I’ve always said that I travel to see how people are living. I’m curious to see what places are like and what people do there. I want to feel the atmosphere of cities and the quiet of the open countryside.
As I travel, I also visit the museums and famous landmarks. It would be foolish not to. I created GoMad Nomad, the online travel magazine, in part to publish stories about the lessor known places of the world and off-the beaten-track sites. But occasionally, I visit the well-worn path, the iconic sites of a city.
So was the case in Paris. The Arch de Triumph, the Champs-Élysées, Montmartre, The Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame: all places immortalized in literature, film, and popular culture.
Finding accommodation in Paris
My five days in Paris was sponsored by Wimdu.com. Paris accommodation is notoriously expensive, but by using a booking site like Wimdu, you can save money and “travel like a local” as their tag line says.
And it’s true. You can find an apartment or bed and breakfast in the neighborhood of your choice in the price range of your limitations. There are photos of the property and reviews from previous guests. We stayed in Montmartre, and although this neighborhood can be considered very touristy, it is still very much residential. With cafes, bars, and cobbled streets on the hill underneath Sacre Coeur, it is also the most romantic.
Wimdu has got over 50,000 properties listed worldwide, and several safety measures in place to make sure your booking goes smoothly. And ours did. We had email contact with our host, who met us on time to drop us the key. (He was also very flexible with us—at the last second we had to change our dates because we got stuck in Avignon.) The flat was small, but cozy, and had a terrace and enough of a kitchen to prepare some meals (thereby saving us lots of money).
So here are my favorite Paris photos:
