Last weekend, Claudio and I returned to the UK after a wonderful, Christmassy week spent travelling through three different European countries:
France,
Belgium and
the Netherlands.
Paris was the first stop on our tour, and we were both really excited to see the city together. Visiting Paris, and in particular the Eiffel Tower, had been a dream of Claudio's since 1998, when he was six years old and watched the World Cup taking place in France on TV. Back then, it seemed impossible to him that he would ever make it to
Europe. And then in 2020, he finally did visit Europe for the first time, but unfortunately Coronavirus meant that going to France was off limits. But this time, he was able to finally realise his dream of over 25 years!
I was also very excited about coming back to Paris for my third visit. My first visit was with my parents and sister for my 18th birthday in October 2013 (hard to believe that was 10 years ago!) and
my second visit was in July/August 2018, shortly after I'd got together with Claudio. The reason I was there that time was to try (unsuccessfully, as it happened) to sort out work/accommodation as part of
my Year Abroad, as I'd had to leave a work placement I had in Brittany. So although I enjoyed seeing the city in summer, it was under rather stressful circumstances. It also sucked a bit to be alone in the world's most romantic city, when I was in a new relationship!
After that time in Paris, I had to stay in France for another five weeks, which were also a bit of a mixed bag and stressful at times. Partly because of that, I hadn't been back to France since, and I'd only occasionally practiced the language since graduating from university in 2019. However, in September this year, I started my current job, which is entirely based in the French market, although my office is in the UK. I've been using my French on an daily basis again, which is something I've enjoyed coming back to. French was such a big part of my life between the start of my GCSEs and the end of university, and for a long time, France was really the focal point of my travel and languages passion. And so it was nice to have French come back into my life again after four years. But the fact that my work was based in France, and yet I wasn't actually in France myself, definitely brought back a lot of nostalgia for my previous visits to the country. I knew it was high time I went back - and this time, I was going to get to go there with Claudio!
We stayed in Hotel PiaPia, a very chic yet reasonably-priced hotel located in the 20th arrondissement, right on the eastern edge of the city. During our drive to the hotel from Orly airport, I could tell that Claudio was a bit shocked and disappointed by how industrial and unattractive the suburbs outside of Paris looked.
But fortunately, the hotel was a short distance from Porte de Vincennes métro station, located on Line 1 of the Paris Métro. So after leaving our bags in the room, we went off to get our Navigo cards and travel over to Hôtel de Ville in the city centre. I was super excited to be back in Paris and also to see how Claudio would react to seeing some of the most famous sights.
He definitely wasn't disappointed this time! When we came out of the métro and saw the grand Parisian architecture of L'Hôtel de Ville and Le BHV Marais, he was absolutely amazed - no other city he'd visited before, not even
London, could compare.
We crossed over the river to get to our first famous landmark of the trip: Notre-Dame Cathedral. Claudio had spent the previous two days exploring the sights of
Bristol while I was working, and had seen
Bristol Cathedral, which is very similar to Notre-Dame, but he was still very impressed with Notre-Dame, which is much bigger than the Bristolian version.
Our next stop was a famous landmark that neither of us had visited before: the Panthéon. This is a mausoleum for the remains of distinguished French citizens, built in a neoclassical style. It's a huge building and an amazing sight to see.
The buildings of the surrounding square, Place du Panthéon, are also very grand, and include the universities Panthéon-Assas and Panthéon-Sorbonne.
The next place we visited was somewhere a bit different! We both enjoy watching the Netflix series Emily in Paris - I found it a nice piece of escapism during the lockdown in early 2021, and Claudio finds it a good way to practice his English listening. It's not at all serious, but it is very fun!
One thing we wanted to do while in Paris was to visit some of the places from the series, starting with Emily and Gabriel's apartment and Gabriel's restaurant. In real life, it's actually an Italian restaurant rather than a French one. The chef arrived while we were taking pictures there, and made a joke about being Gabriel!
We then went to see two famous cafés that featured in the series, Les Deux Magots and Café de Flore.
After exploring an indoor food market, we crossed back over to Rive Droite to see the Louvre by night. We would be back the following day!
Then we wondered over to the office from Emily in Paris!
We finished the evening's sightseeing with a walk around Domaine National du Palais-Royal, followed by crêpes au Nutella at a café!
The next morning, we were very excited, as we were going to achieve Claudio's dream of visiting the Eiffel Tower! We came out of Pont de l'Alma station, and after picking up a delicious pistachio pain au chocolat from Pierre Hermé, were treated to the sight of the tower peeking out from behind a stunning building, which we thought was a mosque, but which is actually a Russian Orthodox church.
We headed over to the meeting point for our tour, and once everyone was there, we went over to the tower itself, where our guide gave us a talk about the history of the famous landmark. After that, it was time to go inside and take the lift up to the second floor. Our guide pointed out some of the famous places down below, like La Défense, Tour de Montparnasse, Arc de Triomphe and Sacré-Cœur.
Then we had as much free time to spend in the tower as we liked. As we had tickets for the summit, we took the lift up to the top, which gave us a bit of vertigo! But it was a great experience to be right at the top of such a famous building and to be able to see the entire city down below.
We finished our time in the tower down on the first floor with glasses of pink champagne, which made our visit feel extra special!
