A ROMANTIC WEEKEND IN PARIS / UNCRINGEY AND ON A BUDGET

Paris is constantly hailed as the most romantic city on Earth. Couples travel from across the world to spend weekends walking along the Seine and looking over the Parisian rooftops from the top of Montmartre.

I'd kind of dreamed about Italy or Barcelona as a romantic getaway destination but as it turns out, I was about to be surprised by a romantic weekend here nonetheless. My boyfriend and I are long-distance as I'm living in France this year, and our romantic weekend was the first time in six weeks seeing each other. It's a little funny that we're spending time together in a city that other couples actually plan trips to - I guess we just got lucky.

I spent some time thinking of things we could do together - and came up with an assortment of semi-touristy, romantic and cheap things for us to do. We had four full days together, but we did take advantage of lie-ins and lazy evenings watching films. I've put together a travel guide for Paris, what to do if you're looking for a relaxed weekend for two. Head to a metro and buy your carnet (tickets), because there's so much to explore. 

Friday

We started off the weekend heading to my favourite creperie on my favourite street in the Latin Quarter, Rue Mouffetard. I already have a post all about Au P'tit Grec, and it was just as delicious as I remembered. We took our crepes just around the corner to Les Arènes de Lutèce and ate them on a bench in the sunshine looking over at this hidden amphitheatre. 

Les Arènes de Lutèce

We walked a few streets over to the Jardin des Plantes, a park in the 5ème arrondissement with beautiful flowers and an amazing and magical mountain plants garden which is full of mossy rock pools and little bridges. After that, we checked out the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes which is in the garden, and we got to see so many cute animals including this adorable little red panda! The zoo was €9 for a student ticket, and the variety of animals did surprise me - it's much bigger than it looks from the outside. But if you would rather not opt to go in, you can still see some of the animals such as the red panda and the Wallabies from the outside. The Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (natural history museum) is a great place to visit in the park too - and completely free to under 26 year-olds. We went into the big exhibition of evolution which houses models of every animal group, and they're very lifelike. If you're lucky you can even hear some of them make noises too - the museum programs the elephants to trumpet their trunk. 

We headed home for a little rest before deciding to go out and see La Tour Eiffel during golden hour. We sat in the Champ de Mars for a little while, but we found that any benches were sort of underneath trees which basically obscured the view of the Eiffel Tower. So we walked across the Seine to the Trocadéro, where we people watched all of the little photoshoots that were going on (would highly recommend, as this is very funny). 

There is seating galore at the Trocadéro, so we stayed there until dusk and ended up seeing the tower sparkle as it turned 7. The Eiffel Tower lights up when the sun sets, but it only sparkles for the first 5 minutes of the hour, so try and time this well! Also, any dreams of a picture of the sunset behind the Eiffel Tower may not be realised here - the sun actually sets to the right of the tower (in this photo, taken at the Trocadéro), so you'd have to take one from along the Seine at the right angle.

Saturday 

We started our Saturday off with a short bus ride up to the 6è and the Jardin du Luxembourg. If you plan on using the buses here (they're pretty good actually! And quite reliable), buy your tickets at one of the machines in the metro, its €1,90 on the metro machines but €2,00 if you buy them from the bus driver. Or better yet, buy a carnet (block of 10, 20 etc). If you buy a carnet of 10 tickets, one ticket will work out at €1,50.

We hopped off the bus and walked just around the corner for an impressive view of the huge Panthéon, with its beautiful columns and domed roof. Then we made our way across to the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was very busy on such a sunny autumn Saturday. We strolled around the park for a little, went on a little treasure hunt to see the statues, especially the mini Statue of Liberty!

Then we walked up through Odéon and across to the 5ème to find some delicious treats from Aux Merveilleux de Fred, a patisserie shop that I fell in love with in Lille. It was a little out of the way for us to get to, but they have a few locations in Paris so have a look at their website and see if you can fit it into your schedule at another time if you'd rather not walk over. We walked North up to the Ile-de-la-Cité with our little meringue and cream treats and sat by the Notre Dame to est them with a nice view.

