48 hours in Paris

To be completely honest, I didn't think I'd like Paris. I suspected it was one of those blogging clichés that everyone pretends to love but would just bore me, like peonies and marble trays. Turns out I was wrong. I completely fell in love with the city!

My first impressions as we drove through the city from the airport was just how pretty everything was. The architecture is truly stunning, with the yellow stone and iron balconies that I always assumed were just a myth.

Our hotel was about a 15 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower so after dropping off our luggage, we headed down there. While at the bottom, we witnessed a man fleeing with a proper comedy-style bag of swag, with 6 or so police hot on his tail, one of whom tripped over his own feet and fell in a bush.


Like Berlin, it was super hot, so we stopped at a cafe for a drink before heading on to the Arc de Triomphe.

One of the things that was top of my list was visiting the Louvre and since it was open until 9:45, we headed over about 7pm. By this point, there was no queue to get in or buy tickets and most of the museum was fairly quiet.

Of course we went to see the Mona Lisa which wasn't as small as everyone makes out it is! Unsurprisingly, I was hardly bowled over by it and instead found it more interesting just how many people want photos of themselves with the painting. It was widely reported in March that the Louvre was banning selfie sticks and I was glad to see this was in place- If anyone approached the Mona Lisa holding a stick, they were politely asked to put it away. 

The rule doesn't prevent people taking regular selfies or having their photo taken with the painting at all. In a semi-circle around the work is a mass of bodies, all with their arms held up to take a photo. People wait patiently, get to the barrier, snap their own photo and move away. Nobody actually looks at the painting which is surely the point of being there. Otherwise, why wouldn't you just Google images of it?

At 9:30, we were shepherded towards the exit, where we got the Metro back to our hotel. The Paris underground system is much more like the London Underground but has none of the simplicity and ease of Berlin's U-Bahn. 10 single tickets cost 14 euros and when we accidentally went in the wrong direction and had to go back on ourselves, we had to use another ticket just to access the platform. 

The next morning, we headed over to Notre Dame, stopping on the way for a quick pain au chocolat.

Let me tell you a little story about Notre Dame: Back in 1997, when I was 8, my grandparents bought me The Hunchback of Notre Dame on VHS. While I was watching this scene, in which light from the rose stained glass window is thrown onto the stone floor, my grandad said "We've been there". My grandparents were incredibily well-travelled, but I was blown away by the fact that they had really visited a place in a Disney film. My grandad died in 2008 and my grandma is very unwell so it's become very important to me to visit the places they travelled to and follow their footsteps. 

Inside, the cathedral was hauntingly beautiful. I've visited many cathedrals but this is the one that seemed the most holy. Almost every vertical service was decorate with the most remarkable stained glass and it was filled with stunningly atmospheric music. I was completely overwhelmed by the beauty of it and will definitely visit again. 

There's a lovely little bistro next to the cathedral where I indulged in the ultimate of clichés- a macaron. Yes, I ate a macaron in Paris. All I needed was a view of the Eiffel Tower and my blogger stereotype checklist would have been complete!

Before we went back to our hotel to get ready for dinner, I got the chance to visit Pere Lachaise Cemetery which was something I was very excited about and will save for a future post. 

For our anniversary, Rich had booked a Seine dinner cruise which was lovely. The cruise departed from the foot of Notre Dame and when we returned, we decided to walk past the Eiffel Tower to see it lit up. Unfortunately, a sudden downpour forced us to duck into a cafe but this proved to be a lovely way to spend the rainy evening.

We were lucky enough to make it to the foot of the Eiffel Tower on the hour, on which it began sparkling with flickering white lights like a huge Christmas tree.

I cannot believe how much there was to do in Paris. I didn't get to do everything I wanted to do- there's still the catacombs to see and shopping at Diptyque and Ladurée, of course! We're already making plans to return next December!

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