Hey, you! 🤗
I am finally ready to start writing all about our recent Paris trip. So, let's begin with the first day. By the way, click here if you haven't read our last post and you want to know our itinerary.
First things first, before any trip, we have to bring our little fur baby to his sitter. I know people who like to bring their pets on their trip, but I feel like he would be more stressed than anything. The idea of leaving him in a hotel room just doesn't seem like a good idea to me. He likes his sitter and whenever he comes home, he is super behaved and nice. 😇 😇
What a funny baby.
We decided to take the train to go to Paris. It only takes around 1 hour 30 minutes to go to Paris from Metz. So convenient!
💡By the way, did you know that the Metz Train Station was voted Most Beautiful Train Station in France for the 3rd consecutive year? That's right!
I had the Iced Brown Sugar Shake Espresso (with oat milk) from Starbucks.
It was sooooo good!
We took the OuiGo which is a French low-cost service of both conventional and high-speed train. It is an independent subsidiary of the French national rail company SNCF. The prices are very affordable!
The French government decided to drop the wearing of mask indoors, except in public transport, and the obligation of presenting a vaccine pass. So here we are with our masks. 😷😷
You know you're in Paris when you have to buy metro tickets! Admittedly, I thought we would take the metro and walk around the city, but we ended up taking Uber and walking a lot. Blame it on the Covid, I guess.
For our first night, we stayed at The Playce Hotel by HappyCulture (click here) in the 18th arrondissement. The next post will be dedicated to our stay here. Stay tuned for it. 😀
After checking in and leaving our things in our room, we immediately went out to start exploring the Montmartre area.
The first place we visited was the Halle Saint-Pierre (click here), which is home to a café, bookstore, art gallery, and museum. I would have loved to get coffee at the café, but we had just had coffee at the hotel before leaving. We really loved browsing the books and I really regret not buying one of their cards! I always do this - want to get something, stop myself from buying it, and then regret once I'm back home. 😑
Le Sacré-Coeur or the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris (click here) is always high in our list of places to go. Perched on a hill to the north of Paris, the Basilica overlooks the city of light.
We took the funicular, which is like a cable car, to go up the hill of the Sacré-Coeur. It costs a Metro ticket (1.90€ for a ride). 💡Remember to wear good shoes when you visit the Sacré-Coeur.
The basilica is as beautiful inside as outside! 😍😍
St. Therese de Lisieux 🙏🏻🙏🏻
After saying our prayers and lighting a candle, we like to sit on the stairs in front of the church and contemplate life. Sometimes if we're lucky, there is a street performer.
Like today 😁
S, my 13-year old daughter, had a wonderful time. She regretted not making space in her phone before leaving for Metz. I know I say this every year, but gosh, I can't believe she's going to be 14 this year.
We just walked the streets of Montmartre which is popularly known for its artistic history.
❤️❤️
Our first dinner in Paris was at l'Atelier Durum (click here).
Today was a day of first. 😊
I found this place on social media and I just knew I had to include it in our Paris plans. If you want to enjoy Durum, a Turkish speciality then you gotta come here. Everything is homemade starting from the flatbread to the meat marinating in spices directly imported from Turkey. Each durum is filled with meat of choice - there’s also the vegetarian option, salad, fresh vegetables and herbs. I had the lamb durum while the Husband and S had the chicken. This isn’t drenched In a sauce so you can really appreciate the flavours of the grilled tender meat and the freshness of the vegetables. And the cherry of top of this amazing experience is definitely the Kunefe. We discovered this dessert thanks to my sister in law in Qatar. This was as excellent and exquisite as I remembered it to be. And lastly, I just wanted to give a special mention to the people working here who were ever-smiling and very friendly!
We did something out of character that night. Because we had early dinner, we were a bit hungry later that evening so we had food delivery from Street Bangkok - Roast Club (click here). We shared an order of Le Mix, which is composed of their rotisserie specialty - glazed pork, glazed duck, and crispy pork. The crispy pork was fantastic! And and and ... they also offer Chicken Inasal, which is a Filipino specialty. It took so much for me not to order this as well, but I had to be reasonable.
It's time to rest - tomorrow is going to be another wonderful day!
Good night! 😘😘
xoxo Elodie