A Weekend In Paris with O2 Travel

When I was invited to go to Paris for the weekend by O2 I could hardly say no. I love Paris and this trip marks my third time in the city of love. As mentioned in my city essentials packing guide, O2 sent me away for the weekend, packed with my boyfriend on one arm, an itinerary in one hand and a phone with lots of data in the other. This O2 sim was set up with their new travel tariff (£1.99 for data per day in Europe - epic and perfect for an internet lover like myself) and their new travel app, meaning I could find my way around Paris and check Trip Advisor for the best places to eat and drink. This meant that I could continue being the food lover that I am and also meant that I could constantly update my Instagram too (yes, score!) Read on to find out what challenges they sent me on. I really did put the tariff and the app to the test and obviously ate lots of macaroons along the way...

On arrival in Paris, we were picked up from the airport by our own personal driver, he had Elle magazines in the back of the car which immediately excited me. I am an avid Elle magazine reader. He dropped us off at the most gorgeous hotel, the Hotel Du Petit Moulin which is in Le Marais, a ridiculously popular area of Paris with fashion bloggers. I was really excited to be staying there.

Everything about the hotel was perfect...

any room that comes complete with Hermes toiletries is a winner for me.

Before we set off on our first challenge of the day (we were asked to find an exciting flagship store and meet the fashion designer behind the brand), we sat down for some much needed food.

We had croque monsieurs... I kind of felt like I was going to have a heart attack after as they're so fatty and cheesy but I've never tried one before so felt I should do.

After food, we headed to Springsioux to meet the owner and designer, Pierre-Antoine De Myttenaere. We found our way there using the maps on our phone which we were able to use because of the travel data, thank goodness because it was just hidden on a random street. I love using walking maps on my phone, I rely on them so much in England but having them abroad is just the best thing ever. It means you don't miss out on fabulous things around you. 

They had some gorgeous clothes and it was exciting to meet the designer behind some of the collections.

After this we went for a walk and headed to the Notre Dame...

We took some selfies at the Notre Dame and then did some more wandering along the Parisian streets...

Our next challenge was to go to the APC Clothing Surplus store to grab some bargains, we inputted the address into the map on our phone and walked through a gorgeous park on our way there... 

My jumpsuit! I'm not sure why it looks so baggy on the first photo but I love it so much, particularly for travelling as it is so cool and easy to wear. It is inspired by my beautiful best friend Fran, who has one similar. I got it from ASOS here. Some sizes are sold out so you can get the exact same one in a different colour here. New Look also have some nice ones online here too. But if in doubt, similar here (ASOS sale!) and here. Whilst looking for similar ones for you I fell in love with about 100 floral jumpsuits here on Missguided so you may be able to find a cheap version there too! I am obsessed with all things floral at the moment and got lots of compliments when I wore this.

We arrived on the exact street and unfortunately the surplus store in that location no longer exists! It has however been replaced with a full price APC store, it didn't sell women's clothes but we still had a look around.

By this point we'd walked for miles...

but we continued to wander down the streets

Obviously stopping for an ice cream along the way (this was a deliciously creamy mango one)...

It was soon time to get ready for dinner. We decided to head to the top of the Arc De Triomphe before we ate...

This is an old dress from Zara (similar here and here) and my bag is from Missguided, online here - the best £19.99 you will ever spend. Trust me. It's my favourite bag in the world right now. Available in black too... thank me later *runs and buys it in every colour*. 

We headed towards the Eiffel Tower and made sure we stopped off for some food along the way...

I was very impressed when a heart shaped pizza came out...

Jack's was a meaty heart shaped pizza.

We approached the Eiffel pretty quickly... (stopping for a nutella filled crepe before we joined the mammoth queue)

and there it was, in all it's glory. We queued until it was dark, so we got to see the flashing lights on it too, the crowd cheered as the Eiffel Tower sparkled for a few minutes.

After three hours of queueing, by 11.30pm, we were finally up the tower. It was my third time up to the top but I still loved it.

On day two, we were told to find the Pont Alexandre III Bridge, once I saw the view of the Eiffel Tower, I could see why they sent us here, plus, it wasn't too busy either. We made sure we played around with my GoPro and made use of the new stick that I bought for it!

I love my little two piece and my natural tan is still here from my trip to Jamaica yay! 

Top available online here, skirt online here (maybe my favourite Summer two-piece ever?!)

After completing the first challenge at the bridge, we headed towards the Champs Elysee for some much needed retail therapy.

I think this is my favourite bag ever?! It just goes with everything.

Little did we know, that the bridge is super close to the Champs Elysee. Everything in Paris is weirdly closely connected, you've just got to walk around to realise where things are.

My first stop was Guerlain. I've dreamt of owning some Guerlain make up for years and as you'll know if you regularly read my wishlists, the Guerlain Meteorites are at the top of my list. I saved up enough money to treat myself to some from their flagship store. When in Paris, buy Guerlain! 

A few doors up and tadaa, just like magic, we came across my favourite beauty store, Sephora. Poor Jack was dragged around for quite some time.

