Hubbie and I really rather like Paris. We honeymooned there and have been back a few times since. We decided to take Niblet for his first trip at half-term in June.

Warning: photo heavy post coming up.

Having read a ‘Jack Stalwart’ child spy book about someone stealing the Mona Lisa, Niblet wanted to go to the Louvre and see it. That was one of the two things he really wanted to do. The other was to go up the Eiffel Tower.

The day before we got the Eurostar, it was announced that due to the very high levels of the Seine, the Louvre and Musee D’Orsay would both be closing to move their precious artworks to higher floors in case of flooding. The best laid plans……

We did make it to the Eiffel Tower, but this was the sight that greeted us as we walked round from the Metro.

There were silver linings to this cloud; Hubbie has never been to the top of the Eiffel Tower as he is scared of heights, but reasoned that as he wouldn’t be able to see how high up he was, it would be the best time to do it. Niblet agreed with this sentiment; also there was no queue, I mean not a single person waiting.

By the time we had been to the top and seen nothing, been round the first floor, done a quiz and seen a little more, and then made it to the bottom, the queue was fairly big and the top was now visible.

view from the top; view from the bottom by the time we got back down

We had fun, discovered many little playgrounds, ate really nice food, went to the Pompidou Centre, wandered round, took lots of pictures of graffiti, chimneypots & lovely Parisian buildings, went to see the Sacre Coeur, visited a few fabric shops (well, I did).

I had read about Roisin‘s and Karen‘s trips to Paris involving fabric shops, so did a bit of research and found a few that were close to Sacre Coeur, so that I could persuade Hubbie & Niblet that I could have a quick peek. Luckily, at the foot of the gardens in front of the Sacre Coeur there is also another small playground!

I restrained myself, due to the fact that we didn’t have much room for fabric and I keep being reminded how much I already have at home. I bought a 3m coupon of the green pattern that I made my top from for 15 Euro and a metre of lovely, but quite see-through, linen for 8 Euro, which I have used half of to make a quick scarf. Hem the sides, leave the selvedge on, Bob’s your uncle!