After a couple of days spent in Germany, we got the train to Paris. Sean had been a few times before but I never had, so it was some where new that I was getting to see! As we were on the train (after a stressful drive to the train station), I went to get a coffee as it was badly needed! When I got back to my seat,  there were two Bruce tickets waiting for me. As we had already seen Bruce in Boston and Dublin earlier in the year, he happened to be playing in Paris the night we arrived! Yay!

Where we stayed: I booked our hotel in the Saint Placide area. The hotel La Belle Juliette, was a gorgeous small boutique hotel in a great location! The rooms were small, but they were decorated to make use of the space. We also had a massive shower and an unbelievably comfortable bed!

Things To Do

• Seine Boat Tour: We got a one hour boat tour along the Seine with Bateaux Parisiens. It was €15 each and a great way to see the main sights along the river.
• Stroll along the Seine: We walked along the banks of the Seine on a number of times. In the summer parts of the banks are turned into beaches. Sadly, this wasn’t the case when we were there!

• Versailles: We booked our tickets online and headed out early in the afternoon. When we arrived, the queue to get into the palace was crazy so we went to the gardens (€8 each) and rented some bikes for a cycle around. After an hour or so we headed back and decided to stand in the queue, even though it looked mental it only took about 45 minutes to get inside the palace. There were so many tours and tourists inside that everyone was crammed in and you couldn’t see everything that was around you. We tried to push past people to get to the Hall of Mirrors, but you could not enjoy it due to the crowds.We left pretty much straight away. As we were leaving the palace the queue had really died down, if I go back then I would be going in the last hour the palace is open.

Palace of Versailles

Restaurants

• Cafe Paris London: This was Louise’s favourite restaurant in Paris so we decided to pay it a visit! We got two pizzas, which were tasty but were quite small (€20 each), we also got a couple of cocktails, which were amazing (€17 each). The staff were not the friendliest but it was a nice place!
• La Marine: On our last day we took a stroll through Canal St Martin and came across this little place. The cocktails were the best, Mojito Royal, along with a cheese board was the best way to spend our last afternoon in Paris. The price was very reasonable, €50 for 4 cocktails, cheeseboard and chips.

Cheese at Le Marine

• Le 51: After our day in Versailles we were both wrecked and decided to stay close to the hotel for dinner. We took a walk around Montparnasse and came across Le 51. The outside was pretty full, so we took that as a good sign and there was also a happy hour on cocktails. I got a burger which was nice and Sean got lasagna which was also good! We got 4 cocktails each and the bill came to €80 ish euro.
• Le Deux Magots: On our first afternoon in Paris, Sean wanted to check this place out. The food was lovely but was horrifically expensive. Salad, sandwich, 2 cocktails and 2 hot chocolates came to €80. We were sitting outside looking at the world go by, there was nothing amazing that stood out here, apart from the hot chocolate.
• Le Deauville: As we walked along the Champs Elysees, it was Bastille Day so it was closed to traffic, we decided to stop off for some Crepes. It was very busy, but super expensive. Le Deauville wouldn’t be recommended, but it was fine for what it was.