MONDAY 16th April...

So on Monday 16th April, I got up at 6am to get ready for the day of travelling ahead. We were getting the Eurostar, so we needed to be in London with plenty of time for security / passport control. After the hour train journey into London, and the various tube stops, we had arrived at St. Pancras Station, and after preparing for the Eurostar (making some M&S snack related purchases), we began queueing to check in/security, etc.

After what felt like a super quick journey on the Eurostar, (which I had actually never been on before - it was very similar to a train journey but the darkness of the tunnel lasted a little longer than your average tunnel...) we had arrived in Paris, and by this time it was about 3pm. As our hotel was only about half an hour away from the Gare du Nord (where we had  arrived), we decided to walk. It was such a lovely day, I had been constantly checking the weather forecast, and BBC Weather had suggested 26 degree heat, and it did not disappoint. We were staying in an area I had been in before, as I recognised the big square and sculpture in the middle of the road, so I knew it was a nice area, there were also 2 different Metro stations less than 5 minutes away from the hotel.

When we arrived to our hotel, which was Le General Hotel for anyone wondering, we checked in and went to put our bags in our room. Our room was really nice, with a nice big double bed and a single bed, as there were 3 of us, we had bath robes, slippers, bottles of water, a lot of L’occatine toiletries, like literally 1 of everything each. I absolutely fell in love with the bathroom too, which had a huge shower and a really photogenic sink/mirror area - the lighting was 10/10. The hotel itself was really nice, with lots of art and very friendly, helpful staff.

So after settling in a bit, we decided to have a little explore of the area on our way to a local Vegan restaurant - Hank Burger, I’m not actually Vegan myself, my friend Leyla and I are both Vegetarian but we had to find Vegan places for the other person we went with. It wasn’t my favourite of all the meals we had, but it was the first one so it was okay - I have decided I am not a fan of Vegan cheese. The original plan for our first evening was actually to go to the Eiffel Tower at night to see the twinkling lights, however we weren’t too keen on the idea of going on the Metro too late at night, as the sun set a lot later than we had first predicted. 

Instead we simply explored the area more, where we found an adorable photoshoot opportunity- a carousel and a candyfloss machine. We then went to our local supermarket (supermarche) Franprix, and bought some French drinks and snacks, and breakfast for the following morning. We also decided to head back to the hotel to get an early night as we had been travelling all morning and we were going to Disneyland the following day (Tuesday).

TUESDAY 17th April...



Tuesday was a full day in Disneyland. So the day started with us leaving the hotel at around 8:30am, as it would take us roughly an hour to get to the park, and we wanted as much time there as possible when it opened at 10am. It was our first experience on the Metro for this trip, and it started off with someone stealing my classic Minnie Mouse Disney ears before we had even stepped foot on the Metro. Other than that, it was a pretty easy journey, we were super cautious though, clutching onto our bags as we knew the reputation of Metros in Paris.

When we got to the actual park itself, we decided to start off in the smaller part of the park - Walt Disney Studios, which was home to my absolute favourite ride - The Hollywood Tower of Terror. We went on this first, and then walked around, took lots of photos, and by this time it was past 12pm, so we headed to the restaurant area and got some food, I chose a super nutritious combination of mozzarella sticks and fries.











After lunch, we decided to go to the main Disney Park - the first thing we did when we got into the park was walk up through Main Street, towards the classic picturesque Disney Castle, where we had a full on photoshoot, taking photos of each other and the most adorable family in matching Disney T-Shirts. 

At this point, it was so hot and as we walked around, exploring and going on various rides, including Thunder Mountain, which was so good and another favourite of mine, it was nearing 5pm and we wanted to get a good place to stand for the Disney Stars Parade. I was standing in Main Street waiting for the parade to start with a Fanta in my hand, in the sheer heat of the sunshine (I think this was the moment I got seriously sunburnt), and it was just a surreal feeling as lame as that sounds. The sunshine makes me so happy honestly, as just being in Paris, in Disneyland, watching a parade with all my childhood memories was just a surreal feeling.

We were staying at Disney until after it closed to watch the Disney Illunimations Firework Display at 10pm, so we got dinner in Disney Village beforehand. With a choice between Planet Hollywood and Anne’s Diner, we went with Planet Hollywood, had some cheeky mocktails, garlic bread, pizza and the most Instagtammable Tobelerone cheesecake in a Mason jar.

As it got near to 8:45pm, we headed back to the main park to get souvenirs and find the perfect place to watch the fireworks and illuminations display in front of the castle. As it got to 10pm, the display began and it was honestly so magical (that’s so cliche), but it was just so beautiful and the music was incredible, I can’t imagine how young children would have felt watching it. It genuinely brought Leyla and I to tears.

To get back to the hotel we decided to get an Uber instead of facing the Metro at like 11:30pm. It took like 40 minutes to get back, and I felt so much safer, I had re-purchased some new Disney ears, and didn’t want to have a rerun of that morning, or even worse. The evening finished off by editing the photos from the day in Disney, which was like 500 photos +, and then sleeping!


WEDNESDAY 18th April...

Wednesday started off with a little brunch at a place called Cloud Cakes, which was another Vegan place we had found, and fitting to its name, it was mainly cake-based, so I chose a peanut butter and chocolate cake, but they had so many to choose from and it was very aesthetically-pleasing inside, (photos below).

