Romantic Weekend Away, Paris

I’ve always dreamed of going to Paris and wandering around the city, soaking up the romantic atmosphere. I’d heard mixed reviews about Paris; some people say it’s their favourite city in the world, however I know just as many who actually hate it!

Despite the good and bad reviews, I was still excited by the prospect of going, and especially was looking forward to experiencing the city for the first time with my boyfriend! We got cheap tickets on Eurostar and decided to jet (train) off for the weekend.

We arrived late on Friday evening, and after having a bite to eat, we set straight off to explore. We were immediately impressed by the beauty of the city and all it’s buildings. I was quite surprised how quiet everything seemed to be considering it was a Friday night. However, this added to the peacefulness and was a fresh change compared to the hustle and bustle of London.

We walked up the river to see the Eiffel Tower. What a beautiful monument! At 9pm and for every hour afterwards, there is a light show which is particularly spectacular. That night we had coffee and desert at a cafe in Trocadero, which was overpriced (as you would expect in Paris), but had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.

The following day, we set off for the Louvre museum. On the way we found an awesome shoe shop, and Chris got some new kicks – we could have bought out the whole shop! The shoes in Paris seemed to be a lot cooler than the boring ones found in London.

Before reaching the Louvre we stopped to place a love lock on the famous Pont des Arts Bridge. Super romantic!

We got to the Louvre and had already bought tickets online (highly recommend purchasing them online!), so we didn’t have to wait in the enormous queues.

The building is very impressive, as is the famous pyramid featured at the main entrance. The Louvre is HUGE, so be prepared for a lot of walking around the buildings.  We had already heard that the Mona Lisa was disappointing, so I had come prepared for it to be smaller and less impressive than imagined. However, The Wedding at Cana, which hangs directly across from the Mona Lisa (and is the largest painting in all of the Louvre) was much more interesting to me.

That night, we went up the Eiffel Tower. Again, we had prepared and pre-booked tickets online to avoid lining up. I would definitely recommend doing this where you can, especially if you are trying to go up during the daytime. We walked past in the day and it was packed! You will have to book at least a month in advance, but totally worth it!

The Tour de Eiffel is over 300metres high, and on the top level lists some of the world’s other tallest buildings and monuments and has a comparison to it’s height. The views are absolutely stunning.

I don’t know how anyone could hate this city. It’s beautiful and has so many interesting sights. The French people were even friendly to us, contrary to the horror stories that you hear.

To be continued… (click here to read part 2)