An Autumn Girl’s Weekend in Paris.

Recently I had yet another girls trip to Paris. I was last there in August with Air France and my friend Phoebe. I blogged quite a bit about that trip, so this time I’m just going to give you a roundup of our weekend (this post), as well as two restaurant reviews; Eggs & Co for Brunch, and Hotel Amour for Dinner.

I swear my calves aren’t as chunky as they look – it’s the boots!!

We got the Eurostar from St Pancras on Friday afternoon, and arrived in Paris ready for dinner. After dropping our stuff at the hotel (I didn’t particularly like it, so won’t be writing about it – let’s just say it definitely wasn’t the star rating it claimed to be), we headed to the Marais area for dinner.

I didn’t take any photos that evening, I just wanted to relax and enjoy some much needed catch up time with my girls. We spent the evening howling with laughter over good food and wine, before heading to Saint-Germain-des-Prés for drinks and dancing with Bella’s French friends!

Day 1


The next morning we went over to my favourite area; Saint-Germain-des-Prés, for the most delicious brunch at Eggs & Co. After polishing off our huge brunch we wandered over to Saint Sulpice, which is without a doubt one of my favourite churches in Paris. It’s so beautiful, and the square it’s on is too cute. There’s a cafe just at the side of Saint Sulpice which does the most amazing croissants and hot chocolate!
After Saint Sulpice we went over to Jardin du Luxembourg, which I hadn’t been to before. It’s a beautiful garden that’s ideal for wandering and photo-taking. It’s also nice and quiet as not many tourists tend to go there.

From there we then walked to Musee D’Orsay, which has been on my list for many years now. I’m a huge Van Gogh fan and have wanted to see Starry Night for so long, it’s usually housed in Musee D’Orsay, but every time I’ve been to Paris before I just haven’t been able to go for numerous reasons. I was determined to finally see it this time, so off we all went. 

Thankfully the queue was fairly short, and we spent hours wandering around the museum soaking up the artwork. 
On our way out we began the search for Van Gogh. We quickly found him…but Starry Night was nowhere to be found! We asked a member of staff and he told us it was on loan to another museum – I was devastated!! 
We walked over to The Louvre so I could console myself with a hot chocolate and giant chocolate eclair at Cafe Marly. We sat inside as we were all pretty cold, and the service was slow and unimpressive, but the hot chocolate and eclair were delish! (we shared the eclair though, it was far too big for one person).
We then walked up through the park and up the Champs Elysees to Sephora and the Arc de Triomphe.

Yes, I also finally got to the top of the Arc de Triomphe! Wooo! 

We headed back to the hotel to get changed for dinner, and Alex wasn’t feeling great so she stayed behind while myself, Bella, and Catherine #2 went to Hotel Amour and had a really incredible dinner. I was super impressed. As a group of young women we didn’t want anything pretentious or white-table-clothed, we wanted somewhere luxurious, but trendy. I’ll tell you more about that in a few days time, because it really was fabulous!

Day 2


The next morning after a late-night drinking liquid nitrogen cocktails in a bar in Montmartre, we woke up late and wandered over to Palais Garnier for breakfast at the famous Cafe de la Paix. 
We were all feeling a little delicate so just had hot chocolate/tea/coffee and pastries. I wasn’t completely enamored by the croissants, they were cold and didn’t taste fresh at all. It made me long for a little backstreet bakery. We sat outside to people-watch, but the inside was absolutely breathtaking and the Sunday brunch looked pretty spectacular! My stunning earrings below are from Mayveda Vintage, a vintage jewellery site who have some gorgeous one off pieces.
We then got the metro to Montmartre and walked towards the Sacre Couer. Catherine #2 and I were desperate to go on the carousel, so we had great fun on it while Bella and Alex watched and laughed at us!

We then walked up the steps to the Sacre Couer, took plenty of photos.

Boots; Dune, Hat: Cotton On, Coat: Michael Kors,
Skirt: Zara, Jumper: Primarni, Bag: Accessorize.

We then walked along the winding backstreets to the ‘Amelie’ Cafe, via La Mere Catherine so myself and Catherine #1 could have our photo in front of it.

Every time I come to Paris I come to the ‘Amelie’ cafe, Cafe des Deux Moulins, they do the most incredible huge salads! This time however, I had the delicious croque monsieur!

Naturally a stop at The Lux Bar across the road for a photo was a must.

We then made our way over to the Notre Dame, and took a boat cruise up and down the river to while away our last hour or two. We passed under my favourite bridge in Paris (and I think most people’s favourite), the Pont Alexandre II.

