72 hours in Paris

I love Paris! I can go again and again and again and still find new things to see and do making it never a boring place to go. Here's my travel diary on how I spent 72 hours in beautiful Paris...

Day ONE

Travel - Eiffel Tower - Notre Dame - Streets of Paris - The Pantheon - Picnic - Sunset - Wine

If i can, I always choose my travel method for first thing in the morning. The way I see it, is as soon as I get to my destination, the sooner I can start having fun. This was no exception... and with a 4am alarm set, bags packed and ready I headed out to catch the train to the airport for my short 45 minute flight to Paris.

First up we got the metro into the city, which only took around 35 mins, and put our luggage into storage at the hotel as it was too early to check in and headed out with our cameras and guidebooks. Now I've been to Paris many times, and climbed the Eiffel tower many times, but never have I seen it in the glorious sunshine. So to make the most of the sun, and for about the 6th time, I climbed the tower to see the city in the beautiful sun. Oh and by this stage it was lunchtime and the only thing that was appealing to me up here was a huge huge doughnut...

Next stop was Notre Dame. We bought a book of 14 metro tickets to make it easier and cheaper to get around, when we hopped off near the cathedral we spent some time walking around the little streets and did a bit of window shopping before heading over to the majestic Notre Dame. If you walk around around to the back of the cathedral you will find some cute little gardens that you can relax in. At the time we went they were planting all these beautiful spring flowers to make the place even more pretty.

Next up was the Pantheon. I basically wanted to see as many of the sights as possible in the sunshine and I didn't care about how many miles I racked up, although for the rest of the trip my feet did suffer #TheDownsideOfTravel

The forecast said rain for the next few days so we ended up going back to the Eiffel Tower to have a picnic, drink some wine and watch the sun go down. It was beautiful.

Day TWO

Versailles Palace - Versailles Gardens - Shakespeare & Company - Desserts - Wine 

For those of you that don't know, Versailles is about a 30 minute metro trip out of the city and well worth the journey. It is beautiful. So beautiful that I am still in awe thinking about it. The history of it, the beauty, the stories... every inch is magnifique. The only thing is, and it is a little thing really but still just as annoying, it was busy. Like super busy. It felt like every school in the district had descended upon us for a history lesson. The gardens are also lovely, with copious amounts of walkways, fountains and flowers, in fact you could spend a good few hours in the garden alone without even heading into the palace. My advice would be to make sure you have a good 3/4 hours to make the most of the place. Even with the crowds though, it was wonderful and a must do for anyone heading to Paris.

Shakespear and Company is a fabulous cute bookshop right near Notre Dame, and its filled with little hidey holes that you can curl up in and read as many books as you would like to your hearts content. When we popped in, there was even some live music being played upstairs... softly which is just what you want. Its just under 100 years old and a really interesting place to go to if you read a little or a lot.

Day THREE

Rain - Catacombs - Sacre Coeur - Sweets - Angelina's - The Ritz - The Louvre

Considering the forecast for our entire trip was rain, we actually did pretty well and only ended up going through a smallish shower. This would have been ok if firstly I had an umbrella, and secondly we weren't in a queue for the catacombs which wasn't under cover. Instead we stood in the rain, and laughed at how the street sellers went from selling bottles of water to umbrellas as soon as it changed. The queue was well worth the wait as the catacombs are eerily beautiful and a must see for fans of anything unusual whilst travelling. I will warn you though, it is quite restrictive underground and if you aren't a fan of small spaces, I would perhaps advise against the trip. If you do go down there though, you will find a graveyard, a beautiful graveyard honouring the dead from long ago.

We then hoped onto the metro and headed across to Sacre Coeur. Scare Coeur is a memorial basilica built on the highest point in Paris, meaning the views are spectacular but prepare yourself as it will be busy. There is a cute little carousel at the bottom of the steps too so perfect for if you have little people with you too.

We definitely clocked up enough steps to warrant lots of food at this point, and not just any food, some sweet treats, and where better to go than to Angelinas. A beautiful tearoom opposite the Louvre where we sat our aching feet down and indulged in the amazingly smooth hot chocolate on offer. And why stop there, the Ritz was just around the corner so for more indulging we treated ourselves to a cocktail in Bar Hemingway (Beware - they were 30 euros each!) and it was lush.

I always find that there is an elegance and grace about Paris, is it just me? The only thing left to do on my list was to see the Louvre lit up at night. I've been a few times to the actual museum and seen the infamous Mona Lisa (Spoiler, it's totally not worth it, its tiny and very crowded, I actually thought it would have been a better use of my time in other areas of the galleries) but I'd never seen it lit up. The Louvre have fountains surrounding the great glass pyramid dome, so just imagine it all lit up and reflecting on the water. It started to rain as we turned up, which you may think means it would be quite boring and dull to see, but with a carefully placed tripod and a well-timed snap, it looks anything but crowded and dull.

And that was it... the next morning we headed to the train and caught the plane home. What an amazing 72 hours in Paris with so much achieved. Now, when is it time to go back #AddictedToParis