Gremma's Travels: Whirlwind Visit to Paris

Eiffel Tower

Awesome little tapas bar

Paris has never been on our list of places to visit, but seeing as we were going to be in France, we thought we should include a couple of nights in the itinerary. And we both ended up being super glad we did! We said goodbye to the awesome car in Strasbourg and got a very relaxing train to Paris, then a cab to Hotel du Petit Moulin, our cute little hotel in the Marais district. It was pretty small, but our room was really nice, and it was in a great location for exploring.

The first night we went for a wander to a couple bars we found recommended in the timeout guide, then went to a little local for dinner. Greg had some tripe (ugh!), and I had the most amazing duck confit (yum!). It was a lovely relaxing afternoon and evening.

The next day we were up early and straight to the Louvre. We didn't have a plan at all for what to do in there, so just followed our noses and ended up in the old Egyptian area. Saw some pretty incredible stuff, and had it almost to ourselves. We then decided to go find some big paintings, and finally, seeing as we were there, thought we should see the Mona Lisa. So glad we left that until last. There were just so many people there, that had it been our first stop we wouldn't have bothered exploring much else as it was just too hard and unpleasant. It was amusing watching the thousands trying to get a photo though, and of course we pushed our way through and got ours too.

From the Louvre we walked through the park then up Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe, meeting up with Nick again on the way. We climbed the 284 steps to the top for the view, and I'm glad we did. It was crazy watching all the cars go around the roundabout. So happy I wasn't down there driving!

View from the top of the Arc de Triomphe

We then walked to the Eiffel Tower, and looking at the queue decided not to go up as there were so many people waiting. It was cool just looking at it from below, and seeing how big it is.

Having had enough walking (we decided 6kms, plus up and down 184 steps was more than enough for one day, especially after all the bike riding in Alsace), we hopped on one of the ferries and cruised down the river, with travellers from lunch of course! We stopped at Musee d'Orsay to see some amazing statues, and marvel at the incredible old train station it's in, then on to Notre Dame.

We had dinner at another local, then I took myself off to bed while the boys proceeded to a couple of bars for drinks. The last morning we were up early again, and set off to wander through the Marais and then into the Latin Quarter. It was good to have done all the touristy stuff the day before as it meant we had a relaxing morning exploring and didn't need to rush before saying goodbye to Nick and hopping on our plane to Crete.

All in all we really enjoyed Paris, and would love to go back one day with a bit more time.