The Little Londonist: Parisian Adventures: Day 1

When the clock struck midnight on 31^st December 2013 after sipping what felt like a gallon of the bubbles- I made myself a promise. Alongside the standard eat healthier, attempt the adventurous and be better – a quick trip jet setter was next on the list.

As the year drew to a close for 2013, I threw caution to the wind and decided to take a quick hop, skip and an elegant pirouette across the pond to meander the winter streets of Paris while sipping chocolat chaud and being very Parisian- naturally as you can imagine only one of those things were achieved.

Having frequently visited Paris during the winter months I knew what to expect. I usually end up absolutely drenched with rain, freezing my tail off with a mild version of frost bite. But I was pleasantly surprised...

Bounds of winter sun rushed in through our window, which only made my excitement to drop our bags and scurry out onto the streets even greater.

I stayed at the Mon Hotel Paris located on Rue d'Argentine mostly because it’s only a stone’s throw away from The Arc de Triomphe and The Champs-Élysées [easier with the shopping bags]

but I ended up being seriously impressed by the place.

The staff were beyond amazing & went out of their way to ensure that we were comfortable and nothing was too much trouble. And the breakfast

Oh the breakfast.

But more about that later.

The Christmas markets on the Champs-Élysées were in full swing.

Framing a colossal sized ice-rink outside of the Eiffel Tower.

Markets tantalized passers with the aroma of roasted chestnuts, delicious food

and fresh Nutella douzed brioche buns...

Naughty.

Grabbing two tumblers of Vin Chaud [mulled wine for my Londonists] we began to meander the streets of Paris with no real destination in mind but Paris does that to you- you can walk for hours and discover beautiful buildings or picturesque sites at every corner.

Paris in winter is truly beautiful- the streets are lined with wooden festive huts, a large santa sleigh hangs over the Avenue des Champs-Élysées and if you time it right- fake snow falls and gives you that tingly Christmassy feeling.

We meandered on down to the Grand Palais

The Eiffel Tower

Truly the most Romantic City in the world.

And aimlessly continued down the river banks of The Seine.

8 hours and 1 generous glass of Vin Chaud later- our stomachs began to growl. So we jumped in a cab and headed to the Champs-Élysées for lunch at Laduree.

Fast forward a few hours and we were scrubbed up clean ready for The Moulin Rouge.

Fur is mandatory for a night at The Moulin Rouge- so I hear.

A fanfare of elaborate costumes, extravagant routines and lots of boobies- to say there were a significant amount of men scraping their jaws off the flaw at the final curtain call would be an understatement.

Unfortunately cameras aren't allowed into the Moulin Rouge, but I snuck a few cheeky one's in for you...