Ile De La Cite and the Latin Quarter

There's a flower market on Ile de la Cite that was closed the last time I was in Paris so I was pretty excited to see it this time around. The market was a lot smaller than I thought it was going to be, but it was also quite charming. The rain had finally stopped, and the sun was peeking out from behind the clouds, which made it perfect for looking at some pretty flowers.

 

They sell not only flowers and plants but all sorts of garden-related knick-knacks. I was sorely tempted by a mirror, but the prospect of lugging it around for the rest of the day turned me off.

Since the market wasn't that large, I didn't linger too long and I crossed one of Paris' many bridges to the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank. The first sight I came across was the St. Michel fountain, which looks quite impressive from afar. Up close, um, not so much.

I quickly moved on further down Boulevard St. Michel, which is the main thoroughfare through the Latin Quarter, but I took one of the side streets away until I came across the Sorbonne, Paris' very famous university. It also was a lot smaller than I anticipated - I'm starting to sense a theme here.

Anyway, I continued my wander until I came across the Pantheon, the resting place of several famous people including Voltaire, Rousseau and Victor Hugo. The weather was pretty insane at this point, storming like mad one minute and then sunny the next.

Not a far distance away was the Jardin du Luxembourg, where the Palais du Luxembourg is also located. It's a very nice park, but I still think London's got Paris beat hands down when it comes to parks. I strolled around for a bit and sat down on one of the many chairs to relax my feet for a bit before moving on.

After the park, I thought it might be nice to roam around the rest of the Latin Quarter with no particular destination in mind. To my pleasant surprise, I came across a little reminder of home!

My plans for an aimless wander around the Latin Quarter came to an abrupt end when the threatening sky finally split open and it started pouring rain and the gusty winds flipped my umbrella inside out. I had already been out for seven hours or so, and I decided to beat it back to the hotel with a few pit stops on Rue de Rivoli, and I bought a ham crepe and pain du chocolat to eat back in the hotel room for dinner.