After visiting the Eiffel Tower by night, we started our first full day in Paris with early morning views of the tower from the Trocadero.
For breakfast, we went out in search of pastries and found them at La Patisserie Cyril Lignac, where I tried the pain au chocolat and kouign-amann. So good!
Cruising along the Seine
Our next planned activity was a river cruise along the Seine with Bateaux Mouches. This company offers several tours, including lunch and dinner cruises, but we kept it simple and just chose the basic sightseeing option.
We boarded the big boat and grabbed seats on the deck, and embarked on a one hour cruise down the River Seine to see a few of the city’s major architectural landmarks.
Strolling along the Champs-Élysées
After disembarking from the cruise, we decided to walk back to our hotel and explore along the way. We wandered through the 8th arrondissement, first passing by the public park and garden promenade Cours-La-Reine.
We stopped at a whisky shop for Mr. Chuckles to look around, and then grabbed a small takeaway lunch at a cafe and ate it at a parkette. Along the way, we saw the exterior of Petit Palais, an art museum that was originally built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle and now houses the City of Paris Museum of Fine Arts.
Finally, we made our way to the Champs-Élysées and took a photo op by the Arc de Triomphe.
We stopped in at Pierre Hermé to pick up some macarons and then I captured some more street views as we approached our hotel.
An evening in Montmartre
We spent the afternoon lounging at the hotel and in the evening went out to Montmartre for dinner. Named for the large hill in the northern 18th arrondissement, Montmartre is a charming historical neighbourhood that I wish we had explored in more depth during our time in Paris. Our dinner at La Mascotte was amazing and portions were huge.
We didn’t get the chance to walk around afterward as we had tickets for the Moulin Rouge cabaret at 9 pm. Although very touristy, the show was quite entertaining and in my opinion was worth seeing as first time visitors to Paris.
Our late night out left us tired and ready for a good sleep in preparation for our following day in Paris, when we would take a day trip to visit Versailles. More on that next!
I've Bean Travelling 
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