Having largely paid for our wedding ourselves we decided we would skip the lavish honeymoon until next year and take ourselves away to Paris for the weekend. One weekend we were away in London and decided to create a bucket list of things to do before we're 30, going on the Eurostar and visiting Paris was on our list, so we killed two birds with one stone here.
The Eurostar was £60pp return and so getting there was cheaper and less stressful than a flight. You check in half an hour before your train and go through security which takes about 15 minutes and then the train itself was about 2hrs, sadly you don't see dolphins etc whilst going through the English Channel but you do see some gorgeous French countryside. The Eurostar takes you into the center of Paris so once you get to the Gare du Nord all you need is an Uber to your hotel.
So this isn't exactly the itinerary we stuck too, but this is what we would've done had we of known abit more about where things were...
Day 1
Sites: Notre-dame, Siene Riverside and boat trip, Love lock bridge, Eiffel Tower.
Breakfast: Any small cafe! We just grabbed a coffee & croissant on the way
Lunch: Grab a croque-monsieur or a baguette from a street stall
Dinner: Le Place Royale (close to where we were staying!)
Tips & Info: The Eiffel tower is the furthest attraction away but it's kind of on the same side of the river Siene as the Notre-dame, we walked it which I think was an hour but you could always get on a boat down the Siene, it's really beautiful! We chose to walk because there was so many things to see along the river, lots of boat restaurants, artists, stalls to buy things, dancers etc! The Notre-dame is free to get into but the queue is SO long! The love lock bridge has been taken down, but there's a bridge just two bridges up from Pont de Arts called Pont Neuf which is where thousands of locks now live! Oh and don't worry if you don't have a lock and key, there are plenty of people that sell them for a couple of euros down by the bridges and like everyone else, we both made a wish and threw one key in each and I've got the third in my purse (y'know incase we get divorced and I need to go unlock my love lock paha!) Also, if you don't grab a nutella crepe from the Eiffel tower, did you even go?
Sites: The Louvre, Arc De Triomphe, Shopping in Champs-Elysees and the Moulin Rouge!
Breakfast: Angelina's - if there's ever a time to listen to me it's now, amazing!
Lunch: Pizza or lunch at Laudree
Dinner: Hard Rock
Tips & Info: Okay so we found out the hard way that the Louvre museum isn't open on Tuesdays, so do not attempt to get in! Walk through the Jardin des Tuileries towards the Arc Di Triomphe and then you'll be entering the Av des Champs-Elysees, it's basically a long road towards the Arc with amazing expensive shops either side such as Sephora, Abercrombie, Louis Vuitton etc. On the left hand side is the Laudree which is where you can buy gorgeous macaroons and have lunch otherwise there's places like five guys, mcdonalds, pizza places a few shops down! If you're under 25 you can get into the Arc for half price but it's inexpensive anyway I think we paid 24 euros? So after climbing thousands of steps you get to the top of the Arc and the views are so beautiful so it's totally worth doing, we decided to climb this rather than the Eiffel Tower because then we got a good view of the tower and alot of Paris. YOU MUST GO TO THE MOULIN ROUGE! As a treat I got us show tickets to the Moulin Rouge. after reading the menus I didn't fancy anything they had and I also didn't fancy spending 100 euros on champers, so we went to the Hard Rock (we try and visit one in every city we go to) and got tipsy there instead, after a short Uber you get to the Moulin Rouge we paid £200 for the show, it's everything you think it'll be and more, such an amazing experience I loved it! Unfortunately you can't take pictures inside cause there's boobies everywhere, but the show is done so tastefully and we were constantly surprised by all the acts. I personally couldn't visit Paris without going to the Moulin, we had Your Song as one of our wedding readings and it has been my favourite film since I was aloud to watch it and Todd was so impressed with all the strength acts, we had to sit and watch youtube videos when we got back to our hotel because he didn't believe they were real ha
Sites: Sacre-Coeur Basilica and Montmarte
Breakfast: Au Cadet de Gascogne
Lunch: Le consult
Dinner: We ate back at the hotel
Tips & Info: So we got an Uber to the Sacre-Coeur Basilica which was MILES away from us, it took 20 minutes to get there, you walk up the steps to the church which is the highest point in Paris, the name itself stands for The Basilica of the sacred heart of Paris! It's free to get in and is stunning. If you walk up the steps and when you're on the last platform before the top tilt your head slightly there is an optical illusion of a leaning house. So we had breakfast at Au cadet de Gascogne which we shared it was 12 euros and you get eggs, toast, hot drink, water, orange juice, breads and a croissant - God knows who can eat all that to themselves anyway - so it was cheap and cheerful for us! There loads of artists and song writers in this district but be careful if one comes up to you and starts drawing your portrait as they will expect your euros! There are loads of gorgeous cafes, shops and museums to see here, so spend a chilled out afternoon wondering around it's a really peaceful atmosphere. This day we spent doing not really a lot other than just wondering around and seeing the Parisian culture, after all we had walked MILES the days before.
So that, in a nutshell is what we did! It was not relaxing at all, we were so tried but it was so lovely to get away straight after the wedding and just talk about everything that happened and reminisce about the day whilst sharing a nutella crepe walking along the river Siene.
Love, Rey x
Love, Rey x
