From Paris...... With love.

Touching down in Paris was a very surreal experience, who doesn't want to go to Paris?
Arriving at our hotel we were not disappointed as we were offered drinks and a relax in the sauna upon arrival..... We regretfully declined as we were itching to explore. We were told to return in two hours and our room would be ready for us..... But the room was a secret, as Secret de Paris is known for its Parisian themed rooms. The Eiffel Tower, Moulin Rouge, the Musee de'Orsay, the Opera Garnier, the Trocadero and the Artists Studio...... As we picked the concept experience we got to change rooms every night! We were lucky enough to stay in the Trocadero, the Moulin Rouge and the Eiffel Tower rooms, our favourite being the Eiffel Tower room.

The staff at our hotel were exceptional and made our stay in Paris unbelievable, upon their recommendation we headed for lunch a good twenty minute walk from the hotel, a small town on top of a hill that overlooked all of Paris below (we could see the Eiffel Tower!!!!).
After wandering past the Moulin Rouge and what is known as the red light district of Paris, due to the ridiculous amount of naughty shops stretching one by one on either side (you have to expect it, it's Paris) we finally made our way up the hill. Not stopping in between thankyou very much. As we reached the top the narrow streets were filled with tiny shops and bustling restaurants and we automatically knew that this was the place to eat in Paris, not for tourists but for the locals. Filled with families and groups of friends and filled with lots of laughter and lots of French! Our waiter was brilliant as we explained what we wanted to order making sure we finished with a 'Merci beaucoup' (thankyou very much). We decided on a meat platter to share followed by a salad of goats cheese, walnuts and figs for me and a juicy steak for H. Exploring the shops on our way back to the hotel we made a quick stop there before continuing down the road to the shops. Man ohhhhh man, Paris knows how to do designer labels. You name it they have it and it's usually at least seven storeys high.... And includes a fashion parade of the latest collection on the top floor. After coming from Greece with weather in the 40's to Paris with weather in the 20's we were a little chilly and I neglected to pack any warm clothing, so a quick trip to H&M was in order to grab some tights and a couple of jumpers to get me through the next few days in the cold..... ;)

Dinner that night was spent with H's cousin and his wife at a beautiful French restaurant. Frog legs,  pork and creme caramel were on the menu and I happily devoured each! Surprisingly the frog legs were absolutely delicious. Ribet Ribet. After dinner we decided to check out the Parisian nightlife and visited a cocktail bar called Prescription. It was a beautiful walk, right beside Notre Dame completely illuminated against the pitch black sky, right along the river, passing the love lock bridge and watching all of the restaurants and bars lights twinkle in the reflection of the water. Standing outside Prescription I was a little concerned about entering, with four huge African American men in black suits guarding the door, the place was a black building with black curtains..... You couldn't see inside and you couldn't hear anything..... We walked up to the door and after a few words were exchanged with the men they decided we were ok to enter.... Opening the door one of them announced 'welcome to Prescription' and we were hurried inside.

The music was pumping, the place was packed and the barmen cheered as we made our way to the over, handing us menus and clapping along. It was dimly lit, two storeys, with a winding staircase and wallpapered interior, it was like we had gone back in time and I could imagine all the men in suits with cigars and the women in their fancy dresses and loaded jewellery lounging on the chairs sipping their martinis. What a place! A 'smokey piña' later, we wandered out and after some deliberating decided to call it a night and cab it back to our hotels. And what a cab experience it was, our driver, an older lady couldn't speak much English at all and was rambling on like a crazy person the entire time. She started by singing along to the radio, before making strange noises with her tongue, calling a man and talking to him in French (sounded quite heated), we decided to ask her if she knew where she had to take us and she replied with yes yes I know I know.... Exclaiming France is beautiful France is beautiful which was starting to convince me that she was with a mafia and we were going to be taken....just like the movie.... Finally we made it to the hotel and I got out of the car 
as quick as I could, with H laughing at how crazy she was we didn't even bother to wait for the 
change!

