Beautiful Paris

Claire Summers on 29 April 2017
We visited Paris in spring time and stayed in the 6th Arr. at a hotel called Le Littre, it is a 4 star hotel with fabulous Metro connections. Within a 5 min walk, the nearest Metro stations connect you to nearly every line so you can reach the major tourist attractions very easily.

Tip: We bought a book of 10 tickets which allows you to use the Metro or the buses and this was sufficient for our 3 days there. They cost 14.50 euros (May 2017) for 10 tickets so really good value.

We were lucky enough to be upgraded to a Junior Suite which had a very spacious bathroom, its own entrance area and large bedroom. The staff were extremely helpful and friendly and everywhere was clean and tidy. They have a sauna, a small bar and an outdoor patio area where you can relax.

Paris is a stunning city, the architecture and the layout make it easy to get from one attraction to another, it is a very sociable place, along the River Seine you can see friends just dangling their legs over the edge with drinks and picnics, just a place to hang out and relax for the evening.

The Place de la Concorde connects the Louvre to the Tuilerie Gardens to the Champs Elysees. The Tuilerie Gardens is another place to stop, take a break, have a coffee or do a spot of people watching. The garden has plenty of chairs, benches and a fountain where you can sit round and enjoy the view.

On our first evening we took a coach tour around the city followed by a river cruise along the Seine just to get our bearings and take in a few sights from the water. It took us past Notre Dame which was great as we didn’t manage to get back to visit this in our short time so at least we saw the building and it gives us an excuse to return to do a full visit.

The next morning we visited the Louvre which houses the famous Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. The Louvre is huge and you will never get to see everything in one visit as it would take all day to make your way around all the different sections. It is well worth a bit of research beforehand to make sure you get to see what you want. We had an audio tour so we could learn a little bit about the history of the paintings, etc.

In the evening we went to the Moulin Rouge. The surrounding area had lots of places to eat and drink and was quite vibrant. I didn’t know what to expect of the show and I won't give away any spoilers but just to say it’s worth a visit as it is so iconic. You can choose to eat there as well although we just went in for the show itself which comes with a bottle of Champagne for 2 people.

On our last day, we had pre-booked a tour of the Eiffel Tower to reach the summit, it was great having a tour because our guide gave us the history and all the insights of the Tower. It is a great view from top and you can see the whole of Paris and he pointed out all the different landmarks. I would highly recommend visiting in the morning as the queues in the afternoon are really long, especially when trying to get back down in the lifts. You may also be interested to know on the first floor, they have glass floor panels where you can step on to see the ground beneath you.

We then took the metro to the Arc De Triomphe and you can walk the subway underneath to get into the middle of the monument which is in the middle of the large roundabout.

We walked down the Champs Elysees, some would say it is the most expensive street in the world and it does have a lot of shops, cafes, restaurants and if you want to drive a Ferrari for an hour, you can do it from here. It took about 40 minutes to walk the Champs Elysees to the big ferris wheel at La Place de la Concorde so it was a nice stroll after lunch.

We only had 2.5 days in Paris, which is definitely not long enough. There is so much to do, I would recommend 4 days at least just to slow the pace down a little.

The Eurostar is amazing in that it connects the UK to Paris in just 2 hours and you don’t have all that airport queuing and long check in times to contend with.

We are now thinking where else can we visit on the Eurostar as it is just so easy. We travelled in Standard Premier class which is great because you don’t have to worry about getting food before you travel and you can just relax once on board as they serve the meal at your table. The only downside is there is only one choice for Vegetarians (which was quiche on our journey) which was fine for me but not great if you have paid the extra and don’t like the meal. You do get alcohol as well and soft drinks thrown in.

We definitely want to go back to Paris and will do so in the future, it has a nice feel about it with all the café stops and the social side of the city and the architecture was just beautiful.