La ville des lumières - PARIS!

Paris! Oh what a weekend packed with art and culture and pastries. Pastries and the macarons. 

Arriving late on Friday night off the Eurostar we tried to catch the Metro to our hotel (it looked pretty close to the station) but only managed to get about half way before the line stopped and we were ushered out on to the street (we later realised this was due to maintenance on half the line and there was a replacement bus on duty instead) where we spent 20 minutes trying to hail a cab.

We arrived at our hotel and were shown to our loft room, complete with spiral staircase - too cute!

Me being me, I'd done a bit of research on where we should go and what we should look at - so on Saturday morning we set off for our first jam packed day of fun!

First stops the Arc de Triomphe and Ladurée.

For anyone who's not been to France or experience the sheer bliss that is Ladurée, I suggest you get your A in to G and get there immediately. There are also a couple of shops in London which satisfy my cravings for macarons and eclairs on the odd *cough* occasion they occur. 

Then we wandered down the Champs-Élysées towards the Louvre. I followed all directions from Tour Guide Sam...

Souvenir anyone?

We also saw the cops... on rollerblades no less. 

The Notre Dame also featured, as well as a lot of padlocks!

That night we met up with a friend, Anna, who took us to a cool restaurant for foie gras and duck hearts. Yes we ate both. 

Then we went to a bar called Eden Park! Apparently it was started by an ex French rugby player who played against the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland! Very cool.

The following day we braved the weather and made it to the Sacre Cour. It rained. A lot. 

We saw some great art at the Musee D'Orsay, though had to stand in the rain in a long queue to get there!

Dinner was spent at a cute little (with a Michelin star chef) restaurant called Cafe Constant. You can't book a table so we hung outside on the pavement and had a drink while we waited for a table. 

The food was delicious - Brioche, foie gras, duck, profiteroles etc etc. I can highly recommend it for anyone heading to Paris! And the best thing about it - it's really close to the Eiffel Tower. We headed over to watch it glitter after we'd finished dinner. Absolutely spectacular. 

Heading back to the Eiffel Tower the following day was pretty spectacular too - but no glittering. We walked up as far as we could and admired the amazing views. 

Spending a weekend in Paris was amazing! I'll happily head back any time - coincidentally I'm spending another weekend there soon to see my darling brother and his family. I can't wait!!