After reading disappointing reviews about the hotel online, we were pleasantly surprised upon arrival. The rooms were newly refurbished with shabby chic furniture. After briefly unpacking we met downstairs in the hotel salon and were walked up to the Sacré-cœur. The view from outside was stunning to say the least. The church's outside was beautifully structured and detailed with sculptures and text, however the inside was just as or more stunning. The ceiling was plastered with gorgeous paintings with pillars and objects dripped in gold.
Once viewing the Sacré-cœur, we walked around to the Artist's Square, which was covered in French painters and sketchers looking for work. We walked to the fabric shops which were covered floor to ceiling with drapes and rolls of fabric. We then made our way back to the hotel, walking past the stunning, vibrant red Moulin Rouge. We found a reasonably priced take-away and brought dinner back to our hotel rooms.
When waking on the second day after a well needed sleep, me and Laura used the shower for the first time (which was amazing by the way) and got ourselves ready for the day. Unfortunately we did not make it to breakfast in time, but met with the others in the hotel Salon for 9:30am. We walked to our nearest metro station; Brochant and travelled line 13 to Champs Elysées Clemenceau where we changed lines to reach Concorde. Once leaving the station, we started our 'Fashion Walk' passing and visiting shops such as Chanel, Prada, Collect and Dior. We also visited the La Madeleine, which was stunning from outside and even more beautiful inside. We then walked through the Tuileries Garden up to the Louvre and got lunch before making a trip across Paris to another museum to attend a fashion exhibition, 'Fashion Mix'.
Later that evening we took a coach trip around Paris, past the Arc De Triomphe, Notre Dame, Musee du Lourve and parked up at the Eiffel Tower to take photos and have a walk around. It was purely perfect timing to stop at the Eiffel Tower when we did, with around 10 minutes to go before it hit the hour - On the hour, for around 5-10 minutes, the tower itself lights up, head to toe for all to see from practically any end of Paris. I got some amazing photographs, videos and even selfies! After the coach tour, the majority of the group stopped off and went out for a meal, me, Laura and a few other people continued on to the hotel. Bored and unhungry, me, Laura, and our new friends, Faye, Charlotte, Shannon and Helen walked around in the hopes of finding an off liscence to purchase some wine. After over an hour of looking and giving up, we found a little shop full to the door of alcohol, right next to the hotel - how frustrating, right? We headed up to Faye and Charlotte's room where we had a midnight feast with wine, sweets and crisps whilst having song and dance battles to the likes of Destiny's Child and Notorious B.I.G.
Unfortunately Laura and Helen weren't able to make it to Premier Vision the next day due to a slight case of alcohol poisoning, haha. The building it was held in reminded me of the Edexel building in London and was filled from wall to wall with fabric, garments, accessories and more. It was extremely exciting, and if I was more aware of what the place was about previously, I would have payed much more attention inside. This visit would have been extremely useful if I was in my 3rd year of the course and was looking to purchasing my own material etc. We then took the coach back to the hotel and waited for the rest of the group to return from the Sonia Delauney exhibition. As it was our last night in Paris us girls all decided to go for a meal in a restaurant within walking distance of the hotel, weirdly enough we didn't explore the interesting French food, and all of us decided on Lasagne, which was incredibly filling and delicious. As per, we walked to a supermarket/ off liscence and purchased more wine and wandered back to our hotel rooms where we watched a rather drunken Jake and Joe perform dance moves and more.
The next day we had free will to rome around Paris with our leftover Metropolitan tickets, so me and Laura ventured back to the beautiful Tuileries Garden, making a similar route to the day before and found some 'tacky' souveneer shops that we practically bought out with the remainders of our Euros. Starving and beginning to get a little bored, we stumbled on a restraunt down the aisle of souveneer shops where they sold French food - FINALLY! I could devour a Croque Monsuier (One of my all time favourite dishes) After a filling meal, we rode the Metro back to the hotel and boarded the coach for the journey home.
I took many pictures during the trip on my camera (Nikon D3100) which I have uploaded here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskaT3ovd Feel free to browse through them.
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