This week, I went to ‘the city of love’ with my boyfriend. When you say Paris, I immediately think about the Eiffel Tower, Ladurée, Champs-Élysées and the Louvre museum. But Paris is so much more than that. I have been to Paris multiple times already, as in high school trips. Running from museum to museum, not being able to enjoy the atmosphere and everything else this beautiful city has to offer. That is why, this time, we took it slow and went to all of the highlights at our own pace.
Day 1
Thursday, we left at noon with the car towards Paris. We left from Eindhoven, towards Antwerp, Lille and our destination, Paris. Because it was very busy on the road, we arrived at 18:30. We checked into our hotel in the 19th arrondissement and dropped our stuff. The hotel we were staying at is called ‘Hotel de Flore’, the perfect hotel for a trip to Paris.
After grabbing dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, we took the metro to see the Ice Kube bar. I had never seen a bar before that is completely made out of ice, so this was very cool (pun intended) to see. After having a drink we went back to our hotel, to catch the must needed rest we needed for the next day.
Day 2
Today we woke up early to get breakfast at a bakery down the street. I still go crazy for the smell of fresh baked croissants and baguettes. After buying and enjoying a very good breakfast, we climbed to the Sacre Coeur. Since our hotel was in Montmartre, the Sacre Coeur was only a 15-minute walk (and some almost impossible staircases) away. The Sacre Coeur has always been one of my favourite spots in Paris. The beautiful architecture, the view over Paris and not to forget Place du Tertre make this a very enjoyable place to go.
After we visited the Sacre Coeur, we took the metro again to the Eiffel Tower, probably the most touristic spot in the city, but still the one I get most excited about. It is just something about the tower that makes it feel so romantic. Is it the movies, the light show at night or just how big it is? I will never know.
From the Eiffel Tower, we took the metro (yes, again) to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Élysées. When we got there, I just lost all control over myself; I just had to go into every store I saw. Yes, I am very addicted to shopping. The stores I always must go to are Sephora, Paul (to get some ridiculously good macarons) and of course Zara.
We did not have dinner this day since we snacked our way through it. From the Champs Élysées, we walked towards the Louvre museum, not to go inside yet, though. We took some pictures and took the metro to go to Cartier Latin. This is definitely one of my favourite Parisian neighbourhoods to stroll down and have a drink or some food. Once we got there, we could of course not skip the beautiful Notre Dame, unfortunately, it was already closed by the time we got there.
Day 3
This was our last full day in the city. We did the same morning routine as the previous day and afterwards took the metro to go to the Louvre museum. After waiting in the line for the security check for half an hour, we finally got into the museum. I have been to the Louvre before and I absolutely love it, it is so majestic and classy.
After the Louvre, we walked towards the Chanel apartment at Rue Cambon, something that I wanted to visit badly. It is common knowledge that you need to get a special invitation from Chanel to actually have a look in the apartment, but the employers were nice enough to let me take pictures with the famous staircase. Getting in the apartment is one for my bucket list.
After my haute couture heart had been satisfied, we went to the Opera Garnier. This was something I had never visited before, but I’m so glad I did. Not only the outside of the building is beautiful, but the inside is even better. The big staircases, the gold details and statues are very nice to look at. Unfortunately, the auditorium was not open this day, because there were rehearsals going on.
Since Lafayette is only one hundred meters away, we decided to check this out as well. Time after time the windows of the warehouse keep amazing me.
This night, we went out for dinner close to our hotel. We had some nice food, drank some fine wine and didn’t make it too late, because we had a long car ride ahead of us again the next morning.
Je t’aime, Paris.
IK by Isabelle 