Paris

We started the day with a fantastic buffet breakfast at the hotel (with of course plenty of croissants and pain au chocolates) for much needed fuel for what would be a very busy day!

We walked towards the Effiel Tower, taking in some great views of the tower without too many people in the way. We continued walking along the Seine (passing Musée d'Orsay and some other significant sites). We took in all of the scenery all whilst chatting away with our friends who we hadn’t seen for over 4 months!

We made a pit stop at Notre Dame to see the construction/refurbishment which has been underway for around 3 years since the fire that burnt down the main spire. It is incredible to see the work that is taking place to reconstruct the spire and other parts so they will resemble the original construction. The reconstruction is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

We then crossed the Seine and continued our walk through the main plaza of the Lourve, through the Jardin des Tuileries, past Place de la Concorde, along the Champs Élysées (unfortunately not buying any expensive designer clothes or shoes) and we walked towards the Arc de Triomphe. We had pre-purchased tickets to go up the Arc and so we went up the stairs and saw what we consider to be the best view across Paris - because you can see the contrast between the size of the Effiel Tower and the rest of the city! We enjoyed the view and spent a bit of time up there looking around and seeing where we had walked that day.

We then made our way back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. As Nicky and Alex’s holiday is technically their ‘pre’ honeymoon (their wedding will be in November), we bought them a surprise dinner cruise on the Seine! The cruise started around 6pm and we started on the top deck for a few hours where we enjoyed a few beers and aperol spritzes and we enjoyed seeing the views of the city from the water including many areas we had walked today and of course classic photos of the Eiffel Tower. At around 9pm, we made our way to the bottom deck for our wonderful three course dinner where our boat turned around right near the Eiffel Tower and started returning to our starting point. We and Alex had smoked salmon for our entrée and Nicky had a burrata salad, for mains we all had the veal and for dessert we all had a chocolate mousse tarte. It was all very delicious!!! The sun also set during dinner. We also shared a lovely bottle of red. There was a lovely singer who sang throughout dinner which really set the mood. There was also some surprise entertainment of some can can dancers dressed in red, white and blue with lots of cartwheels and splits as part of their routine! It was such a lovely time and we really enjoyed the cruise together!

After the dinner cruise (and after we had well and truly past 30,000 steps for the day), we were not finished for the day!! As it's La Fête Nationale (Le 14 Juillet / National Day / Bastille Day) tomorrow, there were a few festivities going on around Paris. Since the 1920s/1930s, fire stations around Paris have opened their doors for large "balls" to celebrate the national holiday on the night of the 13th and 14th July (though most fire stations do this on the 13th July). We went to our local fire station (in the suburb of Grenelle) around 11pm after the cruise and it was like a huge rave party!! Everyone was dancing in the large courtyard area with most people holding bottles of champagne and wine! Most of the songs were in English (and many were from the 90s and 00s such as Britney Spears). The DJ was on a large stage and there were lights around. Occasionally, the fire-fighters' hoses were released onto the crowd as well!

We enjoyed a few good boogies before heading back to crash at the hotel for a much needed sleep around 2am.Read more