Monday 24 June 2013

Paris

I've lived in England my whole life and was 30 minutes away from Waterloo station and so therefore Eurostar until 1998, but I've never actually managed to visit Paris.  When my friend Sam mentioned she was going to book a solo trip "but I've always wanted to go to Paris" I whined, "So come with me!" she said and then we picked up my friend Zoe too who wanted to come and has also been able to act as a very useful tour guide.

Last week was mentally busy for me, I had Guides, drinks out on a work night, Robbie Williams in Manchester, WI and then visiting my cousin.  When people learned that I was flying to Paris on Saturday they all wanted to know - "is it a romantic weekend?"  Well actually no, but it's been extremely fun and actually really nice sans les garcons.

Sam was amazing and had booked all our tickets and accommodation and so after a very straightforward flight from Leeds Bradford Airport we took a train and a metro (all included within our "visite" card) and arrived at our apartment that Sam had booked through Air BnB 

The apartment is beautiful, if a little quirky and has amazing views including the Eiffel Tower!  I had to use a lot more of my A-Level French to speak to our host who doesn't speak any English and was giving us a guided tour of the facilities.   If there were negatives to be cast on this beautiful place it's that there is only one toilet with very thin walls off the living room/lounge and that there are no curtains (?!?!)


The lift is also pretty terrifying, it says that it can accomodate " 3 personnes..."
but unless you are a contortionist  or extremely thin, it feels like a horror film of claustrophobia about to happen.  Although it is also amusing like a cupboard that goes up and down!

After we had settled into the apartment, got changed and ready we headed out to look for a restaurant recommended to us by our host, after we couldn't find that particular one, we ended up at Marcel's and I had probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten! 

I started with Foie Gras which i've never had (appreciate it might be cruel in production at times, but it felt like a must have today - sorry!), I then went onto a blue steak with chips and a chocolate fondant pudding for dessert.  It was all melt in the mouth and amazingly tasty and the red wine went down extremely well also.

We wandered back to the hotel, put our PJs on and hung around and played on the piano and ate some funky pic n mix that we'd bought after dinner.