Hello everyone Kelly C Here, it’s Thursday already how can that be? How are you all today? I hope you are all getting excited about Christmas. I have seen so many Christmas decorations around and I am getting excited about buying the last of Fearne’s presents to send to Santa Claus. Such a great time of the year.

Today on the blog we have brought Rebecca back to continue her Europe posts. Last week she shared part 1 Brugge and this week she shares with us her images of Paris for part 2. This is the time of year where Paul and I start to think about holidays and visiting cities for a break in the New Year. We have been thinking of going to Paris a lot recently. We did visit about 10 years ago but didn’t really take in the sights as we were only there for a day. Looking through these images have definitely made me want to visit this stunning city so much more.

Europe Part 2 – Paris

I’ll pass you over to Rebecca…….

The second leg of our rather epic week away after Brugge was Paris. We got up early to get the first Eurostar from Ashford and arrived in Paris just over 2 hours later at 9.30. We were both still blown away by how quickly you can get places on these trains! Anyways, we hopped on the Metro straight down to the Norte Dame, we’d both wanted to climb it and so thought we’d hit the queue early(-ish). I was quickly distracted by architecture and the quirky streets. When we got to the top of the tower the view was superb, panoramic views from the Sacre Couer across to the Eiffel Tower and beyond. There was a rather wonderful haze across the city which added some lovely texture to the images! I was as fascinated by the architecture up the tower as I was waiting to get up there. I love the roof tops, wondering what lives lie beneath them, what secrets and stories they could tell, if only the could utter them!

After the descent we strolled along the Seine to the Love Lock Bridge which was super cute (I spotted one celebrating 50 years together!) and then into the Louvre. Again, I was loving the juxtaposition of the harsh, straight modern lines against the historic architecture! It was getting really warm and so we stopped for lunch in the gardens just by the museum that was a welcomed break before a gentle stroll, like the pace of a river ebbing and flowing, we ambled up the Champs Elysee to our hotel, The Hotel Balzac. It was a total treat and a great lastminute.com Top Secret Deal, described as a Parisian Dream and they were not wrong. There was a radio playing ‘Nostalgie FM’ in our room and we opened the window and drifted off for an afternoon nap after so much walking and an early start.
After an afternoon nap, we headed out down towards the River Seine to pick out a spot for sunset. I knew I wanted to head to Pont Alexandra III, the most beautiful bridge in Paris and if not the world (possibly rivalled by The Charles Bridge in Prague). I love the lamps and the ornate sculptures and how these frame the Eiffel Tower in the distance. We must have been there for about an hour and just enjoyed watching the sun slip away behind the cityscape and a clear night sky grow from faded pastels to an electric blue. Once night had fallen we walked back to the bottom of the Champs Elysee and got a bus up to the Arc de Triomphe. I really wanted to go up at night time and look across to the Eiffel Tower. There were restoration works being done but there was just enough room to stretch around to see the lovely Eiffel Tower glistening away! We watched the chaotic traffic circle around us, there was no logic to the etiquette, a free for all and a few times we gasped at near misses! I love being up high in cities and looking at life go on around you when you’re enjoying a moment of stillness. This was a pretty moment of stillness with all of the city lights sparkling away so gently.

On our second day in Paris we woke up with a spring in our step. It was another lazy, hazy, sunny day and so we packed up our bags, donned our Vans and hit the cobbled streets of this glorious city. We were starting to feel the burn of climbing so many buildings and walking a lot from our first day and sunset chasing, so we decided to take things at a leisurely pace. We walked down the Champs Elysee and hopped onto the bus to the Eiffel Tower. When we arrived, we grabbed a bag full of treats from the lovely patisserie on Avenue de la Bourdonnais and headed off to find a lovely spot to chill out. We found the most beautiful tree totally ladened with blossom right beneath the Eiffel Tower. It was such a warm day for the start of March and it was really quiet around the park. We read our books (I was reading Just my Type a great book about typefaces, which is a cool read!) and nibbled at our picnic and just felt so relaxed. Our train wasn’t until 7pm and so we had a few hours and Mark wanted to head up to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur. We got a bus which whistled across the city and we got off too early, which we discovered when we arrived at a cafe and they pointed at the steps and laughed! So, we did the sensible thing of fuelling up with a tasty espresso before we took on the climb. We approached the Sacre Coeur from a different way to the way I had been before and we came across the cute village off to the side of the cathedral. After another coffee, we drifted down the hills to the Gare de Nord before jumping on the Eurostar back to Ashford.

Looking forward to sharing Part 3 with you all.

Rebecca xx

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Such lovely images. Thank you so much to Rebecca for sharing these with us today. Has anyone else been to Paris recently? Where would you recommend staying and visiting? Are there any other cities that you have visited recently? I would love to hear from you to help in finding my next city journey. You can leave your comments below.

Kelly C xx