Day two in Paris was filled with sightseeing. The Louvre, the Arch di Triomphe and a bus tour that took us all around the main sights of Paris. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the palace of Versailles as it was quite a distance from the city of Paris and would take at least a whole day to see in it's entirety!! The Louvre was even better than what I imagined, it was absolutely enormous, in fact, you would need a whole day to explore all of the pieces. As we had limited time, we hit up all of the most famous pieces on the map, which of course included the Mona Lisa!! I know it sounds lame, but I actually had goosebumps the moment I saw it.... Unfortunately I couldn't get a very good photo because there were just so many people in such a small area, all crowded around to see this quite small painting. But just being able to say that I have seen it in the flesh feels pretty darn special. The ancient Egyptian art was equally as impressive, another visit to the Louvre is definitely on the list upon my return to Paris (which will be happening). We then jumped on the bus and cruised around
passing museums, napoleons burial site, bridges, churches (including one that looks like the Parthenon in Athens), parliamentary buildings, the arc, the Eiffel Tower, shop after shop, the catacombes whose line stretched a good two to three blocks, and so much more. As we had such limited time and it is peak tourist season a lot of the sights were just impossible to get into, time wasted standing in line for 4 hours could be time we spent walking around exploring the city. So we had to be very smart with how we did things, which I think we did very well.


Umming and ahhhing about what to do for dinner that night we decided on Hard Rock Cafe Paris! I had never been to one before and we had had enough French food to last us a lifetime over the past few days that we thought some BBQ ribs and nachos would go down quite nicely! I just seriously underestimated the serving size and could only make it less than halfway through my caveman size pulled pork nachos!! H smashed his pork ribs and a couple of cocktails later we were ready to walk it off and head home.


Day three we left the hotel early, stopped at the patisserie across from our hotel and got some pastries and espresso for breakfast. We walked all the way to the Louvre, across to the love lock bridge where we purchased our pink padlock, writing our initials and the year, clasping in on the bride and throwing the key into the river below (sealing it with a kiss of course). Heading towards the Museo d'Orsay I was super excited to see inside as it is an old train station converted into an art museum..... Monet galore! Little did we know. All museums are closed on Mondays!!! Another reason a revisit to Paris is essential. So with a heavy heart (but too happy about being in Paris to cry) we then headed towards the gardens at the beginning of the Champs Élysées, walking up towards the arc de Triomphe  where we stopped at some shops and had lunch at a small restaurant (snails and French onion soup) I'm never eating snails again..... They still looked like little garden snails and tasted like rubber, but I ate them so I am a champion. THEN we found the MOST AMAZING MACAROON SHOP IN THE WORLD and the most famous, world renowned store LADUREE. We stood in line for half an hour, but it was more than worth it. Two large macaroons each and a small one for good luck we lost our minds. They were so good...... We went back for seconds later on and H had his for breakfast the next morning! It was then time to go to the Eiffel Tower for our 4pm tour. We captured our iconic jumping photo and got some shaky legs looking down at the little dots of people scattered on the grass below. Strangely due to the architecture, the lift for the tower goes on an angle, not straight up which makes the experience delightful..... Naht. It was unsettling. On our walk back to the Champs Élysées we came across the memorial of princess Diana, passing over the bridge where she was killed. A tremendously moving moment, I actually had goosebumps and was happy to move right along. But a beautiful statue of a golden flame sits just above the bridge to commemorate the beautiful woman she was. Back on the main stretch we hit up the Laduree once again before retiring to our room to get ready for our surprise dinner that Jeremy and Sasha had organised for us.

 We were not disappointed!!!!
A stand up tapas and wine bar, we were served 12 meals that were all absolutely delicious, 4 bottles 
of wine to wash it all down we were well on our merry way..... I have never had better bread and butter all served in baskets and on small plates with a help yourself set up. Finishing dinner at about 12 we took a taxi to see the Eiffel Tower by night, which was completely lit up so it looked like solid gold. We admired it whilst soaking up the alcohol with some Nutella crepes!
Unfortunately for me.... It wasn't enough........ And once again I found myself redecorating yet another hotel bathroom.
Up early the next morning to catch our flight to London........I didn't want to leave.
Paris has been one of my favourite places and I would go back in a heartbeat.
There is something about the language, the charm, the food, the streets and the architecture that just fascinate me and I couldn't get enough of it. It's impossible to be unhappy in Paris and I was even luckier to share it with the man I love.

London goss to follow shortly..... After five weeks abroad it is nice to be back in Portsmouth. 
I'm thinking that the next few days will be purely dedicated to sleeping xx