts – I think you can see how cold it was!
Group of people on a bridge over a river
Selfie by Joanne with Barry, Pete, Chris, me, Peter

On the far side of the bridge we strolled through the courtyard of the Louvre but didn’t linger. We then followed the Rue de Rivoli to number 59 where a couple of us had read that an interesting collection of artists’ studios were housed in an authorised squat. We loved the bright exterior but the building itself was closed.

Colourfully painted door
59 Rue de Rivoli
Colourfully painted door with man passing
59 Rue de Rivoli, this time with passer-by

A helpful local overhead our conversation and told us it would open in ten minutes, at midday. But it was too cold to stand around, so we decided to go for a coffee meanwhile.

We took our time over the drinks, enjoying the relative warmth of the café and lots of conversation. By the time we’d finished drinking and chatting we’d managed to change our plans! So instead of retracing our steps we wandered through the area around Les Halles, taking a few photos of course.

Upside down reflection of a church
Église Saint-Eustache, reflected in a puddle
Classical carving of a woman with pigeons on her arm and shoulder
Building detail near Les Halles
Small sculpture of an orange bird wearing sunglasses
Street art near Les Halles
Street signs in French
Old street signs
Mural of girl's face
More street art

We were in search of the various arcades, collectively called Passages, in this part of the city. We found one, the Galerie de Vivienne, looking very festive. There was an attractive teashop and patisserie serving light lunches, so we stopped there and enjoyed excellent truffled croques monsieur.

Elegant arcade with Christmas lights
Looking through the entrance of La Galerie de Vivienne
Looking up at the top of a Christmas tree and glass dome above
La Galerie de Vivienne with Christmas tree
Close-up of a Christmas tree bauble with reflection of two women
Taking selfies with Joanne, reflected in a bauble on the tree
Arch with relief carvings, clock and Christmas lights
Detail of La Galerie de Vivienne

We searched out another passage, not nearly so attractive or interesting, then decided it was time to focus on the main purpose of our trip, the football. That part of the day saw us having a beer at the official Newcastle fan zone, then watching the match in a cosy pub back near Saint Germain. But that’s a slightly sore point, as those who follow European football may know. And we weren’t doing much walking by then so it’s a good place to finish this Monday Walk for Jo.

I last visited Paris in November 2023, when all these photos were taken

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