Paris a.k.a the most spontaneous trip I've ever been on. (The excessive use of brackets will be making an appearance once again. You have been warned.)
One evening myself and two friends were moaning about uni work, complaining about Manchester's weather and craving some adventure when we decided we'd just go somewhere in the Easter break! (I feel like we were baking and eating chocolate and tabasco sauce cupcakes at the time too, which just exemplifies our adventurousness really.) Kathryn knew a person who knew some people who knew a guy who knew someone (it was really just one super cool guy called Simon) who worked in some connection with Eurostar so we were able to get free train tickets to Paris!! Such a blessing to our trip. We roped in two more of our friends from church and our mini break (a mini break means true love) to Paris was all systems go. Vive la vie bohème! (This is the only French I know. I love RENT.)
We stayed in a hostel in an area of Paris called Rebublique which was by a canal and as we walked from the station to the hostel there were loads of people sitting, drinking and eating by the canal which was pretty cool. On our first day we pretty much did a whirlwind tour of Paris by foot. It was pretty tiring but so much fun! Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower (classic tourist) which we climbed, admired the views and took photos of for quite some time.
As we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe, we passed the Paris marathon upon which Becki decided it was her life goal to run that race. I'm totally behind her on that one. Unfortunately the Arc do Triomphe was having some works done so we didn't see it in it's full glory, but after walking around the roundabout for flipping ages we finally figured out how to get over to the Arc up close and it was great.
We took a walk down Champs Élysées, stopped for food (I had brioche) and headed to the Louvre which was a really nice walk. Despite our main reasoning for visiting the Louvre being for use of the toilets, we stopped off to see the Mona Lisa and to take in some more arty-type-culture before deciding that yes we did have enough energy to walk to the Notre Dame. Which is a beautiful cathedral, although I am still unsure of what I think about paying to light a candle to say a prayer/making religion so touristy. But like I said it was very beautiful, inside and out.
When our feet had pretty much walked off our bodies we headed back to the hostel for a nap, waited for it to get dark before we took the metro to see the Eiffel Tower at night (classic tourist). This was probably my favourite part of the trip, it was SO COOL. I had a macaron for the first time (best thing ever). And at 11pm the tower started sparkling.
My macaron adventures did not stop there though (those things are excellent!). I'll let these pictures take you on a journey of wishing you had a macaron as good as this.
Excellent. Much more fun was had on this trip and I honestly had such a good time; I am très thankful to have these guys in my life! #selfies #wheninparis #wehavethoseinengland #cosimhappy
Oh, and we also got filmed for a French advert but more on that later (I'm famous in France!! Basically.).
Bethan xxx
