Blog Team On Tour: A Weekend in Paris

Paris is always a good idea said Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina. Last weekend with my partner in crime at CNC, Robyn and I got away for a girls weekend.

We traveled to La Ville Lumiere; Paris. Others may know it as the city of fashion, cafes and baguettes. So excited to escape London for the indulgence of French cuisine, exploration and of course the perfect Instagram pics. My top tips for a weekend in Paris starts with the most important;a pair of comfortable sneakers!

Cafes or restaurants? The city is filled with both. The top café on my list is Ladurée. We each ordered Ladurée’s version of hot chocolate which is more like delicious thick melted chocolate as well as their French toast which is drizzled in maple syrup. Do not forget your box of Macaroons, my favourite in salted caramel.

Café Flore is another beautiful French cafe definitely worthy of a chic pit stop. The building’s architecture is aesthetically pleasing and the food and staff are top notch. Pop in for a croissant, cheese plate or delicious milky latte. Later in the day we took a stroll to visit Le Bon Marche (the first department store in Paris) founded in 1838, which we learned about in class at college. It is know that the real Parisians shop here. There we picked up local cheeses, cured meats, fresh pesto and of course a baguette and a bottle of red wine. Although it was a cold night, a picnic by the River Seine seemed a great idea. We spread out our buffet on a bench overlooking La Seine and took in the Parisian magic.

Looking for a charming classic French restaurant? Head to L’Escargot Montorgueil where you can tick eating escargot off the bucket list! And we of course had to give it a go. A little chewy, but didn’t disappoint – full of flavour which was matched nicely by the atmosphere of the restaurant – cheerful and food comforting to the soul.

For prime pictures, Paris is the place to clog up your followers’ instagram feed. The architecture of the Louvre is beautiful whether you are going for a nice background or a landscape picture. For amazing views of the city, the L’Arc De Triomphe or Sacre Coeur deliver. My secret location for the best photos of the Eiffel Tower is a look out point called Tracadero. It is free to get to and honestly has one of the best views of the Eiffel Tower during the day or if you are going to watch the sparkly light show at night.

Although, we did not get to do any shopping as we were there for the experience, we visited the Dior exhibition recommended by many Conde Nast College staff and students to visit. It was a truly magical and inspirational experience, being so close to the garments and learning about Christian Dior himself.

I can whole heartedly say that I agree with Audrey, “Paris is always a good idea”.