Of course, one downside of being inside the Eiffel Tower is that you can't see the tower itself! So afterwards we went off to Place du Trocadéro to take some pics there.
We had lunch at a nice Italian place and then made our way over to the other attraction we had planned for the day: the Louvre.
Although I'd been happy to go up the Eiffel Tower for the second time in my life, I wasn't that enthusiastic about revisiting the Louvre. I'd told Claudio that the Mona Lisa is very small and is constantly surrounded by a crowd of people taking selfies, so isn't really at the top of my favourite things to see in Paris, but as Claudio said, I'd already seen it, so could make a judgement, whereas he hadn't.
It was a nice experience to be inside the huge palace that houses the museum - it is around 3 kilometres long and very beautifully and ornately decorated. But as I'd expected, Claudio was a bit disappointed by the Mona Lisa - he hadn't realised just how crowded the area around the painting would be. We had a look at some of the other paintings and sculptures around the museum and then left - probably not to return ever, or at least not for a good few years!
By this point of the day, it was getting quite dark, and Claudio expressed a wish to see the Eiffel Tower by night. We tried to get a Bateau Mouche from Pont Neuf, but the next one wasn't going to leave for another 2 hours, so instead we took the metro back over to the tower.
Once we arrived, Claudio told me he wanted to go to a special spot to see the tower, and so we walked for a little while until we arrived at a nice spot next to the river and Pont d'Iéna, with the tower directly opposite.
We enjoyed looking at the lit-up tower for a little while. And then at a few minutes before seven pm, Claudio got down on one knee, produced a beautiful engagement ring from his pocket and asked me to marry him (of course I said yes!). It really was the most perfect moment.
In fact, since I was a teenager, I'd always had this idea in mind of getting engaged at the Eiffel Tower, even though at the time, I'd thought it unlikely I'd ever get married. So for it to actually happen, and with the most amazing man I could ever have dreamed of, was just wonderful in every way!
And then to top it all off, at seven pm, shortly after Claudio popped the question, the Eiffel Tower began its dazzling light show. He had timed everything perfectly!
We celebrated with mulled wine at a nearby Christmas market, followed by dinner at a nice restaurant on the other side of the river.
Our last full day in Paris was a more relaxed one, as we didn't have any tickets booked. But there were still more landmarks to see!
We started off with l'Arc de Triomphe. It wasn't my first time seeing it, but it was my first time going inside it and up on the roof. I'd definitely recommend it! It's got a nice little museum where you can read about the arc and other similar ones around the world, and the views from the roof are fantastic. Obviously you can see the Champs Élysées, and you also have good views of the Sacré-Cœur and Eiffel Tower (even though it was partly covered by clouds).
Our next stop was another Emily in Paris related place - the McDonald's on Champs Élysées! This is not just any McDo; it's a fancy French one, where a scene from the show was filmed. We picked up a few goodies from there for our breakfast, and enjoyed them while looking out over the famous boulevard.
Next, I took Claudio to see one of my favourite neighbourhoods of Paris: Montmartre. We started off with the Moulin Rouge, which is located in a somewhat seedy area, and doesn't really look how it does in the film! Claudio was glad to have seen it, but wasn't especially impressed!
Nearby, we also came across Le Chat Noir café. During my first visit to Paris in 2013, I'd been rather taken by the logo of the café (a picture of a black cat), which I'd seen on various products in tourist shops around the city, and had even bought a mug with the logo. So it was fun to see the actual café itself!
Then we arrived at one of my favourite places in the city, Sacré-Cœur Basilica. In the wintery weather, with the funfair in front, it looked really magical.
We took the funicular railway up to the top, which you can pay for with your Navigo card. It was something I hadn't done on my previous visit to Sacré-Cœur, and I'd definitely recommend it. We'd walked down from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower the previous day, and had walked up and down the Arc de Triomphe that morning, so the funicular gave our legs a much-needed rest! It was also a fun experience to zoom up to the top of hill!
We both really enjoyed visiting the basilica (which is free to enter) and walking around it, in order to see it from every angle. It is such a beautiful building, and interestingly, was the inspiration for a basilica in
Santiago, which is near where I lived
when I was studying in Chile.
Like me, Claudio also fell in love with Montmartre. It's such a pretty, arty neighbourhood, and a great place to stroll around.
We then stopped for a late lunch in a Thai street food restaurant (called Thaï Street Food!). The food was delicious, and it was nice to have something a bit healthier and more filling than viennoiseries and macarons, as tasty as they are!
Afterwards, we got back on the métro to go to Palais Garnier, a place neither of us had visited before. Disappointingly, the front of the building was covered in scaffolding, so we couldn't see it in all its glory!
We then noticed some people on the roof of a nearby building, and realised it was Galeries Lafayette. So we decided to go inside to look around (and enjoy the warmth!) before going up on the roof. There were lots of interesting books and food items to look at inside the store, and the Christmas decorations were amazing!
The views from the roof were also quite spectacular.
By this point in the day, we were freezing cold (it was about 2 degrees), so we went back to the hotel for a relaxing evening (and some sushi!)
The following morning we had time for
a trip to a château (a must when visiting France!) before moving on to the next country of our European tour. Our trip to Paris was definitely one of the most special trips we've ever taken, but there were plenty more travel adventures to come!
