This weekend I left the country for the first time in two years (!!). I've attempted to go away a few times but due to various covid bouts and restrictions, they've all either been postponed or cancelled. So in desperate need of a change of scenery, I hopped on the Eurostar to Paris and got in late Friday night, ready for a weekend of exploring.
First things first, we needed breakfast. We were staying in a studio we'd found on AirBnB as it was fairly cheap and we weren't going to be spending much time in our apartment, but we still wanted the fancy hotel experience. So we headed to The Hoxton for some much needed fuel ahead of a weekend of exploring. The Hoxton is beautiful, and the breakfast was A+ {and cheap at only €20 for a breakfast of your choice, a hot drink and a juice}. The hotel is beautifully decorated and very calming, the perfect oasis to start your day.
After breakfast, we headed to the Palais Royal via Cafe Kistune for yet another coffee - we'd got up early and definitely needed our fix! This little garden and courtyard is one of my favourite spots in Paris and I always make sure to head here early and snap a little photo before it gets super busy. We then headed to the Pompiou centre but unfortunately didn't have enough time to buy tickets to any of the exhibitions before our lunch booking. It was still nice to admire the view from the top of the museum though and next time I'm in Paris I'll definitely leave more time to explore.
We then headed to Le Cafe Marly, overlooking the Louvre, where we had a lunch booking. Lunch was a little bit of a letdown though, we'd seen the restaurant on Instagram as it had amazing views {which it definitely did have} but there's only one or two spots to get that instagram photo and we felt it was quite overpriced for what it was - it was crowded, terrible service and our food was cold. So if you're a foodie, I wouldn't recommend this but if you do really want to get a photo, make sure you book as they were only letting people onto the terrace who had reservations, everyone else had to go inside.
After lunch, we got in line for our spot at the Louvre...well, we actually got in several lines, it was a little chaotic trying to figure out where to go but we took solace in knowing everyone else was getting it wrong too. We headed to the Mona Lisa first as we knew it would be busy, and as expected, it was heaving. We patiently waited our turn and although brief {I was getting whacked by about 7 cameras}, it was amazing to see it in real life.
Once we'd taken in as much art as we could handle, and as many photos as our phone battery would allow, we headed back to our apartment to get ready for dinner. We booked Ober Mamma for dinner, as Pink Mamma was fully booked. If you like Italian food, then you'll love it here...or if you like any of the Big Mamma locations in London {Circolo poppolare, Gloria, etc} then you'll love it, as it's exactly the same.
After dinner, we headed to the Trocadero to catch the Eiffel Tower sparkling at midnight which was truly fabulous - one of my favourite things to do in Paris!
Catch up on our second day in Paris here.
xo Becky
Post a Comment