So what did we get up to? Well as a picture paints a thousand words, I will be sharing a lot of photos with some commentary.
Day 0- Arrival
We stayed at a lovely little hotel called Hotel de L'Empereur in the beautiful Rue Cler district of Paris. We were upgraded to a room with a view over Les Invalides which was completely stunning! We had dinner at a local restaurant where I learned the hard way to NEVER order MEDIUM steak/hamburger in France! We got free dessert though which was nice and I ate DH's chicken burger instead of my very raw order!!!
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| View from our balcony. |
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| Another balcony view. |
First day in Paris and we got all the way to the Louvre to realise that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays! That was definitely a planning FAIL! Anyways we simply decided to go to Les Invalides instead which DH really enjoyed. He could have spent an entire day there. Although war is not my thing I like European History and so I also found the museum fascinating. Dinner that night was at an Italian restaurant which served some yummy courses.
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| The north view of Les Invalides. |
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| Posing in my very bright Boden dress! |
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| Inside the Chapel of Saint Louis des Invalides. |
Because of my mistake the day before we ended up squeezing in a whistle stop tour of the Louvre. I had visited the Louvre during my first trip to Paris and I felt that DH should at least see the famous paintings and statues as well as Napoleon's apartments. It was quite hectic though as I had already pre-booked a Paris city tour with Viator for that afternoon. This combined tour included a coach tour, visit to the Eiffel tower and a Seine River Cruise and it was absolutely fantastic. I would highly recommend it! Dinner was at the Italian restaurant again as we walked back to our hotel from the Eiffel Tower. We were too tired to try something new!
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| The Eiffel Tower. |
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| Dear Hubby. |
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| Me! |
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| View from the Eiffel Tower. |
This was the visit that I was most excited about since reading Love and Louis XIV. I definitely wanted to see the grandeur of the Palace and I was not disappointed. We also walked around the gardens and visited Marie Antoinette's estate. This visit took the entire day but it was a wonderful end to the 'Paris' part of our holiday.
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| Versailles back entrance. |
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| Chapel of Versailles. |
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| Grand appartement. |
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| Hall of mirrors. |
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| Versailles from the front. |
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| One of the fountains. |
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| Our only rainy day in Paris! |
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| The Grand Trianon (Marie Antoinette's estate). |
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| The Grand Trianon (Marie Antoinette's estate). |
Look out for part two soon. Have you visited Paris? If so what were your favourite places? Please share in the comments. I would also really love tips about other European cities worth visiting now that I don't need to apply for a Schengen visa to travel. And I am trying to make the most of it before I have other commitments!
Have a great day!
P.S. I am not sure why Parisiens have a reputation for being rude. Everyone was really lovely to us so it is definitely worth learning some french phrases and sentences.
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12 comments:
This is a lovely post! Glad you had such a great trip. I would love to see the grand Trianon one day, I am dreaming of a trip to Paris by myself, three or four days of just exploring, watching the city, and not having to move on cos someone else is bored *g*
And I love that pic of you and the hubby together, you have the nicest smile of anyone I know :)
Glad you enjoyed your trip so much. I found the French to be lovely as well. I will advise travellers, no matter where they are going, to learn a bit of the language - a few phrases. It is a matter of respect/courtesy I think. I wrote a whole post on this once cause it really annoys me when tourists go to Paris for example and just go "English?" - not even a Bonjour, ca va? Nutten! If I were French and some English speaking tourist did that to me, I would be rude and sour too. lol.
That being said, Versailles and the Louvre, and Montmartre were the highlights of my trip to Paris when I went. Your photos brought back wonderful memories.
Thanks Alannarama. You made me blush. I was happy to be in Paris and to have DH back after his time in Singapore! Paris is excellent and the area we stayed in was very safe.
Trininista you are right! While we were in a cafe some tourists came up and said DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH really loudly, hence the caps and sloooooooowly! No good morning, hello, nothing. It was so rude that I had to stifle a laugh at how ridiculous it was. In the UK we would never expect a French person to walk up to us and ask if we spoke in French so why do that! hahaha
I went to Montmartre the first time and the Sacre Coeur so didn't fit it in this time. What are your other favourite European cities?
I love Paris. Haven't been for ages, but HAVE bought a Moleskine Paris notebook (which is a combination of a blank notebook and a travel guide - kind of hard to explain!).
I can't bear it when people don't bother to learn even just the tiniest bit of the language of the country they're visiting. Once my cousin and I (on holiday in France) resorted to speaking French to each other for a meal because we were SO embarrassed to be English after all the other English people shouted loudly in English at the waiters.
Anyway, glad you had such a good time! It looked like a fabulous trip.
I went there as a kid. Want to go there with my husband now!!! Your pictures are looking soooo good!!! Looks like you had a great time.
That bright pink dress looks awesome on you! :D
♡ from © tanvii.com
Ooh Amanda I am very impressed that you can speak French. It is such a beautiful language. I had to drop it for physics in 3rd form which always made me sad. Maybe one day I will relearn the language properly.
Tanvi you should definitely re-visit with your hubby. It would be very romantic. The Parisiennes don't seem to wear such bright colours but I am a Caribbean girl. I have a saner version in navy with white polka dots too! :-)
Oooh I loved this post especially so because we are off to Paris in just 3 weeks (am so so so excited!!!) key visits for me will be the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower of course, Moulin Rouge and an amble along the Seine but my list is huge - I'll be checking out your tour link as well as that sounds fab!
Lx
I've never done a 'tourist' visit to Paris - it's always been on business. I have of course been able to take in some of the more famous landmarks, but just being there - the ambience - is great. I'm thinking I would like to do a trip now!
I'd love to do any Italian City as I haven't been there.
I've been to Brussels and Amsterdam but they didn't light my fire in the same way Paris did.
I love love love Paris! We went there two years back during christmas and the atmosphere was just beautiful to say the least.
Eiffel tower: I had no idea I could fall in love with a metallic tower, but I did!!!
I so so agree with you on the Parisians, I thought they were really sweet and helpful! I have some really funny French speaking incidents from my holiday there!
Ah, you've been swanning about in my city! Good for you. I've been doing a fair bit of travel so away from Paris at present, but back next week. There is nothing more to add on Paris. Tips are passed on via e-mail;-)
Absolutely adore that pink polka dot dress. And the photos...breathtaking! I felt transported viewing your pics. Thanks for the mini mind trip!
Loulou I am sure you will have a wonderful time in Paris! Please let me know how you enjoyed Moulin Rouge. I didn't have enough time to fit that in.
Alison you should definitely do a trip. Paris is a stunning city. I would love to visit Italy; Venice or Florence or Rome :-)
Healthy Diary you should share some of your stories with us! I agree. The Eiffel tower is just steel but it is so beautiful. I never tire of it.
Fashion you are very lucky to live in such an amazing city. Looking out for tips on other European cities!
Thanks Nailophilia. If it weren't for the blog I would never post pictures so at least I have some kind of record of my trip now. It is too cold in the UK to wear my happy pink dress so packed away until next summer or when I go to Singapore, which ever comes first.
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