Having promised myself that I would not spend another New Year’s eve here in Cyprus I began to wonder where to go and as is the usual practice I begin with checking flight costs. Having checked a few options that didn’t really excite, I plumbed for Paris…….it seriously pays to book early and I figured May was plenty early enough. Andria hadn’t been to Paris before and seeing as though I had a few times I knew she would fall in love with the place so decided it was definitely the right call.

Following some delays and minor airline adventures along the way we reached Paris in the early evening (instead of the planned mid-morning) and found that we needed to navigate, via train, our way to our hotel, wonderfully located in the stunning Montmartre region of Paris which is famed for its rich and diverse nightlife including of course the Moulin Rouge cabaret club and also for its rich history for art and painting…….it also has an abundance of sex shops that many will find rather seedy because…..well…..because it is rather seedy! Never the less as with the majority of Paris it is wonderfully picturesque and you’re never more than a couple of minutes stroll away from something stunning to photograph, be it a centuries-old building or a cute little cobblestoned lane. Having dealt with the train strikes and cabbed the final leg to our accommodation, we finally made it. As with the majority of hotels in Paris that you don’t need to remortgage your home to be able to stay in, ours was very basic, (quite) clean but with no lift and rather noisy wooden stairs especially when others were trying to lug their inappropriately large suitcases up or down the stairs.

Once in our hotel room, it was a quick toilet break and straight back out! We didn’t come to this most beautiful city to sit around in a hotel room. Time to find somewhere to eat. Being around 9 pm we decided to stay local. We walked around for a while and decided to try a cute little bistro called Le Nuit Blanche that was thrumming will the sound of locals enjoying a meal and drinks. It was the perfect French start to our little New Year getaway and I could feel Andria’s excitement building already. Once well-fed it was time for another stroll before we decided that we should get some sleep seeing as though we hadn’t done so for close to 48 hours.

Following a good nights’ sleep (all things said about the hotel, the bed was very comfortable) we headed out to enjoy Paris by day. It was bitterly cold but thankfully dry, so thick socks, coat and scarfed up we hit the streets. Andria, as always, knows where we will be enjoying the majority of our meals as she always researches good places to eat long before we travel anywhere, so we knew straight off the bat where we were heading for breakfast. Soul Kitchen was the chosen destination but unfortunately, due to the Christmas/New Year celebrations they were closed……so All Good Things was the next chosen destination…..well we actually just came across it as we were searching for an alternative…….but seeing that the breakfast pancakes we enjoyed here were so damn delicious, I think we were both quietly pleased that the original option was closed. Here are some of the other great places we enjoyed;

Cafe Cassette – A beautiful little bistro….stunning in fact

Angelina – Possibly the most decadent hot chocolate on the planet

Odette – The Cream Puff capital of the world!!….but patience is required because it’s tiny and can get very very busy

Patisserie la Galette des Moulins – Just a delightful little place for breakfast….or a sweet treat.

The usual sites in Paris such as the Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, the Arc de Triumphe are all very nice but not something I need to describe here as even if you haven’t physically visited them you’re sure to know all about them….so it’ll be photo’s only 😉😃👍

It was then time to celebrate and enjoy the reason we were here…..New Year’s Eve was upon us and the Champs Elysee was the obvious choice as we wanted to see in 2020 with thousands of Parisians and like-minded tourists making as much noise as they could muster……we were not disappointed……

thousands upon thousands packed the streets as we made our way towards Paris’ most famous boulevard. What a wonderful atmosphere?! People from all corners of the globe out to party and seen in a new decade.

Mick.