Weekend in Paris

I have loved Paris ever since my first visit there with my mum, aged 11.

So many fond memories were created from that first ever trip to the City of Light: exploring grand buildings, climbing the Eiffel Tower at night, visiting the Musée d’Orsay, getting lost in the backstreets and eating at the same little bistro with checkered table cloths three nights in a row.

It was also probably one of the first holiday’s I went on where I was old enough to fully appreciate my surroundings.

However, regardless of its sentimental value to me Paris is one of the most wonderful cities I think I have had the pleasure of visiting. So, when my friend suggested a weekend break there to get away from things I jumped at the chance.

I had forgotten how easy the Metro is to use in Paris. We got from the airport to the end of the road where our hotel was no problem.

We were fortunate in that our hotel felt typically French and we had a cute Juliet balcony in our room that overlooked a quaint courtyard beneath.

During our stay we tried to make the most of the sunny weather by walking to as many places as we could (aside from getting to and from the airport and our day trip to Disneyland which was made a whole lot simpler by hopping on the Metro). Our walking mission began on our first day with a route from our hotel to the Eiffel Tower via the Arc de Triomphe.

As you’ll be able to tell from the pictures, the Eiffel Tower made up quite a large proportion of our trip. It was conquered (you don’t need to buy tickets in advance) and sat under on our first day, a key landmark of the tour bus and the backdrop for a cheeky glass of white wine on our final afternoon.

If you are short on time during your stay in Paris I would recommend a bus tour. We did one on our last morning and although we didn’t take advantage of the hop-on, hop-off option (we had already planned the shops and other sights we wanted to see that afternoon) I left feeling like I had seen more of the city than I would have done so otherwise. It was a pretty comprehensive tour and gave me plenty of ideas for places I would like to explore should I be lucky enough to go back.