Vintage earrings are from Mayveda Vintage

Bella and Catherine #2 pretending to be Esmeralda and Quasimodo

We slowly headed back over to our hotel to pick up our luggage and go to Gare du Nord. Our journey home was going really well, until we approached the channel tunnel. The train stopped and we were told we were being held at a red signal. Half an hour later we’re still sitting there, and the announcement comes on that there are refugees/migrants on the tracks. Catherine #2 and Alex both started panicking, with C2 texting her mum that she loves her ‘just in case’. We were sat there for three hours in the end.

The girls decided to make the most of being stuck and got the bottles of champagne, baguette, boursin, and boxes of macarons out. It was pretty late and I wanted to nap, but it was kinda difficult with the train being stuck on a bend – which meant we were leaning to one side. Cue glasses of champagne sliding across the table and right onto me. Biggest first world problem ever, but being covered in champagne when you’re stuck on a train for goodness knows how long kinda sucks. We eventually got back to Euston at 1am, when we should have been back at 9:30pm!

Despite the slight hiccup on the way back, we had such a fantastic girls weekend in Paris, and I can’t wait to go back in 2016!

Find me: Twitter | Youtube | Facebook | Bloglovin | Pinterest | Google+ | Instagram

Follow:
Catherine Lux
Catherine Lux

Catherine Lux is a veteran travel blogger by night and the Head of SEO at Havas Media Group by day. Originally from Surrey, she spent four years living in Australia (2007-2009, and 2016-2018), and now lives in London. An ex-party girl sometimes prone to relapses, she loves nothing more than sharing her fine dining and luxury travel experiences with her loyal readers.

Find me on: Web | Instagram

Share:

12 Comments

  1. LucyAndTheSky
    November 7, 2015 / 1:44 pm

    Oh goodness, I've never been stuck on a train on a bend before! Worst place for it to stop! I've definitely done Paris all wrong when I've been before, this looks like a great tour! A shame about the hotel but then it's nice to get out and about and if the hotel is too nice then I'm always reluctant to leave! xxx
    Lucy @ La Lingua Italy

  2. Angie SilverSpoon
    November 7, 2015 / 6:57 pm

    Paris is just the perfect girl's trip. OMG I can't believe you found a Lux Bar! There was an Angie's Pub in Florence but that kind of sounds like something out of Eastenders 😉
    Lots of love,
    Angie
    SilverSpoon London

  3. MummyTravels
    November 8, 2015 / 7:43 pm

    Oh what a shame about Starry Night – and the delay! My last trip got delayed going out to Paris (no champagne though, either on me or in my glass) too. But just reading about the delicious food, and the photos of my favourite Paris spots, I'd love to go back soon.

  4. you baby me mummy
    November 8, 2015 / 9:49 pm

    Wow I am so jealous Paris with the girls! It looks like an incredible trip, I want to go now x

  5. Unknown
    November 8, 2015 / 11:41 pm

    The trip looks AMAZING despite your little bump, it's all in the adventure isn't it? The view from the Arc (and literally everything else) looks incredible!
    xx
    Kenzie
    Behindhazeleyes06.blogspot.com

  6. Mudpie Fridays
    November 9, 2015 / 7:14 am

    Sounds like a lovely weekend away I really need to organise something similar with my girlfriends! Sorry you got delayed on the way back but you packed loads in! That chocolate eclair looks very yummy!! xx

  7. Andrea Petersen
    November 9, 2015 / 2:07 pm

    Paris is the perfect quick getaway! Looks like you girls had a lovely time and ate lots of yummy food – your pics are so clear and awesome 🙂 annoying your train was delayed on the way home but I would definitely have cracked in to the old rations and made the most of it too! haha. Lots of love, Andrea xxx

    Andrea's Passions

  8. Cliona Kelliher
    November 9, 2015 / 5:42 pm

    Looks amazing, I love Paris and I've been many times. I went to the Museé D'Orsay for the first time when I was a student and loved it so much. Another great place to visit is the Rodin museum. Your photos are fab!

  9. sany
    November 12, 2015 / 3:08 am

    It was reallly one of the best blog keep sharing

  10. Admin
    November 12, 2015 / 9:50 am

    Wow, it looks totally amazing there, I wish I could go there but will have to wait until the boys are older so we can look around the museums and stuff x

  11. sara
    January 19, 2016 / 10:08 am

    Great blog about travel it was really awesome.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *