Our arrival into Paris didn’t go quite to plan as huge thunderstorms meant flight delays and cancelled trains. After almost 9 hours of travel we finally made it from Barcelona to our AirBnb apartment in Montmartre. Luckily our host, Kasia, was lovely and gave us some great recommendations of where to find authentic French food nearby. (If you’re looking for a inexpensive and nice room in Paris then definitely check out Kasia’s place)
We spent the following day cycling around the Paris using the public bicycle scheme Vélib (for € 1.70 you can use the bikes all day, which is exceptional value!) We cycled along the River Seine to the Eiffel Tower for lunch (baguettes and cheese) and then up to the Catacoombes (which were unfortunately closed for restoration), the Latin Quarter and Notre Dame.
Paris isn’t cheap and to some extent we blew our budget, however we did find a couple of gems with the help of Kasia’s recommendations. For €12 you can enjoy an amazing two course lunch at Cèpe et Figue (the rabbit terrine with onion jam is ridiculously good!). Baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolat are good options – and of course cheese! Chez Virginie Fromagerie in Montmartre blew my mind.
A quick trip on the Eurostar landed us in London where we were lucky enough to be able to stay in our friend Panini’s bedroom while she was away at a music festival in Germany (thanks Nini!). First impressions of London were grey, cold and more grey. Luckily we had lots of friends to catch up with! A day of sightseeing was followed by a Mexican feast at Wahaca with Jess, a Kiwi who now lives in London.
Early morning pints were had on Saturday at the Walkabout (one of the trashiest bars I’ve been to) with mates Soph, Jay, Nick and James to watch the All Blacks play France. At midday we stumbled out of the bar and made our way to Portabello Markets in Nottinghill for lunch and an afternoon walk at Hyde Park.
A home cooked Sunday lunch by Doug and paddling down an English canal with him and Nick topped off our London experience.
Chasing the Cheese 