Over the half term break, we didn't have time to go away for very long (as the Husband didn't have much leave for taking off work), so we booked a long weekend break away to Paris! It was also dictated by the travelling procedures and how much testing we had to do, which made Paris an even better choice! Add in that our 5th wedding anniversary is only a few weeks away (but during school time - and on a parent teacher night no less!) so we decided to splash out a little on this trip.
So after I finished work for the half term on Friday night, we packed our stuff ready for Saturday morning. We had a train around 9 am so we headed to the station at 7 to St Pancras. The train journey was fine - I always forget how much I like travelling by train! We had things to do and naps we could take, so even when we were delayed an hour we were not that bothered by it.
We arrived in Paris around 2pm and headed straight to our hotel in the 7th Arrondissement, right near the Eiffel Tower. We stayed at a cute hotel called 7 Eiffel in a deluxe room. It had a living space and a small terrace (although it was too cold to use it really), and we had breakfast included. We couldn't actually check in yet though, so we dropped our luggage off and walked over to the Tower itself. We decided to go up it and had a little bit heated discussion about how we were getting up/down it. In the end the line for the lift was actually shorter, so we got that ticket for all the way to the top! We headed up to the 2nd floor on the lift then joined the queue for the summit, as that has a separate lift! The top was such a good view, and we bought a tin of macaroon and a glass of champagne to share while we admired the view!
We then took the lift back to the 2nd floor (that's the only option) and walked the rest of the way down. By the time we got to the bottom it was just after 5pm so we headed back to the hotel to check in and chill for a little bit before dinner. We wanted something 'properly French' for dinner, so we settled on a Brasserie only 5 minutes walk from the hotel, Le Recrutement Cafe. It was exactly what we had hoped for! Husband had french onion soup and I had hot goats cheese for entree, then we had a steak (he) and a salad (me - although mine was better because my salad included an egg, bacon, half an avocado and blue cheese!). We thought about going to a creperie for dessert, but He wanted to go for a walk, so we headed off towards the Louvre. It was a lovely walk along the river, even though I was super tired by that point, and it meant that as soon as we got back to the room we rolled straight into bed!
Sunday we woke up in time for our room service breakfast, which was actually 40 minutes late! He was planning on going for a run, so once it arrived we had a bite to eat together and then I was able to get ready while He went for his run. Then we headed out (around 11ish) to Les Invalides and the Musee d'Armes. We did about half of the museums floors before deciding we needed our lunch. Rather than having an overpriced and not great baguette in the cafe there, we actually left the museum and headed a few blocks away to a local boulangerie (one of the only ones open on a Sunday, apparently) for fresh rolls and sat outside to eat it picnic-style. We had a lovely sunny spot so it was great! Then we headed back in for Napoleon's Tomb and the other bits of the museum we hadn't done yet. By the time we finished we headed back to the hotel to change and get ready for the highlight of our trip - the Moulin Rouge!
We were headed for dinner and the show and after arriving and queuing were shown to our seats. As we ate and shared a bottle of champagne, there were a pair of jazz singers who serenaded us, even inviting people on to the dancefloor at one point! There was a family with 3 girls there who basically took over the dancefloor after a while... I'm not sure why you'd bring your young kids (one was like 8!) to the Moulin Rouge, but oh well. After dinner it was time for the show! Unfortunately the dinner didn't fully agree with me and I had to duck out at one point (there isn't an interval so I couldn't wait for that to come around), but oh well. The dancing was pretty awesome, especially when everyone on stage is doing a unison jump split!
I do think that the highlight of the performance was the can can, although there wasn't actually as much high kicking as we thought there would be! And some of the side acts were incredible. There was a couple on roller skates who did tricks where the girl went up in the air and that one amazed me the most - I think I gasped 3 separate times!
After the show we picked up a souvenir, then headed back to the hotel - via a crepe stand for dessert!
Monday morning He had another run to do, but given how slow the breakfast was we ordered it for earlier - and then it showed up 5 minutes before the allotted time! We couldn't time it exactly right, but oh well. I got ready and packed up most of the room then He got ready too and we checked out, leaving our bags at the hotel. We didn't have the return train until 6 or 7pm, so we headed up to Montmatre. We pottered through some fabric shops (the main reason for going to that part of town in the first place!), I bought some double gauze, poly viscose and some sweatshirting which I am very excited to sew with. We had lunch at a cafe at the foot of the hill looking up, and after we ate we walked up and then back down to look at the view. Then we headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff and head to the train!
We got back to London around 8.30pm local time, and were home with dinner by half 9! Not a bad way to start a half term break.
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