Episode 13 · Cookie’s First Holiday Abroad

This post contains affiliate links. If you book or buy through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

We arrived in Paris quite late, after a genuinely intense day on the Champagne Route. Our first night was not really an evening of sightseeing, it was an evening of getting our bearings around Bercy Village, our base for the next three nights, and eating, because by that point we were completely famished.

Why Paris Is the City It Is

Paris has been a seat of power for well over a thousand years, and it shows. Much of the city centre you actually walk through today – wide boulevards, uniform cream stone facades, tree-lined avenues – is not medieval at all. It is largely a 19th century creation, the result of Baron Haussmann’s sweeping renovation of Paris under Napoleon III from the 1850s onwards, which flattened much of the old, cramped medieval city in favour of the grand, ordered Paris most people picture today.

You will often hear Paris called the City of Love, though honestly, the true origin of that nickname is disputed. Some accounts trace it to Belle Époque era romantic literature and art, others to Paris’s long association with courtship since the Middle Ages. Take your pick. What is certain is that between the architecture, the riverside walks and centuries of paintings, films and songs set here, the reputation has stuck regardless of where it actually began.

And then there is the food. Paris runs on its boulangeries and pâtisseries – and rightly so – fresh baguettes, buttery croissants, pain au chocolat, delicate macarons (a different style to the almond version we saw back in Nancy) and éclairs are genuinely everywhere, often within a two minute walk of wherever you happen to be standing.

Day One: Notre-Dame to the Eiffel Tower

We went to Notre-Dame first. The cathedral suffered a devastating fire in April 2019 that toppled its spire and destroyed most of the wooden roof, and it only reopened to the public in December 2024 after a five year, roughly €700 million restoration funded by donations from over 150 countries. We only saw it from the outside on this trip, but even from the square in front, the scale of what was rebuilt is obvious.

From Notre-Dame we walked to the Louvre. Long before it was the world’s most visited museum, it started life in 1190 as a medieval fortress, then became a royal palace once the Kings of France moved in, until Louis XIV relocated the whole court to Versailles. Today it holds around 35,000 works of art behind that unmistakable glass pyramid, though we did not go inside this time, we admired it from the courtyard instead.

From the Louvre we carried on through the Jardins des Tuileries, heading for Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris and the site of some genuinely dark history. It was here, during the French Revolution, that Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were guillotined, before the square was renamed Concorde – meaning harmony – in an attempt to move on from it all. Unfortunately for us it was under construction when we visited, part of an ongoing multi year renovation project, so we did not linger and instead carried on towards the Champs-Élysées.

The Champs-Élysées runs for almost two kilometres up to the Arc de Triomphe, and it did not disappoint. The arch itself was commissioned by Napoleon after his victory at Austerlitz in 1806, though it took thirty years to actually finish, finally opening in 1836. We stopped for food along the way, properly needed it by that point, before carrying on.

Notre-Dame, freshly restored after the 2019 fire

Us in front of Notre-Dame

Cookie at the Louvre courtyard

The Louvre’s glass pyramid

The Arc de Triomphe, at the top of the Champs-Élysées

The Grand Palais

Pont Alexandre III, on the way towards the Eiffel Tower

From there we walked towards the Eiffel Tower, then made our way back to Bercy Village for the evening. A proper amount of walking for one day, and a good introduction to the city’s big outdoor landmarks.

Day Two: Montmartre and a Second Look at the Tower

We left the hotel really late on day two, because it was unbearably hot and we did not want Cookie to be uncomfortable in it. Our plan had been outdoor landmarks on day one and indoor museums on day two, but by the time it was cool enough to leave, around 4pm, there was no realistic chance of making entry times for much of anything, so day two stayed an outdoor day too.

We went up to Montmartre, to see Sacré-Cœur and Moulin Rouge. The basilica itself has a striking history, it was built between 1875 and 1914 as an act of national penance after the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune, funded entirely by public donations, and its white stone actually bleaches whiter with rain exposure, which is why it still looks so bright over a century later.

Cookie in front of Sacré-Cœur

Sacré-Cœur, still striking despite the crowds

The Moulin Rouge

We stopped at Galeries Lafayette, mostly for the famous glass dome rather than the shopping (we did not buy anything), and later at the far quieter Galeries Vivienne, a beautifully preserved 19th century covered passage that felt like a different city entirely compared to Montmartre.

Galeries Vivienne, a quiet 19th century covered passage

We ended the day back at the Eiffel Tower to see it light up at sunset by the Seine. We did not go up it and we did not take a Seine cruise either, we were happy just watching it from ground level.

Cookie near the tower

The Eiffel Tower lit up as the sun went down

Cookie by the Seine

We had food back in Bercy Village both nights, a proper end to two very long, very hot days of walking.

Where to Stay in Paris

What We’d Book If We Did Not Have Cookie

Travelling with a dog rules a few things out. Here is what we would have booked if it had just been the two of us.

Day Trips We’d Book With More Time

Château de Pierrefonds is also within day trip distance of Paris, though since we already visited it on our way through, you can read all about that stop (and why we would recommend arriving earlier than we did) in our Champagne Route post.