A Weekend in Paris

Since Jess and I graduated (she in 2014, I in 2013) we've been talking about traveling and seeking out the cheapest ways to do it. We snapped up a bargain when we went to Paris last month, paying just £69 each for return tickets on the Eurostar. Our Airbnb apartment in Montmartre cost us £25 a night each and it was exactly what we needed in a brilliant location. I would highly recommend Lea to anyone wanting an affordable stay in Paris in a nice, quiet area. I have an entire post coming up all about the food as I couldn't possibly fit it all into one, so for now, here are a few snaps from our short summer trip and a little about what we got up to...

We arrived on Friday afternoon and headed straight up to Sacré-Cœur, on Poppy's recommendation. Poppy lived in Paris for a while and lent me her mapbook of the city which was an absolute necessity during our trip. Once we'd had a wander round the church we were just about dying from the heat so went to get something to eat from a nearby cafe.

 

Peach iced tea and a ham baguette - a typically French (for me, anyway) lunch and in 30°C heat it was spot on.

Later that evening we went down to a bar (which I'll tell you more about next week), drank cocktails and people-watched as the sun went down but the streets got busier.

We were up and out of the apartment by 8am on the Saturday but we had no idea that the French enjoyed a slower start so while we waited for everything to open we had a wander around the quiet streets of Montmartre.

We got the Metro to Madeleine and went to Galeries Lafayette - the most beautiful department store I have ever seen. It reminded me of Bendel's in New York, but this was much, much bigger.

Then, despite being told by a number of people not to bother, we went to the Eiffel tower and had a look at the famous landmark in real life. It was mildly underwhelming but it was pretty cool to see it - it seemed a lot bigger than in all the films I had seen.

By this point I needed an ice cream, and that's when I found this violet beauty. It was the colour, scent and flavour of one of my favourite childhood sweets and was about as big as my head, but I managed to eat (nearly) all of it.

Despite only being in the French capital for 48 hours, we soaked up every last minute of our trip and didn't feel like we missed out on anything. There's a lot I haven't included here because I have separate posts lined up and these will be live very soon. Expect to see french fries, lots of pastries and actual bowls of hot chocolate :)