In the late afternoon, we took the metro up to the Arc de Triomphe (stop Charles de Gaulle Etoile), and waited in line for our tickets. The tickets are actually free for people in the EU under 26, so we just needed to show our ID which was an unexpected bonus! Be warned - there are a lot of steps to get to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed about 10 floors on a circular staircase which really makes you dizzy - but you can do it! Just get your other half to half carry you up the last little bit...

Sunday 

On Sunday morning we went to discover somewhere I hadn't been to before - La Coulée Verte. Also called the Promenade Plantée, this green path runs for 5km from the Porte de Vincennes to Bastille. For many years this was the only elevated park in the world, the High Line in New York took inspiration from this place. We walked from near the Gare de Lyon to the end of the park near Bastille. This put us in a perfect place to go to the Marché Bastille - my favourite Sunday market in Paris. Do not miss this market if you're in Paris on a Sunday - it's perfect! I have a post about it on the blog already.

The Promenade Plantée looked so beautiful in the autumn

We went back home for a little in the afternoon to relax and spent the evening in the centre of the city where we took a Seine river tour. After doing some research, we settled on Vedettes du Pont Neuf, the tickets are €10 if booked for a certain time online, and €12 for anytime. It's a little more expensive if booked in person, but these tickets were cheaper than any other river cruise company. We braved the top deck, and the timing was just right so we passed the Eiffel Tower just as it began to sparkle which was so romantic. They also said some pretty cool facts about the city, so now I know where they used to have beheadings, and the restaurant which Ratatouille was inspired by - interesting stuff!

To end the night we walked up from the river to Forum Les Halles, an enormous (and amazing) shopping centre. It was Sunday night so it wasn't open, but there is a delicious and really affordable Italian restaurant on Rue Rambuteau called IT Trattoria. The pizzas are thin and authentic and everything is made to order with fresh ingredients. Definitely try a dessert - the salted caramel tiramisu was perfect.

Monday

We knew we wanted some time to relax on the Monday, which would be our last day together. So we had our lie-in (obligatory at this point) and went out to the 9ème to Galeries Lafayette. I wanted to show my boyfriend the fancy interior of the embellished dome - but I wasn't expecting to see a display as I knew they had taken down the Dior hot air balloon. I was so happily surprised to see an enormous Christmas tree there instead! Even if your budget can't stretch to buying anything in Galeries Lafayette (whose can?), this is such an iconic shop and it's so beautiful that it's not worth missing.

Besides the beautiful golden shop, is an equally breath-taking rooftop terrace with panoramic views of everything south of Galeries Lafayette. It's totally free to come up here, just take the escalators to floor 7. You can see the back of the Opéra house right in front of you, and then the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, the Panthéon, Invalides, Grand Palais - there is so much to see from up here. One good thing about Paris is that the rooftops are similar heights so the landmarks stand out a little more. 

We stopped for a drink in the rooftop bar which was an indulgent treat; at the moment they have an Ice Bar with giant ice cube structures that you can sit inside. You can definitely bring your own food and drinks up to the terrace and enjoy the view, but the lovely heaters to relax under and the prospect of seats was too tempting for us to refuse!

After we were back on ground level, we did a little bit of shopping on Boulevard Haussmann - mainly involving me enabling the purchase of a kind of expensive but gorgeous Zara coat. Then we walked around the corner to see the front of the Opéra house; we had been intrigued after looking at the back from the top of Galeries Lafayette. It is gorgeous and so ornate - you can also take tours inside in Palais Garnier if you have a little extra time to spare. 

Besides Gare du Nord for the Eurostar, the Opéra house was the last 'stop' of our weekend together. As I said at the beginning of this post, Paris is renowned for romance, but it would be a mistake to let Instagram photos and fashion bloggers make you self-conscious about not visiting trendy St Germain-de-Près or Ladurée for macarons - it's a weekend for you after all. And I hope this proves that you can mix being a tourist with being relaxed sometimes.