an unforgettable weekend in paris

sooooooooooo... today i want to tell you guys all about our wonderful weekend in paris.

we flew out of manchester and into charles de gaulle on saturday morning. the flight was only an hour and all the cabin crew were all sexy french guys! we stayed at the fantastic hotel bellechasse, which is a little boutique hotel right behind the musee d'orsay. the rooms are insanely cool, each one designed by christian lacroix. ours was in the rafters so we had a sky light above the bed and a crazy papered wall.

we headed off for a stroll along the seine towards notre dame, but soon the sky clouded over and our walk turned into a huddle under the brolly, and jumping between shop awnings for shelter. as we arrived at notre dame, the sky cleared up and the sun came out. we spent an hour taking silly pictures before heading back to the hotel for a nap.

my fella had booked us into restaurant du palais royal for dinner. the food was lovely and the service was great (despite some less favourable reviews i had read on trip advisor). towards the end of the meal he pulled the ring out of his pocket and made me an offer i couldn't refuse. after i recovered from the shock, (and said yes, of course) on we went to the hemingway bar at the ritz pairs, where the champagne was already on ice. talk about swish! there were so many mirrors in the bathroom i thought i may never find my way out. by 1 in the morning, the far side of a bottle of wine, a bottle of champagne and a selection of cocktails (some of which i spilt all down me - doh!) we staggered back to our hotel.

the original plan for sunday was to spend the day at versailles, but with the impromptu late night and drinks overload, it was late morning before we finally set off. we wandered down rue royale for some breakfast and picked up a couple of boxes of macaroons to bring home from laduree. then we hopped on a train to versailles.

versailles is one of my favourite places in the world. i went and explored the whole place a few years ago and couldn't wait to go back. as we were running low on time this time, we headed straight through the amazing gardens to the petite trianon and it's own gardens, as they were designed by marie antoinette. i find this whole place just magical. my favourite being the not so miniature village, where the young queen would play pretend at being a country milkmaid.

that evening we went to a tiny little pizza place on a back street i could never find again. walking back to the hotel, we were standing on a bridge over the seine, just as the lights began to twinkle on the eiffel tower in the distance. at that moment i felt ever so happy. happy to be in paris, to be with my fella, to be me.

don't you agree paris is just a little bit magic?

{em} x