Paris - Day 1

Despite only a 1 hour 50 minute flight from Prague to Paris it ends up being a long travel day. Breakfast at the hotel then out the door. A 12pm flight but we don't end up at our Paris hotel in the 17th arrondissement until about 4pm.

We check-in, freshen up and hit the streets looking for an early dinner. It feels very "local" around our neck of the woods, being out on the edge of the main ring of Paris. The first place we step into looks authentic, but the kitchen is not open until later. We have a glass of wine and get a plan together. First interactions with the Parisians have been very good, despite all the warnings.

We aim for another place not too far away, going past a street market along the way. We are already very impressed by the beauty of the city. The architecture is stunning, and these are just "normal" apartments. Once again we see how well mid-rise buildings can be done. Very classy.

We arrive and immediately spot the restaurant dog, a beautiful big golden retriever named Pastel, soon to become our best mate for the evening. The staffs' English is a bit shakey, and obviously our French is horrendous, but we have a great time ordering and chatting a bit. Its not too busy because its quite early and they all seem in very good spirits on this fine Friday evening.

The owner of the restaurant seems to know everyone who walks past and is chatting with them all with a big grin on his face. It seems like a very local spot here, and he probably does know most of the faces as they walk by his place every day.

The food is good, the wine is fine, the setting is perfect and we have a great first Paris food experience. Pastel turns it from an 8/10 to a 10/10, for sure. Maybe he could tell we are missing Simzy (and Sandy...).

Onwards we go towards the Arc de Triomphe which about 25 minutes walk away. We are in no hurry though. So we are taking it all in as we go. The queues aren't too bad and we are soon at the top, greeted by the full 360 views as the sun is setting. Its a perfect welcome to Paris so far.

We love how all of the avenues fan out from the Arc de Triomphe round-about. A great example of clever urban planning. The avenues are wide and tree-lined. The buildings are all of a similar era and style. Its very classy and gives the city a grand feeling.

A similar distance away is the Eiffel Tower. We walk down Champs-Élysées for a while on our way. Quite a gear change from Prague. Even though most of the shops are closed, we get it.

We keep heading towards the Eiffel Tower, taking many photos as we go. It's lit up now and looking very pretty. There are hawkers around selling cheap beers and bottles of wine, along with the usual tacky souvenirs and fake football shirts.

We park up and wait for the oncoming light show at 11pm, people watching and taking it all in. Everyone has a smile on their face. The party boats are in full swing as they loop up and down the river. The light show goes for 5 minutes, again, lots of photos and videos which of course will look terrible.

The traffic looks chaotic and we haven't fully figured out the public transport ticketing situation yet, but we manage to get a couple of single trips, jump on a bus and we are back home and ready for bed. Looks like we might finally make it onto the late schedule, which is probably needed for this city.