'Paris is always a good idea'. When I tweeted to say 'ah someone come to Paris with me'. I really didn't expect it to ever happen. I was lucky enough to be treated to a trip for my 18th birthday to the city of lights and since then, i've always wanted to go back. Lucky me, almost exactly a year on, I got the chance to go back to this incredible city. The lovely Scarlett Dixon, aka Scarlett London also wanted to go, so it actually happened and together we trotted off to the beautiful city of Paris. I love going to cities, and we've decided that we should definitely do tours of all the big shopping cities of the world, that way, we can review them for you and tell you about any hidden gems, and by gosh, did we find some hidden gems in the beautiful city of Paris...
Meeting Scarlett at 8.30am in St.Pancras Station in London was more than worth the 6am start. It's so crazy how well we instantly got on, we have too much in common, it's as if we were separated at the womb. People even asked us (in French) if we were sisters. Luckily, I'm quite a linguist and explained that no we're not, but thanks for the compliment! We got the Eurostar to Paris which was exciting. I've been on the Eurostar once before to Belgium and I cannot recommend it enough. Last time, I flew to Paris and there is so much more faffing around involved in going to the airport and flying in general as opposed to getting the Eurostar. It literally takes half an hour if that to get through the check in and be on the train. The staff are all so friendly and make the whole process so quick and easy, each time i've been astounded at how quick it is to travel abroad using the Eurostar. Most people think that a trip to Paris is expensive, but with the Eurostar it's really not. You can get youth fares between the ages of 12-25 which can get you to Paris for around £60.00 return, that's insanely cheap for a trip abroad. I often say that one day, I will just visit Paris for a long day if that's the case. We got first class travel on the way there, which included the most beautiful French breakfast (you can see it below), extra leg room and the most efficient staff who kept topping up our water, orange juice and just attending to any needs that we had.
I had to upload photos of all of the food that I ate because I am a true foodie and love anything delicious. The Eurostar is ridiculously quick and I think it only takes over 2 hours from what I can remember. It really isn't a long or draining journey at all. When I flew to Paris, it was quite pointless as once you get up in the sky, you're back down again. For my Mum's birthday next year, we are going to get the Eurostar to Belgium and to Paris. It's so affordable. I would definitely recommend getting business class on the way home from your trip because you'll most likely have lots of bags and just want an express queue, and more leg room.
We stayed in the most incredible hotel ever. It's called the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel and as you can see from the photos above, it's just sensational. As soon as you step out of the hotel, the Arc De Triomphe is there, as you can see on the central photo, it is on the road that the Arc De Triomphe is on. This means that it's around a 3 minute walk from Paris' best shopping street, the Champs Elysee. Most people don't actually know what to do or where to go when going to Paris, I find a lot of the online 'best things to do in Paris' actually aren't very good, and after going twice, I do feel that this hotel is in the perfect location. If you stay at this hotel, you don't really need to travel anywhere because everything is just so close. The rooms are to die for, with the comfiest beds which we actually struggled to get out of. The window in the bedroom is floor to ceiling glass and almost sticks out as if you're stood on a balcony, it's such a contemporary hotel. This hotel gives you views of both the Eiffel tower and the Arc De Triomphe, which is something you want when going to Paris. The staff are possibly the best staff that i've ever come across, they are incredibly attentive and did anything that they could to ensure that we had a good stay. This included nice little touches such as booking us our taxis, then carrying our bags to the taxi whilst holding an umbrella over my head for me. They also sent us a gorgeous little note which wished us a good nights sleep. I'll tell you more about the hotel on my vlog, where i've filmed the room properly, it's really difficult to see just how incredible it is from the photos. Apparently Justin Bieber has stayed in this hotel numerous times, and was actually there the night that me and Scarlett stayed there. I think when the likes of a multi-millionare like Justin stay there, it proves that this hotel is perfectly glamourous. There's no doubting that the Renaissance Paris Arc de Triomphe Hotel is first class and probably, one of the best in Paris, especially in terms of location. But, you cannot fault the staff and the immense decor. Have a read about it here... my favourite hotel ever, it's official.
We spent our weekend shopping and sight seeing. We visited a gorgeous little French district called Marais, which is a historic district in Paris. There aren't many reviews of Marais on the internet but I've heard bloggers say how good it is so we decided to take the trip. I would recommend that anyone who does Paris should go here, whilst it isn't an obvious visitor attraction of Paris, Marais is somewhere which perfectly encapsulates everything that is French. If you like the French culture and want to step away from the 'touristy' parts of Paris, then this district is for you. It is very authentic and is like a maze of cheese shops, vintage shops, chocolatiers and more. Marais is a kind of hidden away little town which reminds me why I love France and the French culture so much. We went on a Sunday morning and panicked because nothing was open, but the shops just open later on a Sunday in Paris (around 12 noon). The other great thing about this cute little hidden gem, is that it's only a few minutes walk to the Notre Dame, which is also a gorgeous area of Paris, full of beautiful restaurants and winding streets. So if you're taking a trip to the Notre Dame, which is a necessity when visiting Paris, do make sure that you stop by in Marais.
Next you'll find lots of photographs, because I just took far too many and needed to show you all:
Beautiful flowers throughout Paris, I wish I could bring them home. They are so well priced.
Just some of the beautiful things that we saw. The river seine which runs through Paris is breath taking.
Here is me and Scarlett with the owners of a beautiful restaurant that we found near the Eiffel Tower. Ironically, the restaurant is called simply 'Pizza et Pasta' and I know that if I went back to Paris, I would never be able to find it again. It's one of those fairy tale type restaurants which is hidden away down a back street, but serves the most unbelievable food. The men asked for a photo with us and even bought us roses at the end of our meal, we realised that French boys are extremely romantic, the amount of men that we saw carrying round bouquets of fresh flowers highlighted that British men need to work harder to wow us women clearly! Well, after all, Paris is the city of love. If you do go to the Eiffel Tower, I really would recommend going in the evening, it's just so much more beautiful. Also, don't stop at the first restaurant you see, most people assume that eating near the Eiffel Tower will be expensive, but actually, it's not that bad if you have a little walk down the back streets, i've found some of my favourite restaurants in the Eiffel Tower area.
I fell in love with the Yves Rocher store and bought far too many little goodies from here. Everything smells delicious, if you get the chance, smell their raspberry shower gel. Oh wow.
Oh Louis Vuitton if only I could afford you. I do think the designer shops are more expensive in Paris than in England, purses in Louis Vuitton seem to be in the 500 Euros price bracket whilst in England, you can get them for £300. I'd stick to buying the designer goods at home as opposed to in Paris just to be sure.
We were in Sephora for maybe 2 hours plus? My favourite shop. I can't wait to show you a haul of all of the things that I bought. We also found a Sephora right at the end of the street that our hotel was in. It was like fate, so we of course, also went into that store.
This is the view from the our hotel basically. How unreal.
Not windswept at all.
Of course we did A LOT of shopping, stay tuned for a massive haul post... but in case you can't wait that long, you can see some of the things I bought below:
Ahhh I can't wait to tell you more about my incredible trip and do a massive haul post. You will be in shock when you see how many goodies I bought from Paris. I also can't wait to see more shopping cities of the world, where to next? P.S, and how exciting that Justin Bieber and Will.i.am were in Paris at the same time as us?! Apparently Kim Kardashian was in Paris too! Lots of love, Em x
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