Gay Paris!

 

Gorgeous hotel, the Eiffel Tower, beautiful food, and amazing shopping.  Yay Paris!!

We stayed at a wonderful boutique place, Hôtel Opéra Liège, in the Opera District - a 10 minutes walk to the grands magasins on Boulevard Haussmann. We arrived early - well driven by Mike through INSANE Paris traffic, and wonderfully navigated by moi (not) - dropped the bags then headed off. 

This was taken the following morning for breakfast - such a cute little place with yum breakfast, great staff, and a chic but causal feel.  Tres francais.

 

Roses has been busting to see The Eiffel Tower, so off we went. Five km later, we had passed by the Arc de Triomphe, where Roses spent a good 15 minutes watching, laughing and swearing incredulously at the ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLY RIDICULOUS roundabout there.  HILARIOUS.  And add in tourists wanting to jump onto the road for a great pic...well, it was brilliant entertainment.

Oh, by the way, we took the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe, and of course had to peep through the window of Ladurée...

Then onto the Eiffel Tower.  Marvellous Mike took us a way that we just looked up and had the most incredible view...Roses LOVED IT.  There was no disappointment, the views were amazing, and I have to say, it was my most enjoyable time seeing it.  So many tourist pics to take.

Oooooooh.  So cute.

Then it was lunch.  YUM.  Though I have to confess that Mike and I went to a brasserie while Roses and Liss went to a gluten free cafe for lunch, which was well um...I believe...um not that yum.  Bummer.

Mike was really keen to see how Notre Dame was going - so we hopped a taxi, got into the crazy traffic and headed to the site.  It's been 4 years since the big fire, and there were still plenty of tourists to sit and stand to watch the reconstruction happening before our eyes.  There was a musician playing classical violin as we viewed the progress...

And that's enough culture.  Now it's SHOPPING TIME!  We took Roses to Galleries Lafayette to see the most amazing cupola in their women's store.  ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING.  The pic doesn't do it justice, I kept trying to capture it, but gave up.  It is the most beautiful glass stained dome that takes up the middle of the famous department store.

So, shopping.  Galleries Lafayette.  Three buildings - the women's store, the men's store, and the gourmet and house store.  Well.  No words.  I actually couldn't believe what I was seeing with my eyes in the food halls.  Better than Harrods.  God, did I just say that?????  YES I DID.  Again, pics don't do any justice, so I just tried to grab a few.  Bloody hell.  We actually returned the following day for a spot of purchasing and for another good perve.

By the evening, we were totes knackered.  So back to the hotel for some dinner.  We grabbed some indian from up the street, and ate up on the rooftop - we're tellement chic!

Then I went to my room to chill.  And of course update the blog (if you saw my earlier entry)...all this while the three party animals headed out on the town for a night of Eiffel Tower by night - with all the sparkly lights, a tour by Mike the Tour Guide to Montmartre and Sacré Coeur, ending at The Moulin Rouge, then back home...apparently it was TOTES AMAZEBALLS - Roses thought the lights were dazzling!

The next day was sweet and sad.  We spent the morning shopping at Printemps - DIVINE.  We all did some damage to the ol' credit cards.  Then we said goodbye to our hotel, and sadly, goodbye to Liss, who was heading back to London for her flight to Sydney the next day.  There were a few tears, great laughs, and a few more tears and hugs as we said goodbye to the Fab Four.

Bye Liss

But never fear, race fans, the next phase begins...adventures with a new gang of four...four amazing athletes, ready to take on Europe with their fab bikes, lycra shorts, packed panniers, and bucketloads of bonhomie.

BRING ON THE HAMSTER JAMS!!!