I intended on writing this post for quite some time, stumbling on my pictures again I felt compelled to get to it and finally write and show a snippet from my travels. At the end of December 2016 I was lucky enough to take my first trip to Paris, France. My first venture into the country, long overdue but worth the wait.

Paris as a city is in many ways can be seen as a mimicry of London with evidence of the two neighbouring nations inspiring and attempting to out do one another since times long gone by.

Areas of deep urban greyness and modern towers of glass give way to large sprawling parks and green spaces. Areas of classical architecture kept immaculate and wholly intact. These buildings are in a style similar to those which would be found at Horse Guards Parade and the Houses of Parliament, these can be found across the mid section of the city following The River Seine.

Many iconic and must see locations can be found here including The Louvre. A must see for anyone traveling to the city. Housing a vast collection of art, sculptures, paintings, artefacts and preserved Napoleonic interior decor. You could easily spend a day here and still fail to see it all.

(tip: most of the other pieces here are much more inspiring than the Mona Lisa. It’s small with protective glass and surrounded by a wall of tourists save it till last!)

A brisk walk from the louvre sits an island in the middle of the river, densely packed with buildings but hiding another of Paris’ famous monuments. On this island Notre Dame cathedral can be found with is large intricate windows and expert masonry work, it really is an inspiring building. The interior is just as decorative as the exterior and is mostly dimly lit with the large patterned stain glass windows casting a mystical purple light.

And finally to round off this post, you guessed it! No trip to paris would be complete without visiting that giant iconic pylon adorned with more lights than a pine tree in December, The Eiffel Tower.

Set in the middle of a large park close to the river the eiffel tower is an interesting structure. Very industrial in material qualities but with a style that doesn’t look out of place with the older parisian buildings. During December the tower had a sparkle effect which happened every hour, I’m not sure if this happens all year round but its a nice sight and the tower in general is a good marker to work out whereabouts you are in the vast city. (The Metro may have iconic signs but half of the stations don’t allow you to buy tickets in the evening when the ticket offices are closed! We spent a good hour one evening heading back from the Champs-Élysées xmas market using the Eiffel tower as a navigating point.)