21 again in Paris!

Last weekend I spent my birthday weekend in Paris! I will never do a weekend again…because a weekend is way too short! However it is just the right amount of time to see all of Paris's main attractions. The short break was also an excuse to practice my rusty French. Luckily for us the weather was great as the sun shined throughout the day and dawn on both Friday and Saturday. I used the Eurostar for the very first time, however I haven't got much to report on it as I slept both journeys. We arrived at Gard du Nord at 09:15am on the last day of October and spent 3 nights in Louis' beautiful apartment thanks once again to Air bnb. The apartment was located really close to the metro and surrounding parks, I couldn't have chosen I better place to stay! Here is a run down of what I got up to in Paris!

Vendredi 31/10/2014

Cruise sur la Siene: This is the one thing I recommend anyone visiting Paris should do, to take a cruise a long the Siene. We did it with Bato bus who stop at 7 different tourist attractions each spaced about 10-20 minutes away from each other. It is a hop on and hop off system where you can also buy 2 day tickets. They also do a decent student discount rate, so do not forget your student card like I did! :(

Arch de Triomphe

Champ-Elysees: One of Paris' most famous streets with many shops and restaurants to choose from!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Pompidou Centre

Les Marais: We ended the evening in Les Marais, a historic areas now filled with lots of bars!

Samedi 01/11/2014 ( Mon anniversaire!)

Musee de Louvre: I loved it! We saw the exhibition of the Medieval Morocco showing an empire from Africa to Spain, it was interesting to learn about. We also saw the famous Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci of course.

Eiffel Tower: The famous tower, I've finally seen it in the flesh, I was surprised at the scale I thought it would be smaller for some reason. I didn't go to the top I was too impatient to wait in the 2 hour queue. The view from below was fine for me.

Le Dome Cafe: this place sells the best ice cream! I am sure the food is great too, but we only went for dessert. It is close to the Eiffel Tower on the corner on Avenue de la Bourdonnais, you can't miss it!

image from insidebars.wordpress.com

Monmartre: is a hill in the North of Paris, during the walk there we saw their market place, Moulin Rouge and other shows.

Sacre Coeur: is full with beautiful art work and markets, the best part is the view from the Sacre Coeur Cathedral ( my battery had died at this point to capture the moment) where many people sat in front of the steps of the cathedral to see the lit up city.

Grand Boulevard: Another location with many bars and clubs to choose from!

Dimanche 02/11/2014

St Canal Martin: Sunday was pretty chilled as we strolled along the St Canal Martin, and checked out the shops before having lunch at Canaletto Caffe.

Peré Lachaise Cemetery: We walked to the Peré Lachaise cemetery garden from the canal, it wasn't too far ( 20-25 minutes I would say the most). This is the largest cemetery in Paris, with the most creative and grand tomb stones I have ever seen, it is also where writer Oscar Wilde is buried.

Bibliothéque National Français: The Library which was established in 1461 was overwhelming huge, although we did need to library card to go into the reading zones.