Holiday Destination: Paris

Paris has always been somewhere I'd love to visit and celebrating my 21st was the ideal excuse to head there for a few nights away. I hadn't looked into the city too much, meaning that our itinerary was quite spontaneous but I had spoken to a few people about their highlights and looked through recommendations, in order to make it the perfect city break. Here's what we got up to during our 3 night French excursion...

WHAT TO DO

Landmarks are always high on my to-do list when visiting a new city and Paris was no exception. Our bus transfer from the airport dropped us at the doorstep of the Eiffel Tower - a great first impression. Later in the week, we also climbed the Tower (when in Paris, right?!) to admire the greatness of the architecture, as well as the incredible views across the city.

We visited all of the landmarks over two days which was a great way to hit everything in one go but in over 30 degree heat, I would definitely choose the metro next time, rather than walking. The first day consisted of the Notre Dame and Ile Saint-Louis, allowing us to explore more of the traditional Paris, mingling with the locals in delicatessens and down the quiet streets.
The following day accounted for Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomphe, The Louvre and Champs-Elysees. We went FULL tourist.

One of my itinerary highlights was the second night of the trip, when we visited Parc de Princes to watch a PSG game. We both love watching football and seeing this was Neymar's first game, we couldn't miss it. The tickets were easy to book and print online and cost us around £35 each for pretty good seats. It was such a fun night and definitely something I would do again, if visiting an iconic European football club.

Eating and culture

I have a real soft spot for French food and always enjoy finding a local patisserie for lunch (and post-dinner pastries!). The cakes in Paris are like no other and just looking at the pastel perfect window displays will tempt you to visit.

We ate at two amazing restaurants while in Paris which I thought I would share with you. On our first night, we headed to a simple restaurant, 'Bistro Chez France', where we indulged in steak, fish, lots of vin and the most sublime apple tart tatin. The restaurant was a short walk from the Eiffel Tower, hidden in the back streets, but seemed very popular with locals and the service was fantastic and personal.

'Le Grand Colbert' finalised our trip in the most spectacular style. The brasserie style restaurant impressed as soon as we entered - the art-deco lighting, mosaic flooring and attention to detail was not to be missed. We had no idea that this restaurant was a setting for the film 'Something's Gotta Give', but luckily, it wasn't tacky with any memorabilia or Jack Nicholson enthusiasts. If you head here, definitely try the classic french onion soup and make sure you save room for pudding - their pavlova is to die for!

Holiday Destination: Prague

I know it's long overdue, but I wanted to share my recent holiday pictures and thoughts with you, this time from Prague.

We flew to Prague at the end of May, after a stressful year at uni and to mark the beginning of summer. Here's what we got up to:

Day 1

We arrived at the Majestic Plaza in Prague to beautiful weather and an urge to explore. After getting ourselves ready, we headed around the corner to find a large shopping centre (Sephora and Topshop - hello!), had a little look around and made our way down the high street towards Wenceslass Square. We had dinner at a pizza parlour in the heart of the square and then made a slow walk towards one of the bars we'd been eyeing up - James Dean's. The bar was our favourite and we ended up back there every night - great music, cheap drinks and a 50's diner theme.

Day 2

We had a lie-in pretty much everyday in Prague - it's such a chilled city, there's no need to rush for anything. We walked down to the Old Town Square where we had ice creams and admired the incredibly detailed buildings, before heading over Charles Bridge en route to the Castle. It was a long walk uphill but it's definitely the one thing you HAVE to do if you're in Prague. The buildings and views are definitely worth it once you get up there!

We had dinner in the Old Town Square at sunset, before exploring Prague's Old Town for bars and pubs. Bugsy's was the last bar we went to and was definitely my favourite, with a 20's London vibe and a long list of cocktails to choose from.

Day 3

On the hottest day of our holiday, we headed south along the river to explore more of Prague. We walked until we got to the dancing building and chilled by the river for a bit before going to crazy golf. Everything is relatively cheap in Prague and for £8 we had unlimited golf, arcade games and 2 drinks each - pretty good! We had such a long walk back to the Old Town so it wasn't too great that we got stuck in the biggest thunderstorm just as we were wandering across Charles Bridge so we spent the rest of the afternoon running back to the hotel and ordering room service for lunch!

Our dinner reservation was at the Buddha Bar in Prague and without a doubt, it was one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. The attention to detail, from the cocktails to the dessert, was exceptional and was definitely worth every penny.

Day 4

We spent the morning wandering over the Charles Bridge to find the John Lennon wall and pub, where we listened to music and looked around the stalls. There's so much to do in the city with history behind every attraction, but it's such a relaxing and chilled place to be.

We had a reservation at Cloud 9 - the sky bar in Prague, and the views over dinner were incredible. The food was lovely, but spent most of our time there making our way down the cocktail menu. After dinner we headed back to James Dean's for the night, which I guess was pretty good, because (judging by the photos) we ended up spending all of our money and partying along with a stag-do...

Day 5

Our last day was an absolute write off. I decided to get that drunk on our last night, I could barely move on our last day. After a loooong walk into town, we sat at a restaurant where I sipped water and admired the view. I had a nap and felt a bit better, so we wandered around a few shops before heading back to the hotel to wait in the lobby. I wish I'd have done it a bit differently and maybe not drank as much, it definitely ruined our last day in such a beautiful city, but we had to spend the last bit of our money somehow!

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Birmingham Break

 This weekend, we had a little pre-holiday mini break to Birmingham. Although we only live about 50 minutes away from the city, we were going to see Krept and Konan on Friday night and thought we might as well make a weekend out of it!

Hotel La Tour was absolutely gorgeous; big rooms, modern technology and right in the middle of everything. I would highly recommend staying there if you find yourself in Birmingham for the weekend!

Friday night was great. We went for a meal and had some cocktails, before heading to The Institute for the gig. I bought the tickets for Ollie's birthday and I'm so glad I did, it made the perfect weekend. Krept and Konan were amazing, their new album is so so good (check it out if you haven't already!), and bringing out Yungen for a couple of songs made it even better.

Shopping on Saturday was as busy as ever. The german market is now up and which was lovely, but we didn't get much time to look around. I saw so much that I'd have loved to buy, but coming up to Christmas I thought it would be better to just hint!! We managed to get quite a few presents and bits for ourselves, before heading back home.

Here's just a few pictures I managed to take over the couple of days: