Paris: Antiques, Vespas and Ice-cream

One of my favourite things about living in London is that I get to travel to Europe without spending a fortune. Last weekend my girlfriend Shannon and I took advantage of a Groupon deal and went to Paris for a long weekend, from Sunday to Tuesday.

We arrived by Eurostar (the only way to travel to Paris) on Sunday afternoon, checked into our hotel just off the Champs Élysées and jumped on the Metro to get to the famous Flea Market, officially called Les Puces de Saint-Ouen, but known as Les Puces (The Fleas). I’d heard it was a great place for antiques but wasn’t expecting the eclectic array of random clothes, toys and fake designer goods in stalls that seemed to go on forever. We eventually found the antique section tucked in the middle of Les Puces and spent some time admiring the gorgeous but ridiculously overpriced wares.

antiques and knick-knacks at Les Puces

We went for a delicious dinner (but I’ll tell you more about that in another post – I needed a whole post to talk about all of the amazing food we consumed throughout the weekend) and wandered back to our hotel, past the beautifully lit Arc du Triomphe.

The following morning I woke up early to go for a run – it was stunning to see so many beautiful things in such a short time: Place de la Concorde, Eiffel Tower and Pont Alexandre III to name just a few. We left the hotel in the warm sunshine and wandered towards the Louvre to meet a friend of Shannon’s who lives in Paris. After a nice breakfast of croissants we went for a stroll and took in more Parisian sights.

admiring the Louvre

We strolled along the Seine and ended up on Île Saint-Louis near Notre Dame to try Berthillon ice-cream, which Shannon’s friend Aurelien assured us was delicious…we weren’t disappointed. I tried the Raspberry & Rose (Framboise à la Rose) flavour and it was divine; all the better for being enjoyed on a hot and sunny day with Notre Dame’s steeple as our background!

delicious Berthillon ice-cream flavours

We strolled lazily from there to the Marais, an area of Paris known for its architecture and art galleries. We stopped for a beer (Leffe, of course) and just sat outside the cafe drinking, relaxing, chatting and enjoying the summery day.

Architecture in Le Marais

As we were chatting Aurelien mentioned his Vespa, and somewhere in the conversation he offered to drive me around the Arc du Triomphe on the back of his scooter. I, of course, accepted with glee and so Shannon watched with horror as I jumped behind Aurelien and we vanished into the crazy Parisian traffic. For anyone who hasn’t been to Paris the Arc du Triomphe is, quite frankly, insane! It’s a giant roundabout with 12 roads leading into it, and it appears that road rules just don’t apply as cars, buses and motorbikes hurtle into traffic without looking, braking suddenly in the middle of the roundabout and just generally causing chaos, hence Shannon’s concern.

about to embark on a scooter tour

We started by driving past the Notre Dame, getting stuck in traffic and walking the scooter over a bridge to a quieter street. We then weaved in and out of traffic, barely missing the cars on either side, to Place de la Concorde, up the Champs Élysées, and entered the Arc du Triomphe traffic without so much as a touch of the brakes or a glance at oncoming traffic. After I stopped screaming, Aurelien explained that traffic on the roundabout gives way to traffic entering; I would have appreciated this information before we attempted the death-defying stunt, but I survived and was having a blast!

We then crossed the Seine and drove past the Eiffel Tower, stopping briefly to let Shannon know we were alive and to take a quick picture:

best way to see Paris!

Once we met up with Shannon again I convinced her to go for a quick ride with Aurelien and then we said goodbye to our fabulous tour guide and went for a quick spot of shopping and another mouthwatering dinner. When we got back to our hotel I took a few minutes to perch my camera on a park bench and take some pictures of the beautiful Arc du Triomphe by night:

Paris by night

It was a spectacular day spent in one of my favourite cities in the world…and we still had another day to go!! Have you been to Paris? What is your favourite thing to do there?