Travel

Paris City Break – Day Two

 WARNING; This post is very photograph & text heavy.

The night before we sort of planned what we wanted to do on day two, it was all worked around Hayley‘s 13:30 reservation at the Cat Cafe. We’d also tried to book Eiffel Tower tickets online from the hostel but it was booked up until the Wednesday. We didn’t want to take a chance that the weather was going to turn so instead we made our way to the Eiffel Tower for it’s opening at 9:30 hoping the queue would be at it’s shortest. Luckily we were right, although it wasn’t as short as we would of liked. It was another glorious blue sky day so the half an hour we did spend in the queue wasn’t dreadful. For me, being over 25 it was 14.50e & for Hayley it was 13e and that was to the very top by the elevator. Not bad at all and worth every cent. The journey up wasn’t as pleasant as I hoped, it was quite windy and due to the tower being simply a metal structure the elevator did shake a fair bit. When we had to change at the second floor I did experience that moment of hesitation, but you know.. YOLO… I decided to head to the top and I’m so glad I did because the view was breathtaking! Especially in the sunlight. Paris is just beautiful, all the white buildings, the Seine, the cut out avenues. It was such a clear day you could see for miles and make out the beauty of Sacre Coeur. Definitely something I’ll remember forever should I never make it back.

Second Floor
Top floor, or Summit.

We spent a good two hours from queuing to descending meaning we’d cut it too short for our original plans. Instead we took the subway to the Arc de Triomphe. I’ve seen it before but I knew I’d feel like I missed out if I didn’t go again. We then took a walk down Champs Elysees, popping into a McCafe for some caramel macchiatos and MACARONS! I kid you not! Mcdonalds in Paris sell all mannor of cakes and macarons. They were pretty cheap too, 6 for 5e. We popped into Sephora but we weren’t impressed with the prices and I blew 40e in The Disney Shop on Little Miss (standard). And before we knew it was approaching 1pm and needed to catch the metro back to the Cat Cafe. We managed to make it (just) and I’ve never ever seen Hayley so happy!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Cafe du Chat is a cafe where people go to stroke cats while drink coffee (to put it in simple terms). Both Hayley and I do love cats, although I tend to favour more cats I know, where Hayley just love cats. We each got a cold drink having practically ran from the metro and chilled out for a while. It was a really nice relaxed area and gave us time to figure out our next move. Which would be to head off to Monmatre to see Sacre Coeur and then into the Red Light District to see the Moulin Rouge all lit up in the evening. Sadly we wouldn’t be seeing a show due to the incredibly high prices.

We caught the metro as far as Anvers then we walked up through a very tourist street, calling in and out of the shops to avoid showers of rain. We both spent some of our money buying your standard tourist stuff, the prices were a lot lower than I expected and everyone was ready to haggle. By the time we reached the top before climbing the Sacre Coeur steps the heavens opened for the heaviest shower since we arrived and we popped into a little cafe for a spot of late lunch. Again I won’t go into details as I will have a post up dedicated to where we ate and drank. It was as nice as ever although the waiter was a little strange. By the time we’d finished and paid, it was fair again so we headed up to the church. Sadly on the steps we were accosted by some incredibly rude men. We’d clearly been targeted as we were two young girls but after plenty of “no no no” we managed to get away and make our way up. At the top there were some wonderful street entertainers, a couple of men doing football tricks and a band. It was such a good atmosphere and again the view was wonderful. We didn’t go into the church but perhaps we should of since on the way down we got caught in another heavy shower! We ducked into some more shops and spent some more money before making our way into the Red Light District.

Well, how can I describe the Red Light District? I’m not sure if it was horrifying or hilarious! It’s so strange how some things can be totally illegal in one country and the norm elsewhere. It was an experience to say the least. We did find an amazing bar for happy hour cocktails though! We finally made it to the Moulin Rouge and it was definitely worth it. All lit up, it looked wonderful. Perhaps one day I’ll make it back for a show but at least now I can say I’ve stood outside.

 

For dinner that night we chose to venture to La Favourite, a restaurant we’d been recommended over twitter. We knew it was on Rue de Rivoli.. unfortunately we got off at the metro stop on the wrong end of the incredibly long road and spent a good 30 minutes walking to the restaurant. THANKFULLY we made it in time for happy hour and the place had wifi so we could contact home. The food and drinks were good, the place was wonderfully decorated and a bit more modern rather than authentically French but it was a brilliant end to a great day. We headed back to the hostel for a shower and then bed as we wanted to be up early the next day to make the most of our last day in Paris.

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