I had a wonderful weekend this weekend celebrating my boyfriend’s birthday in Paris. We left London St Pancras station on the 11.01 train on Saturday morning arriving at Gare du Nord at 2:17pm (1 hour time difference).

  
Using Citymapper one of my favourite apps, we found our Airbnb apartment near Bastille Metro really easily. After dropping our bags we pottered around for a bit then walked towards the centre of Paris soaking up the atmosphere and the autumn sun. As it started to get dark we ventured into a bar/restaurant called Kong, where amazingly there were photos of 3 women on a digital display including one with hair very similar to mine.   

After a couple of drinks we had a delicious  dinner in the swanky glass domed restaurant. 
Full of food and drink we walked out and over Pont Neuf stopping to watch the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the distance 😀

   
 We walked along the riverside, then crossed back over another bridge towards the Louvre and Pyramide. 
  
We then walked back in the general direction of our apartment stopping for a drink at a street cafe before getting the Metro for a couple of stops and getting a (reasonably) early night.  
Sunday morning we woke up full of beans and went for breakfast at a cafe over the road. “Le Francais” breakfast was €8, the croissant was DIVINE 😀

  
We then went for a walk along the Promenade Plantee, the Paris forerunner to New York’s Highline. It was busy with walkers and runners alike, plus a few sleeping party goers on benches, who hadn’t made it home from Halloween parties the night before. 

  
I was tempted, but didn’t take pics of the sleeping partygoers. 

We walked Promenade Plantee for several kilometres stopping for a drink (of coffee and water) at a small cafe. I made the mistake of asking for the “salle de bain” rather than “toilette” in the cafe and was kindly corrected by the lovely waiter. Maybe I had been trying to be posh? I’m not sure lol. 

We then walked up to Bel-Air Metro  and got a train to Bir Hakeim station near…..  

 ….the Eiffel Tower 😀

  
We took this pic down a side street before having French onion soup and steak frites before going for a walk around the base of the tower and then through the park. 

   
 
I wanted to go to Sacre Coeur to look at the view at dusk, so we got back on the Metro at Ecole Militaire for the journey to Abbess station. 

  
We walked up the stairs at Abbess station and then the countless steps up to the Sacre Coeur. Bloody hell. That’s a lot of steps. I’d forgotten how many 😱

   
 
There were a lot of people there in front of Sacre Coeur sitting around, smoking (so many more people smoke in Paris than in London!) and chatting and watching the sun set. 

   
  
 
We walked around Monmartre, past some great views, and a Windmill, before sitting outside another cafe for a nice cold beer before making our way back to Gare du Nord for the Eurostar home. 

  On the way to the Metro we passed the Moulin Rouge. 
We got the 8.43pm train home which arrived at 10pm. I love Eurostar 😀👍

It was a fabulous weekend, I highly recommend Paris as a great place for a relaxed weekend trip from London. I had thought that it might be a bit rushed, but it wasn’t, we had plenty of time and got home feeling relaxed and refreshed. I can’t wait to go back….