earlier this month i spent the weekend in paris for my friend dani’s birthday. one of my favourite cities in the world with six girls?

as audrey hepburn said, paris is always a good idea.

all but one of us had been to paris a number of times before, so rather than lining up for the eiffel tower and spending hours inside the louvre, we were happy to simply stroll around the city, soaking up the atmosphere, sit in sidewalk cafés for hours, eat our weight in cheese, and stop by the occasional tourist attraction for a quick cheesy photo op along the way:

we got in on the eurostar from london on friday night. there was just enough time to find our gorgeous little apartment in les marais, get changed and head out.

the birthday girl had a friend working at a very cool new bar in the 4th called sherry butt. it’s a hidden speakeasy of the experimental cocktail club variety, and he makes a mean pisco champagne cocktail. after two of them, the rest of the night was a bit of a blur, but there is a dim recollection of us leaving a club as the sun came up. this was the only decent shot i got from the whole evening:

we managed to drag ourselves outside around midday, just in time for a hearty brunch to sort out our hangovers. the mild, sunny day that greeted us perked us right up.

we spent saturday happily getting lost among the winding streets, exploring the latin quarter and saint-germain.  i had to snap this guy, casually standing on a corner reading his book. so parisian! 

when it got really hot, we took a break at famed café les deux magots in saint-germain to get refreshed with fruit salad and sorbet. we long outstayed our welcome as we sat in the sunshine people-watching.  

on our way back to the apartment, we passed by the louvre. there’s always time for a selfie…

that night we met up with friends and had a few drinks at a little al fresco bar in les marais which i can’t remember the name of. they made a terrible caipirinha though, so i don’t mind forgetting them. on sunday, most of the shops are closed, so we decided to pick up food from an amazing food market near our apartment and head to the park next to the eiffel tower for a picnic. all being absolute food obsessives, we spent much longer than necessary browsing the goodies… we spent the whole day lying in the park, eating our impressive feast, drinking cheap rosé, sunbathing, laughing, photobombing a high school tour group, and taking endless photos of ourselves.  

and these guys…

and more of ourselves… 

it was such a fun day that we managed to stay far too long, and had to literally run back to the apartment to get our bags, and made the eurostar home with a couple of minutes to spare. the rosé consumption made the whole near-nightmare seem hysterically funny, so we didn’t seem to panic.

happy birthday dani! xxx