Oh City of Light… the last time we saw each other I was carefree and in my 20s. Mr. P and I had been going out for a little over a year and it was part of a Paris-Venice trip. Friends even laid bet that he was going to propose since it was “such romantic destinations”!
Well he didn’t because he couldn’t. He was married to someone else hah!
Anyhoodle we did plenty of touristy stuff on that trip but the one thing I didn’t get to do was go up the Eiffel Tower (we walked around it and under it but the queue was massive and since we were with his mum, stepdad, friends and kids, we had to skip going up).
I had bought tickets online back in January. Security was a lot tighter than I remembered which is unsurprising with the spat of attacks in Paris in the last couple of years. It is a sad state of the world we live in today.
Back to regular programming… We took a lift to the 2nd level followed by a transfer to another lift and a short flight of stairs to the top. The lift from the 2nd level to the top took about a minute.
We arrived at the top in time to catch the sun setting over Paris.
I had really enjoyed the 50+ hours away from the kids; truth be told I hardly missed them (#badmom)! It’s nice to pop in and out of places and not having to mind little people; to eat when we want and what we want. Most of all holding hands with my husband and kissing him when I want with no interruptions!
Where we stayed:
Since it wasn’t my first trip and I had a limited amount of time for a specific agenda, we picked the 1st arrondissement which includes the Lourve, Place Vendome and very close to public transport. We stayed in the Hotel Royal Saint Honore. While it’s not the Mandarin (which is 260m away), it also doesn’t cost me a pair of louboutin!
The room was a tad small but its location was A+. It was a 5-minute walk to Rue Cambon, 10 minutes to Rue du Faubourg St. Honore, across from Balenciaga, 20 meters from Colette! Not to mention every major fashion house has a boutique within a 10 minute walk or less!
Eiffel Tower:
You can book your Eiffel Tower tickets online 90 days in advance. Ticket costs €17 for lift access through to the top. The timings are in 30 minutes interval starting at 10am through to 5.30pm and one last slot at 8pm. We went with the 8pm which was perfect this time of the year to catch the sunset.
There are also 2 restaurants in the Eiffel Tower. A reservation at 58 Tour Eiffel comes with lift tickets to the 1st floor, you would still need to purchase tickets for access to the top (3rd floor). Le Jules Vernes is on the 2nd floor with it’s own separate lift to the restaurant (you can skip hanging out with the riff raffs haha).
Paris is always a good idea, let’s hope it’s not another 8 years till the next trip!
Modern Nomads 
