One night (day) in Paris! Ooh La La

I must be one of the only gals in town who has never graced the streets of Paris... until last month that is!

Yes, you can imagine my delight when I was confronted with the opportunity to visit Paris for the day with my work colleagues. There had been a few changes in teams and some upheaval, which I won't bore you with, but the upshot was that it was felt we needed a team away day and so off to Kings Cross St Pancras to catch the Eurostar into the city of love. 

As I have never been to Paris and let's face it, most people have, it became one of those things where all my visions and expectations had been built up on films and TV programmes (mainly Moulin Rouge if I'm honest). I had also reserved my first trip to be for a 30th birthday or my future hen party or some other grand event but here I was on some idle Wednesday with a group of work friends hopping off the train and in to the Parisian sun. 

As we were in a large group we had a bit of an itinerary going to prevent the aimless wandering. So first stop we went to the Louvre for a spot of building admiration. Although you can go in and see the Mona Lisa of course, we decided against it due to queues and time constraints. I am also not a fan of submerging myself in groups of tourists and instead tend to enjoy absorbing the sights in a degree of solitude / personal space. The building is fantastic though with pretty carved detailed on the walls and roofs.

From there we headed to the Love Lock Bridge which is an absolute must see, if for no other reason than it's Paris and should involve a whole lot of lovin'. When stood at one end of the bridge looking down it was as if the bridge was made of gold when all the padlocks shone from the reflection of the sunlight. 

Love Lock Bridge

Then we took a little stroll through the streets and along the river, we passed quite a few stalls that were selling french style posters and old photos of Paris. I probably could have browsed all day which is why it was best I had a plan to stick to otherwise I would never have seen anything. On the way we passed a couple of guys sitting against a wall, they could have easily passed for students although they were sitting behind a cup and sign asking for money for beer and weed... only in Paris ay!

Parisian essentials?

We got to Notre Dame for some more architectural delights, however we did go in this time and there was a service on. I'm not sure if they have services daily or we were just lucky but the Cathedral was alive with burning candles and incense which made it all the more pretty...

Notre Dame

Now I think one of my favourite parts of Paris and probably of any city or place that I have never been to or that I'm visiting, is strolling the streets and just taking in the atmosphere and array of new sights. Paris is full of pretty cafes and streets which meant that I was in my element. 

Pretty Cafes in Paris

They even manage to make run down street signs look chic...

French signs

After a short stop to recharge, with a glass of wine no less, we headed back on the metro and up to Champs Elysees for some macaroons from Laduree. Now I can't quite decide which I like best; the way they look or they way they taste. They are not the cheapest of macaroons and the queue was rather large but they came with a fuchsia Nina Ricci box and when in Paris...

Pre dinner and coming towards the end of our trip we headed over to the Eiffel Tower. On the way there we stopped on a raised patch of grass near the Shangri La hotel which gave us a beautiful view of the tower, much better than anything you can see when stood underneath it. If you had time, I would recommend sitting on that patch of grass with a blanket, book, bottle of champagne? If such things are allowed in Paris of course, and just soaking up the view for a bit as it was rather pretty.

And last but not least, my brief rendezvous with Paris would not be complete without a visit to the Moulin Rogue. Unfortunately I was unable to go in (time constraints again) and would love to see a show there just as it's an experience I'd like to tick off my "things to do before I die" list. Perhaps a little less spandangled than the film would have you believe but nevertheless it is iconic and rounded off my trip perfectly.

So there you have it, my day in Paris. Let's make this a to be continued...