Day 1

The Eurostar journey from London only took 2.5 hours and we arrived at Paris Gare du Nord station around 2.00pm.

Jan went to the airport to pick up our rental car, a Citroen C5 Aircross, while the rest of us waited at the train station.

Traffic was horrendous in the city and we eventually got to our apartment in Saint Denis after 5.00pm.

Day 2

We made the best of the beautiful sunshine and went for a sightseeing drive through the streets of Paris – with a stop at Montmartre to visit the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and have our first Crêpe.

Other photo opportunities include the Arc de Triomphe while doing a few laps around it in the car, driving down the Champs-Élysées, seeing the Panthéon and just a quick photo stop at the Eiffel Tower.

Day 3

After some Decathlon shopping in the morning, we headed straight to the Louvre and spent a couple of hours exploring the statues (most of them naked, much to the kids’ amusement), artwork and of course the world famous Mona Lisa.

We soaked in the street vibes at a little funky cafe for a coffee and brownies.

DAY 4

The first cold, cloudy day and Paris, but that didn’t stop us.

Our first stop was at the Notre-Dame and even though it is still closed to the public (since the fire in April 2019), we could walk around and sit outside to admire the French Gothic architecture. We enjoyed a coffee at a lovely cafe on the Île de la Cité.

Next was definitely the highlight of Paris – a trip up to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

We took the stairs (all 674 of them!) to the second floor where we took the lift to the top. The sun came out just as we got to the summit and the views of Paris were just magnificent!

All of us felt another Crêpe was well deserved afterwards at another authentic street cafe.

Next stop: Bordeaux