Weekend in Paris

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Ange's birthday had rolled round again, so we saw this as an opportunity to visit Paris for the weekend.

We decided since we didn't get much of a chance to enjoy Paris last time we were there (Ange had the flu), we saw this as a great chance to visit again. But of course we were lucky enough to see most of the tourist sites last time - so we hoped we could just enjoy Paris for being Paris. And of course finally get up the Eiffel Tower.

We arrived early on the Saturday morning to cold and wet weather - not a great start - but still this was Paris.

We were staying in the Latin Quarter again - this time in one of the bigger hotels there. And I have to say the staff and room were fantastic. Well worth the money.

We spent the rest of Saturday wandering the streets of St Germain and the Latin Quarter. There are such traditional Parisian areas around here (and not touristy) and the food and wine stores are just amazing. We also took the opportunity to go into Notre Dame - which is amazingly grand inside.

That night we had made a booking at "Aux Duex Canards" - a restaurant recommended to us for being really quirky, quaint and delicous. And it lived up to it - the history, nik naks, and staff explanations of the famous orange syrups - which are the base for many recipes and are amazing. The honey liqueur called Le Bombe are fantastic. And of course the Duck le Orange was fantastic.

After a big sleep in, we woke to a very average day on Sunday - showers, windy and cold. But we decided to head out for a while and made our way to the Eiffel Tower in an attempt to finally get up it. Yet as we reached the Tower a massive storm rolled through with very strong winds blowing the heavy rain sideways. And it was cold. The umbrellas folding inside out. We found shelter next to a info station and waited it out. The lines for the Tower dispersed and I would not have wanted to be up the Tower itself during this. Unfortunately as the storm passed - we decided we had to cancel our plans to go up, as we were soaked and very cold - and it looked like more storms heading our way. Once again my efforts to make it up the Eiffel Tower were ruined.

So with the weather settling in, we had a very easy Sunday afternoon and night in.

The worst part of all was that we had to be up at 4am to make the first Eurostar back to London in time for work. Never fun - especially in the pouring rain.

But even though the weather was against us - we once again enjoyed our time in Paris. Hopefully we will make it there again.

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Photos

Notre Dame
Still got the Xmas tree up