After Brunch, we ventured to the Eiffel Tower, and once again, it was a super hot day so before we actually went up it, we sat down in the shade with a cold drink. After chilling in the shade, we headed to the Ticket Office, and Leyla and I got tickets to go up the elevator to the 2nd floor. I’m not exactly terrified of heights, but going up the elevator was actually slightly terrifying, it was very high, especially as we went up the 2nd floor, I can’t imagine going to the very top, it was high enough! 

Once up there, we had a little photoshoot, and it may sound a little TMI, but we had a wee up the Eiffel Tower...bucket list achievement right there. It was nice to just chill up there, as it was such a hot day, and there was a lovely breeze, so we decided to get a macaron and eat it looking out at the view to complete the Parisian moment. It was honestly one of my favourite moments of the 4 days. It was such a beautiful view.

At this point it was getting to late afternoon, and we hadn’t had anything to eat since the cake, which I hadn't finished at brunch. As we also wanted to see the Arc De Triomphe too we decided to find somewhere to eat near the monument. We decided to walk from the Eiffel Tower (our step-take was insane over the 4 days), which took about 20 minutes. By the time we got there, it was so hot and we were really hungry, so we basically just chose somewhere nearby, which happened to be an Italian style Pasta restauarant. The waiters were a little rude to start with, but the food was really nice, and it was simply a re-fuel. After the very odd Lunch/Dinner situation, we walked back to the Arc De Triomphe for some photos. It was quite busy, but we managed to get some nice photos, including being photobombed by the French Police.

After visiting the Arc De Triomphe, we went to get more macaroons from a very sophisticated french patisserie, Leyla and I got three each and decided to eat them outside in the sun. We had a total of 4 macarons that day but when in Paris...it’s got to be done. We then headed back to the hotel, via the Metro this time, which wasn’t so scary during the day, but it was so busy, and some French people noticed we were English and this guy started mocking us which made the journey pretty funny really - he wasn’t being mean..I don’t think.

Overall it was a really nice last full day. When we got back to the hotel, we packed ready for the next day when we were leaving the next afternoon. 

THURSDAY 19th April...

Our last day! We wanted to get up quite early so we could enjoy our last day in Paris to the fullest. We started off by having breakfast in another vegan place called KITCHEN. It specialised in vegan pancakes, but I’m quite fussy with pancakes, and don’t really eat them, so I just had a little brownie. After breakfast, we headed towards the Louvre, where we walked around and took some photos, we saw a couple who looked like they just got married, as they were wearing a suit / fancy dress in like 28 degree humidity, being photographed which was super cute. We then walked to the Tuilleries Gardens which were just a short walk from the Louvre museum, where we walked and then sat down on some deckchairs in the sunshine by a big fountain.

We then continued walking through the gardens, where we came across a Amorino Gelato van, which are well known for doing delicious gelato with a little macaron in the middle. I wasn’t too hungry but I wanted to try some, so I just ordered a small tub of a bit of coconut and a bit of mango, a very tropical yet odd mix I guess, with a little mango macaron on top to fit in with the flavours a little more. 

We sat in the sun, eating our gelato, and I ordered an Uber to Des Cafe de Chats, as we really wanted to go to a cat cafe which was relatively nearby. As we had already decided on where we wanted to eat for lunch and we had just had gelato, we only had drinks there, plus weren’t sure how hygienic it was, as there were literally like 10 cats roaming around. We only saw like 5 as we were sat in the corner, but we were allowed to go up and take photos and stroke them, which was really cute, they were really sweet and one was so affectionate and kept nuzzling my hand.

After having a drink in the Cat Cafe, I then booked another Uber to take us to where we were getting lunch, a place called Le Tricycle, which is known for its vegan hot dogs. We later found out that the 9th arrondisement is actually known as ‘Veggie Town’, and a lot of restaurants are actually suitable for vegans/vegetarians. The Uber getting there was very interesting as he let me use his aux cord, and I just played pure Ariana Grande, he was (badly) singing along, trying to get that good Uber rating clearly.

So when we actually got to Le Tricycle, it was quite small but it was really nice upstairs, we obviously had to try the Vegan hotdogs, which came with crispy onions and a choice of ketchup and mustard - I just went with the ketchup. Oh my. It was so insanely good, I can’t stop thinking about it. Half way through, I got really worried it was actually meat because it was so similar and tasted so good, but online research proved that they are in fact completely vegan. We then explored the area of ‘Veggie Town’, stopping off at supermarkets and various shops to get our final souvenirs, we also bought some macarons for our families. As it was really hot, we decided to cool down and chill in the reception of our hotel - where we had left our luggage in a store room that morning.

And finally to complete our trip, we booked an Uber to get back to the Gare de Nord where we got a Starbucks and got some last souvenirs, before we went through security and passport control, etc. This is where the journey ended, with the 3 hour (ish) Eurostar home and a tube and a train journey home.

This is my longest blogpost ever, so COMMENT BELOW if you made it this far! Thank you for reading! If you want to read some more lifestyle and beauty-related posts from me, then you can sign up to receive an email telling you when I next upload!