After a quick morning of shopping, it was time to sit down for some food before our next challenge

We decided to head to Laduree which is probably one of Paris' most famous cafe/restaurants.

It's incredibly expensive but I've never eaten there before so really needed to try it.

The food was nice, maybe not worth the extortionate amount paid - I feel 25 Euros for a sandwich is pretty steep, but it's probably somewhere that I'll eat at just the once and it was worth it for the atmosphere and amazing service alone. The desserts were a different story, more than worth the money.

My plate soon turned into a pink mess...

and with a blink, it was gone.

With full stomachs, we hopped on another quick metro for our final challenge of the day... to meet up with This Is Venice, a famous Parisian nail artist.  Again, we used our phones to find out which metro line we should be on. Having the internet always available on our phone with no worry about cost really came in handy when it came to making sure we were getting on the right metro. It really allowed us to explore and made it easy to find the most obscure of places.

Inside her beautiful nail den, I was so excited to get 'pimped' as she calls it. I asked for a pretty floral design.

First she did my toes...

and then my nails. Look at the result? I was more than impressed. Jack gets top boyfriend points for sitting with me throughout it all, the designs were completely hand painted so it did take a while but well worth the wait! I'd urge anyone to put some time aside and book an appointment with her if visiting Paris. She is insanely talented and such a lovely girl.

We wandered around the area near the salon and fell in love with the shops and the general area...

It's safe to say that we had arrived in shopping heaven. 

As the sun lowered, we decided it was time to wander back to the hotel...

I noticed some of my favourite shops along the way.

We went for a late dinner. I decided to wear my gorgeous new Motel playsuit (and straighten my hair for the first time in ages!)

We saw the cutest restaurant and knew that we had to find a seat inside

We sat down with two big steaks

sipped some French wine

and ended with a creme brûlée to share. It was a deliciously rustic, authentic restaurant. 

 

The next morning was another sunny one, 

Breakfast was delicious, an array of carby croissants and pastries never fails to make me smile. 

 

Our first challenge was to find the Canal St Martin and we decided to walk there using the internet on our phone (using the O2 daily travel tariff). The walking maps made it so easy to find the canal. We came across the cutest padlock bridge on the canal, I only wished that I had a padlock with me so I could add my own onto it.

I thought these pastel coloured shops were the cutest. 

We were challenged to find a famous coffee shop near the canal but unfortunately when we got there it was closed. It's such a shame because we were told such amazing things about it, I'm gonna have to go back and visit it.

After our challenges were completed, we headed to the Sacre Coeur. We tackled the steps and were soon over-looking the whole of Paris...

We just had to grab an ice cream along the way...

All 5 scoops of this were heaven, we're talking cookies and cream, mint, raspberry ripple and more.

We found a quiet place to sit whilst we devoured our creamy delight...

And I took a second to admire my toes... 

We had a little bit of time to kill before our final task of the day. We wanted to head to the Louvre but decided that the queue would be too big and we didn't actually have too much time, instead, we looked around the artists area of the Sacre Coeur. 

Lots of people on my Instagram asked where my trousers are from! I got them from Ebay ages ago unfortunately but you can some very similar ones here for a good price and then these ones on ASOS here are similar too! 

Incase they sell out, there's some more below:

I do think it may just be my favourite outfit ever. It's so easy and comfy to wear when travelling.

Our final challenge was to go to one Europe's biggest and most famous flea markets; Les Puces. I was actually quite scared when we jumped off the tube outside of Paris, a place called Pont Clignancourt. We were the only tourists and it was quite scary but we soon met up with Charlotte, an expert in bargain hunting and the markets who showed us around. I've never been to a flea market before so really didn't know what to expect...

It was mainly antiques in the first section. I'm not really into antiques but I am into interior (I love Pinterest!) so it was cool to see lots of gorgeous chairs and paintings. It was interesting to see how a flea market works, things were quite expensive but it was pretty mesmerising nonetheless. 

We then headed to the fashion section and I lusted over vintage Chanel bags and amazing Chanel shoes. Unfortunately all way out of my budget - I couldn't get many photographs because the shop owners were quite strict about a no-photo policy... I'm not too sure why! Sorry!

So there we have it, I hope you enjoyed seeing what I got up to in Paris! You can watch my vlog below which brings my trip to life a little bit more. I would love it if you could subscribe to my channel because I have lots of exciting things to share on my YouTube in the future! 

 

I had an amazing weekend, it was nice to be sent off the beaten track and to be given an exciting and different itinerary. We were sent to places outside the norm and then we chose to add in a few standard things like the Eiffel Tower. We definitely wouldn't have done it all so efficiently and on time if it wasn't for having data on my phone. It's so good to know that you have paid only £1.99, with no upper limit, for internet use throughout the day abroad. It was so helpful to be able to just switch on the maps on my phone and use them to explore things that I wouldn't have otherwise seen or known how to get to. Having the internet on my phone made a city break so much more relaxing in a way as the phone basically plans all your routes for you and the travel app even tells you the best restaurants to go to. This is a favourite for me going forward! You can find out more on the O2 Travel website here.

Lots of love, Em x

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