🙂 Louvre Museum, Notre-Dame cathedral, and the Eiffel tower. Romantic. Cultural.
🙁 The French! 🙂
When it comes to visiting Paris, there are an abundance of reasons to get yourself to the most romantic city in the world. From the ease of getting to the French capital, to the city’s rich and opulent history, to its fantastic fine dining … it is a dream destination!
2011 Trip
My cousin was travelling in Europe from South Africa and we decided to meet in Paris for our annual reunion It is less than an hour flight from Heathrow and very reasonably priced. We were staying at her comfortable hotel which was centrally located for all the sightseeing that we wanted to do.
On arrival we met up at the Eiffel Tower and Linda treated me to a Michelin Star meal at Jules Verne with fabulous views across the City. The Eiffel Tower is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed “La dame de fer”, it was constructed from 1887 to 1889 as the centrepiece of the 1889 World’s Fair.
We strolled around taking in all the sights – down the Champs-Élysées – it is 1.9 kilometres long and 70 metres wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc de Triomphe is located and is considered to be one of the world’s most famous commercial streets.
For dinner we headed to our fav spot: Chez la Mere Catherine – this is the exact name of Linda’s daughter so always visit there. Set in the 18th arrondissement, the charming hilltop Montmartre district (also known as “La Butte”) is a former artists’ village once inhabited by Picasso and Dalí, and home to the domed Sacré-Cœur basilica. There are sweeping views of the city from its steep, winding streets, while the iconic Moulin Rouge cabaret below draws tourists and nightclubbers. Retro-cool bars and eateries dot the edgy Lamarck area. We sat outside outside our fav cafe and chatted and watched the world go around! It is a great place to people watch and the numerous artists also provide entertainment. It is just the best spot to while the day away… the French Onion soup is to die for!
In the morning I awoke to find that I had lost my phone – we called and they had found it. We were supposed to have a cultural day of art galleries but by the time we arrived it was brunch – we ended up sitting in the sun and soaking up the atmosphere for the entire day … we sat in the same spot all day while people from all over the world came and went after striking up conversation with us – it was an unexpected joy to just go with the flow… love tis place! Linda bought Paul an oil painting from one of the artists: Chwz Paul. Just divine.
