After an amazing two days in Lille – we drive to Paris! It took us about 3 hours including a stop.
Paris!! The city of love!! Its one of the most famous cities in Europe and one of the most travelled worldwide!
Neel and I have been to Paris a few times but this was our first trip with the kids! Si was super excited about seeing the Eiffel Tower and so I made sure we booked a hotel close by which had a lovely view of the Tower!
We had three nights in Paris and were lucky to have some amazing weather so we made the most of our time there. Paris is easy to discover walking and by the metro which is very easy to navigate. I recommend getting a pass for the number of days you are there.
The Eiffel Tower – one of the most recognisable monuments in the world…and even if you’ve seen it several times before…its still stunning every time you see it again!! The tower looks beautiful during the day and at night when it lights up its truly magical! And the views from the top are breathtaking!
As its one of the most popular landmarks in Paris, the lines to get in can get very very long specially in peak summer! If you want to skip the queues you could buy your ticket(s) online from the Eiffel Tower’s official website. However you can only buy elevator tickets so if you prefer to climb then you have to buy tickets on the day from the ticket office. Stairs tickets are cheaper but valid only upto the second floor after which you need to buy another ticket to go to the top floor.
You can also avoid the long queues by visiting early morning or late evening. I love to go there late evening when there is still some light going up and then you wait up till it gets dark and all the lights come on. Its magical!!! And you can see why Paris is called the ‘City of Lights!’
When you are up you get a brilliant view of Paris’ famous landmarks – the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, the River Seine, and a lot more.
One of the days was a wonderful walk along the Champs D’Elysses with lots of breaks in between! We started late morning at the Arc de Triomphe which is at one end of the Champs D’Elysses and after a leisurely couple of hours of walking, eating, drinking, taking pics, kids playing, kids fighting….we reached the Obelisk of Luxor in the Place de la Concorde. After that we crossed the ‘Jardin des Tuileries’ and reached the Louvre by early evening.
Which was perfect as we wanted to see the Louvre in daylight, at dusk, and at night when it lights up! And its truly beautiful at all times!!!
Neel and I have been inside the Louvre on one of our earlier trips and we thought the kids were too young to really enjoy going inside so this time we spent a couple of hours outside just soaking in the atmosphere and taking loads of pics before heading off to a lovely French restaurant for our evening meal to end the day.
On our last day in Paris we went back to the Eiffel Tower – this time to view it from the other side which was also beautiful and then spent a couple of hours strolling along the River Sienne, seeing the Notre Dame, sitting at road side cafes and soaking in the Parisienne atmosphere! Si was so in love with Paris and the beautiful Eiffel Tower that she didn’t want to leave! We will be back!!!
Au revoir Paris!!! Nous reviendrons très bientôt…and we drive to our final destination of this trip – Honfleur
