Just back from a lovely little short break in Paris, mostly courtesy of Airmiles, which made it all the better!  It was nice to board the plane on 4 January, the day most people were heading back to work after the New Year.

Found a nice little hotel in the Montparnesse area and it didn’t take too long on the metro to get to the main tourist sites. We found it was cheaper to buy a book of 10 metro tickets at a time.

First day was incredibly cold but, with that, the bluest sky.

We started at the Place de le Concorde and had some great views around Paris there. From there we walked to the Grand and Petit Palais and then back on ourselves to Musee D’Orsay.

We really like the recent Bouguereau aquisitions and the art of Jean-Léon Gérôme.  After a few hours taking in the art and the building itself, we then took a walk along the Seine to the Eiffel Tower.  After queuing for a while in the longest queue, which we joined without really figuring out what it was for, we found out that it was the ‘lift’ queue, the top was shut, and the stairs queue was considerably shorter.  So off we went to the stairs queue, and after a bit of discussion, we decided that I would go up on my own -which was fine.  Got up to Level 2 and the views were amazing!   Got a little dizzy walking back down those stairs, especially if I looked out between the girders – so decided to walk down as fast as I could and just focus on the steps!

Back down, we were hungry having only had a snack, so we bought delicious crepes with chocolate, banana, and cream filling from a street vendor – absolutely lovely – great pic of Den with the evidence on his cheeks!

We then walked back to the Petit Palace to see the Boulat 100 photos exhibition. It was after 5pm so we didn’t have to pay and managed to have a quick look at the photos which were amazing and some very shocking too!

By then we’d been on our feet for a good 8 hours and decided to make our way back for some dinner.

Next day we decided to have an easier day and started off at Notre Dame. From there we got the metro to Sacre Coeur. We thought that was beautiful, and were quite moved to be there during a service.  So contrasting to Notre Dame.

From there we walked to the Moulin Rouge to take some snaps and then on the Metro to the Arc de Triomphe.  We then walked down the Champs Elysees and back to the Petit Palais to pick up a book. We then walked up to the Louvre just to take a look!  By then we were sooo tired – we walked back to the Place de la Concorde to get a metro and back to the hotel.

Final morning we walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg to the Pantheon.  A quick look and it was time to make our way back to get a train to the airport.

Paris was magnificent, but very expensive to eat and drink.

We thought we covered quite a lot in a few nights but there was so much more to see.  So, will have to make it there again sometime soon and discover some more.  See the photobook.