It was about lunchtime when we arrived, so we headed over the our hotel which was just an Ibis - really affordable for such a central location, and had some lunch before heading out. Like I say our hotel was very central, only about a 10 minute walk from the Eiffel Tower, so we had a wander through the main street and off some side roads having a nose about and getting a feel for the place before spotting the tower.
Although it was rather cloudy when we arrived, it was hot verging on humid. I was super excited to see the Eiffel Tower, for whatever reason I was expecting to be able to see it from further away - it is 300 metres after all, but surprisingly buildings and trees hide it well. This did add to my excitement the closer we got through.
We continued on a little walk around to see the tower from the different views, and although the football was still running whilst we were there, as there weren't any actual matches the only thing we noticed about the football was the increased security.
We decided to actually go up the Eiffel Tower at night, so we walked about a bit more, headed to the hotel to freshen up and then went out for dinner. We went to little Bistro on the main high street, annoyingly I can't remember the name, which served delicious food. What's really noticeably different about eating out is that whole sides of resturants fold away to make more space for al fresco dining. This is beautiful as the summer evenings stayed pleasantly hot for ages, but it did mean that there was much more cigarette smell whilst you were eating.
It was about 11;30pm when we were at the very top, and it was worth it. Seeing Paris lit up was just incredible.
The next day we decided to get a hop on - hop off bus tour of Paris. We got the Paris Pass after it being recommended for short trips, and this tour was included so we decided to go for it. It was really well worth it as we got to see a huge amount of iconic places and attractions without having to walk or getting the metro not seeing beautiful Paris. It also meant we learnt a lot about places we didn't necessarily want to stop off at but were interesting all the same.
We stopped off at Notre Dame, which was packed with people. There was a five hour queue just to get into the security bit, so we decided against going inside. I'd absolutely love to but considering we were only there for a short break, such long queues weren't appealing. I did snap a few photos from the outside, the building is so majestic and impressive, with such intricate detailing.
Fairly near by is Sainte-Chapelle, which was commissioned by King Louis IX, our admission was covered by the pass and we got speed track queuing too.
Inside was simply stunning, there was such a huge amount of stained glass, it was almost like it was entirely glass.
That evening, after a delicious meal, we decided to climb to the top of the Arc De Triomphe. It was a beautifully sunny evening as the sun was just about set, and the views were gorgeous!
On our final day we visited the Louvre, because how can you go to Paris and not see the Mona Lisa?! There was actually a whole lot more to see there than we expected, we were there for a good five hours and only just saw about half of all the exhibits.
Unfortunately there is quite a bit of glare over the image of the Mona Lisa, there's a bit security plastic panel in front of it due to it once being stolen and having acid thrown at it. I'm not really an art 'nerd' nor do I really know that much about art, but I can appreciate good art and I have to say I was rather excited to see the Mona Lisa.
And that concludes our whirlwind 3 days in Paris, I had an absolutely amazing time and 100% going back to explore more of the sites and some of the outer Paris things that my boyfriend and I would love to do.
Have you ever been to Paris?
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