Last weekend I took a little weekend trip to Paris. My Dutch friend moved there about 5 months ago for work and invited me over to experience ‘real Paris’. Intrigued, I fantasised about gorging on pastries and baguettes, refining my French and sunbathing in the last bits of summer’s hot weather. Before I knew it I was on the Eurostar bopping along to MC Solaar’s ‘La Belle Et Le Bad Boy’ and adjusting my iPhone weather location to Paris. Thinking about visiting the city sometime soon? If you’re looking for quality restaurants, hidden cocktail bars and trendy areas check out what I got up to on my mini-excursion.
I met my friend at Paris Gare du Nord around 7pm
on Friday and we headed to his apartment in Le Marais to drop off my luggage.
Le Marais is in the 3rd/4th district and is a non-tourist
area. This part of Paris is filled with luxury boutiques, delightful bakeries, attractive
cafes and achingly cool bars.
As it was a warm evening, we decided to
have a few glasses of wine along the riverbank before having a late dinner.
Parisians always dine later than us Brits, so at around 10:30pm we headed to restaurant
Glou, on rue Vieille du Temple for some traditional French cuisine.
Glou
I decided to be adventurous and opt for a
typical French dish; tartare de saumon, which is finely chopped raw meat - When
in Rome!
After dinner we made our way to the Eifel
Tower - It’s so cliché but I was overwhelmed with how beautiful the building
was. We stayed until 1am, which is when the tower switches from being lit up to sparkling. Mesmerizing!
We then headed back to Le Marais for some drinks at Candelaria, a dimly
lit swanky cocktail bar hidden behind a secret back door of a modest miniscule
taco restaurant. Fierce cocktails, a super stylish crowd and good beats – I was
in heaven!
I greeted Saturday morning with coffee and
a bit of people watching at Le Bar Bouille. After filling up on croissants for
breakfast my Dutch friend and I set off on a bike ride around the city.
After
seeing the Notre Dame, the Arc De Triumph, Les Invalides and Opéra de Paris,
we ended up at the Louvre, where we rested for a little
picnic and some sun bathing. After our lunch of baguettes with fromage and
jambon we took a stroll down the Champs Elysees to satisfy our sweet tooth with
some world famous macaron’s from Laduree.
Just your average pastry shop in Paris...
A very French-looking view!
In the evening we went for dinner at a
trendy little hotspot called Le Barav. The restaurant also sells wine in their
shop next door. Customers can buy a bottle of wine from a vast selection in
their shop and then drink it with their meal in the restaurant.
Le Barav 
After dinner we went to the river Seine by Quai Saint Bernard to meet my French housemate Batiste, who I used to live with
in London. We caught up and had a laugh about the good old days with a bottle
of wine on the riverbank and then headed to a bar afterwards. It was really busy as you can see, with people
dancing and drinking into the early hours.
Riverbank Seine by Quai Saint Bernard.
And that’s the story of a Welsh girl in
Paris. I had so much fun; I’ll definitely be back to visit before the year is
over. If you’re thinking about heading over next year make sure you visit
around spring or in late August / early September. Try to avoid visiting in the
middle of August, as the city is extremely quiet at this time. A lot of people
from Paris leave the city for their summer holidays and many shops close down
for the month as a result.
They say Paris is the city of love, and
with the laid-back lifestyle, beautiful cobbled streets and charming boutique
shops, I think I’ve just started my first love affair with a city.
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