Oh La Lost In Paris

As Audrey Hepburn once said, Paris is always a good idea, especially when you grab a few girlfriends and spend a few days exploring the beautiful sights. As much as Paris is usually set as a backdrop for lovers in the movies (Before Sunset being one of my all-time favourite movies and of course who could forget Big going to rescue Carrie from the Russian), I can't imagine my hubby having a great time in Paris. He loves his sports and beer and I love him for that but I think he would get pretty bored wandering the cobblestone streets, strolling into adorable boutiques and spending hours gushing over the quintessential Parisian cafés.

I was lucky enough to spend 5 days in Paris a few years ago with my mom and my aunt, two of my favourite travel partners. This was pre-Mommy and pre-Wifey days and fairly early into my wino days. My mom had a conference in Paris so my aunt and I tagged along. It was one of the greatest trips of my life and gave me one of the greatest life lessons for travelling: get lost.

It's something we didn't intend on doing but rather found out by accident that this was a great way to see the city. As soon as we landed in Paris and got checked into our hotel we immediately hopped in a cab and went to the Eiffel Tower. We spent at least an hour walking around and taking pictures from all angles. It was around lunch time and we were hungry so we started walking trying to find somewhere to eat. We didn't want anything too touristy so we ventured down some side streets until we found a cute little restaurant that only had about 20 tables. I remember the meal wasn't that great (turns out I'm not a huge fan of French food) but I didn't care because we were in Paris. I would've eaten tv dinners all week if I had to, nothing was going to ruin the fact that I was in Paris.

When we left the restaurant we had no idea where we were so we just started walking and walking and walking. It allowed us to see so many great sights that we never would have seen had we stuck strictly to the guidebook and the main touristy areas. We loved venturing through the sleepy neighbourhoods that are typically only frequented by locals and it was much more enjoyable then fighting for sidewalk space with hordes of tourists.

So my biggest tip when visiting Paris is to start your day at one of the big touristy locations because it's important to see all of those but then just start walking and get yourself lost in the city.

Here are some suggestions on tourist locations to start at:

• The Eiffel Tower - An obvious choice.
• The Louvre - Check out the Mona Lisa and the other less popular yet extraordinary artwork.
• Sacré-Coeur Church - See gorgeous views of the city from here.
• Pere Lachaise Cemetery - Visit Jim Morrison's grave where people still leave letters, bottles of booze and other interesting items. Lots of other notable historic people are also buried here.
• Arc de Triomphe - A stunning, iconic landmark. 
• Notre Dame - The architecture is striking and the gargoyles are haunting.

Oh...and be sure to stop off at some cafés along the way for some coffee, espresso, wine and champagne!