New Years Eve In Paris

During the year I decided that I wanted to spend my Christmas days off abroad, rather than the usual lazing at home, gorging on Celebrations. So one sunny day in August, after a few vinos, myself and Dean booked a New Years Eve trip to Paris, thinking it would be the glammest thing ever.

We flew with Aer Lingus and paid about €300 for two return tickets. Once we arrived we had a bit of a confusing trek from Charles de Gaulle airport to our hotel, but with one train and one taxi we were there within an hour or so. The metro system in France is quite complex but with the help of Google Maps you'll figure it out fast enough.

We stayed in a hotel called Hotel Nicolo which was small, cosy (and pricey), but close to the Eiffel Tower. While our room didn't have views of the Eiffel Tower there was fantastic views of it from the main street and you could easily walk to the Eiffel Tower from the hotel.

Our hotel was in a lovely area (16th arrondissement) with plenty of boutiques, cafes and boulangeries nearby, but not a huge selection of restaurants or bars within immediate walking distance of the hotel. Our usual routine was grabbing a coffee and a croissant, walking past the Eiffel Tower and hopping on the metro into the Latin Quarter for the day.

There's plenty to do and see in the Latin Quarter but we just mainly rambled around taking in the sights and popping in somewhere for a drink or a bite to eat. There's any amount of bars and restaurants to choose from, so there's definitely something to suit everyone's taste.

I'm still not sure where the 'city centre' of  Paris is but once you get off the metro at 'Saint Michel Notre Dame' (Latin Quarter) it's similar to O'Connell street and you can go in any direction and find something of interest. In and around this general area is the Luxembourg Gardens, The Lourve and Notre Dame Cathedral. There's also plenty of cafes, restaurants and bars in this area. A few places worth a visit are Thé-ritoires (cosy herbal tea cafe) and Restaurant Le Petit Chatelet (lovely restaurant for dinner).

On New Years Eve we popped into a local off licence, got two bottles of wine corked and headed towards the Eiffel Tower for the night. Luckily the weather was on our side for our al fresco drinking, as every other day had been pretty miserable. While we enjoyed our night drinking wine in front of the Eiffel Tower, nothing really happened at midnight. There was no countdown and once it was 12pm the Eiffel Tower lit up, just as it had done an hour earlier. Whomp whomp.

Unfortunately, I didn't love Paris. I was quite sick while we were there and the weather was miserable. I wouldn't have minded the cold if it was dry, but it was cold and wet and just not the weather you want for exploring a big city! It was also extremely expensive! A lot of places were charging about €9 for a Corona or in and around €7/€8 for a coffee! Now there definitely was cheaper places in quieter areas, but still an expensive city all the same.

Hopefully this hasn't put you off visiting Paris! I'd like to emphasise how sick I was and the weather did not help to boost my spirits! Maybe next time I'll go in the spring!

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