PARIS: My Guide

Bonjourrrr!! Jeeez I am officially in love with Paris!  We had such an amazing fun filled trip and I cannot wait to visit the beautiful city again!  So many people said how dirty Paris is but we really thought the complete opposite, it was probably the cleanest city I have been too and the buldings are just stunning This post will be a long one, so brace yourselves!   DAY 1    

We arrived at our hotel to cloudy skies but very warm air, and upon opening our room's French doors I let out a little squeal of delight as we had the most perfect view of the Eiffel Tower!  I cannot recommend out hotel enough, Hotel Elysees Union which I have linked for anyone interested in a very good priced, clean and friendly place to stay.  We were in the perfect location along the Champs-Elysees, right next to a metro station but far enough away from the main road to be pleasantly quiet   Straight away we knew we had to get our asses up that tower, we took the short 5 min stroll to it and got in line! So I love rides, and never had a problem with being up high before but holy MOLEY it is well high up the Eiffel Tower!!! I freaked out big time and almost didnt make it to the top!  But luckily my other half was persistant enough to make me wait in the long line to the top, reminding me I may only ever get to do this once  

   

Oh there we are!! Do I look a little terrified?!  I feel it :-S

 
We then decided to get a bus tour as we needed to get our bearings a little and we wanted to see which attractions/monuments we actually wanted to see and when.  This was a great idea as we got an idea of where things were, what we wanted to see and we got a 2 day pass so could use the bus as a normal transport service. Sorted.
 

I am loving the panoramic camera on the Iphone5, this is the view from our bus of the crazy Parisian traffic!!!

  

Tourists much?!!



After a long afternoon of heights and bus tours we needed a traditional Parisian snack and what better than a little macaroon!

 



 
 Dinner that night was a gorgeous little French restaurant recommended to us by our hotel  called Jamin
I had a gorgeous dish of seabass in a lemon, parsley caper sauce with tiny croutons and rice - it was heavenly!!!!  The best seabass I have eaten, no lie.  

Drooling.

This restaurant isn't the cheapest, but not the most expensive either, a starter and main with wine is approx €100 for two, but the food is delicious and well worth it
   

DAY 2
  We woke up to a very rainy Saturday morning but it was still quite warm so all we needed was a trusty umbrella and we were set! We decided to visit the Notre Dame cathedral as it was indoors and near the shopping area and this was probably best for a damp day  

 

Notre Dame was absolutely gorgeous!  The way these buildings were built hundreds of years ago is astonishing!  The gothic craftsmenship is stunning.  I actually have a bit of a fear of churches, I have never been to one for a happy occassion only for sad ones so I just associate them with those bad feelings but this one really wasnt scary at all and was rather calming and peaceful.  Definately visit it if you get the chance

    We needed a little something to warm our cockles after being out in the rain so it was deinfatly time for the world famous Angelina hot chocolate!!  I had been dying to try a pot of this stuff for ages and there was a long que outside which made me want to hot liquid even more!  My boyfriend is somewhat of a chocoholic so for once he didn't even mind waiting in line  

Be prepared for a bit of a wait

   

   

Heaven.

To say this hot chocolate is thick is an understatement.  It literally like drinking melted chocolate or thick cream and it is bloody delicious!!!  We had this alongside a croque-monseuir (equally as yummy) and boy did we feel sick!  I couldn't even manage one of their scrummy looking pastries for afters :( waahh!!    After Angelina we visited the Galleries Lafeyette, a beautiful and huge shopping centre with hundreds of designer brands, I couldnt help but pick up a little Chanel...  

 

Dinner on day 2 was a little difficult as it seems you generally have to have reservations to eat anywhere on a Saturday night (take note of this peeps!)  So we asked a lady at our hotel again for something relitively good value and maybe a little different from the usual French cuisune.  She recommended us a Japanese restaurant which my favourite so we made a last minute reservations straight away at Manten  

 
 To start was a tasty mushroom and spring onion soup and a tradition Japanese salad which tasted just like a non-creamy coleslaw!   For main, I had salmon sushimi which is one  of my favourite ever foods and some delicious looking meats kebabs.  Both dishes were absolutly lovely and would you beleive it, even with a half bottle of wine this meal for 2 was under €30  

 

 
    DAY 3   After most of the previous day spent shopping and wandering, the mister was desperate to visit some landmarks/museums/something educational so off we went to The Louvre.  

Oh hi I'm at the Louvre!

  The day started a little drizzly but all of a sudden the sun came bursting through with a vengance and the temperature shot up to 22 degrees and we were sweating hot!! Lush! At The Louvre we decided we needed some structure to our visit as the place is so blimmen big you could spend hours and hours getting lost in art work and sculptures we didn't really know anything about.  We went for an interactive tour where you get your own Nintendo DS on a lanyard and headphone.  With this you can basically wander about and the DS activates when you stand near a painting or walk into a new section and it tells you what you're looking at.  But again this could have you aimlessly walking round for hours, so we decided to do the Masterpiece Tour.  This basically starts you at a certain point in the museum and directs you as you walk through the different sections only taking you to the main attractions and works of art which is all we really wanted to see. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the Louvre, the history of the piece is so interesting, I especially liked the Greek sculptures with arms or heads missing, and imagining what they actually looked like before falling apart    

  

I poked the Mona Lisa.


  We then took the metro to Montmarte which I think is my favourite part of Paris.  It is like a beautiful little village looking over the rest of Paris and is full of culture and character!  The sun was shining and we took a wander around the square where artists sit and paint and sell their masterpieces (I could have bought them all) There is also the second highest point in Paris there, the Sacre Couer, another beautiful church which we took a look around whilst there  

 

 
 We ended the day on a high quite literally, by climbing the 4 millions steps up to the  top of the Arc De Triomphe.  I almost passed out  

 
 We had booked our dinner for Sunday night a couple of days before as we had heard this place got pretty busy.  We had dinner at The Beef Club which is a new modern French style brasserie specialising in steaks and burgers.  The meat was delishious and cooked to perfections but we actually preffered our starters as they were really really good!   Scott had a Scotch Egg and I had Prawns with a crab and shallot puree.  It was phenomonal I could have eaten 10 more plates of each!!  

 
 

 
 Again it is quite pricey at The Beef Club as you have to order sides seperately at €5 a pop but they are large and I would reccomend you share fries and sides vegetables etc.  Also they must have really liked us (or felt sorry for us as we couldnt read the menu or the wine list) but they didn't charge us for our fries AND they gave us both a very lovely complimentary glass of champagne!   As it was our last night in Paris *cries* we took a little trip downstairs to The Beef Club cocktail lounge which was so fun!  The place is lit only by a few tea lights dotted around and a live jazz band was playing for couples cosying up in the corners of the room.  Very cool. We had a cocktail each with absolutly no idea what was in each but all I can say is it tasted like ginger beer and star anise and I liked it lots!!  

 
    DAY 4
   Our last morning was spent frantically packing and hopping on and off the metro for different souveniers to bring home, including a bottle of Angelinas hot chocolate!!  We wish we had bought more now though :( We also visited Laduree for a generous helping of macaroons, I mean it would be rude not to wouldn't it?!  

 
 I was also treated by my very generous lovely man to this gorgeous little beast..  

 
EEKKK Michael Kors I bow down to you!!  Loving my new bag, I have already filled it with my kitchen sink and all that!!   So that is my trip over and done with.  I feel very sad that it is over but so happy with what we did and how much I enjoyed it all!!    

    I hope this post has helped you plan your own trip if you are thinking of going to Paris! If you have any questions about where I went or stayed or whatevs, leave a comment or drop me a mail and I will answer as best I can!


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