A QUICK TRIP TO PARIS

Tuesday


Paris is easily one of my favourite cities. It was the second foreign city I ever visited (Amsterdam being the first) and I fell in love with it almost instantly. Every building has its own unique characteristics, whether it be in its architecture or how brightly coloured flowers have been displayed on balconies - everything is beautiful and I love it.


I have been to Paris quite a few times, but that doesn't stop me from writing about it. The last time I visited was August bank holiday weekend 2015, and I wrote about that in my Bank Holiday Adventure in Paris post  It is not as well written as I remember so don't judge me for it. Old blog posts are never as good as how we imagine, are they?




I always end up travelling to Paris with people who have never been before -this time it was my mother - so I have become a bit of a pro at navigating my way around and using the Metro. Obviously not as pro as a true Parisian, but I can at least pretend, right? My mum, Rebecca, (she want's me to use her actual name instead of mum) had never been to Paris so she wanted to make her way around all of the popular tourist' hotspots.

I am going to write a few in detail posts on some of the places we visited in the future, so I am not going to go into too much detail on everything we did, but I will show you some pictures.


Day 1:
We arrived in Paris via Eurostar at around 10.30 and made our way to the hotel. Unfortunately, we could not check in until 2pm, so we left our bags with the concierge and went for a wander. We found ourselves at the Moulin Rouge, and then jumped on the metro to the Champs-Elysées where we did a lot more wandering, we crossed the river at the Pont Alexandre III, and then crossed back over it to see the Princess Dianna Memorial (which looks like a giant gold blob)  and then up to the Arc du Triomphe. We briefly stopped for lunch at this small little Café to get croissants and Iced Tea, and then boarded a tour bus which took us all over the city. We went around once in order to listen to what the tour guide was saying and then went back around again to get to the Eiffel Tower. Surprisingly there wasn't a queue, so we went straight up the tower and marvelled at the spectacular views. After that, we decided that we needed a rest to we took advantage of the ten euro River Boat Cruise along The Seine and used it as an excuse to drink wine (or beer in my case), look at the sights, and rest our feet. We did a little bit more wandering before finally going back to the hotel to check in, and having a well-deserved sleep.




Day 2:
Day 2 wasn't as tough going as day 1. We stuffed our faces full of croissants at breakfast (as well as our bags so we could snack throughout the day) and then went out to Versailles. Versailles is just outside of Paris and is well worth the 45-minute train journey.  The Palace is free to enter for under 25's and only 15 euros if you are older, however, the queue to get in was horrifically long. I hate queueing, so we opted for just walking around the gardens instead which are free to everyone. The gardens are over 800 Hectares and are filled with more than 200,000 trees. We ate our croissants in the garden overlooking a massive water fountain which dates back to Louis XIV!

After Versailles, we went back to Paris, where we visited Invalides, and the Concord, before getting on a giant Ferris wheel. It wasn't as impressive as The London Eye, but it did offer some spectacular views. We then went back to the hotel to get changed so we could go out for dinner. We ate by The Seine, and then went over to the Eiffel Tower so see it by night, and then watch the 11 pm light show on the tower.








Day 3:
Day three was the least hectic of all the days. We didn't have too much time to play around with, as we had to get to the airport to catch our flight home, but we still got to see a few things before we left.  We went back to the Arc du Triomphe so mum could see it again and then hopped back on the tour bus to go and see Notre Dame. We didn't go inside Notre Dame as the queue was rather long and we were concerned about time but it was lovely to look at. I then emptied out all of the change from my purse into the hand of a homeless woman and sat with her for five minutes stroking her cat. Definitely the highlight of my trip!





Have you ever been to Paris? I'd love to know your favourite place and maybe I'll check it out on my next trip!



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