If there is one thing that you need to take away from this post, it’s that if you are going to Paris any time soon, you HAVE TO go to Benedict for breakfast. Trust me. You will thank me.

Back in my ‘Oh my, July!’ post I talked about how I was lucky enough to have been treated to a weekend in Paris by Rich as a kind of apology for booking us a football holiday to the euros earlier this year. Which his best mate ended up going on instead of me.

Sleep

We stayed in an Airbnb on Rue Des Rosiers (‘Street of the Rosebushes’) in the utterly charming Le Marais district. The location was superb and the flat was clean, but not very instagrammable. Much to editor Lauren’s despair. However check out the view from our room (see the last slider above). Stepping out onto the street we felt like true Parisians.

There was so much to do in Le Marais that we didn’t need to leave the area. Armed with recommendations from you lovely lot we spent pretty much the whole time meandering around the cobbled streets, discovering hidden courtyards and galleries, and shopping and eating to our hearts’ content…

Shop

You cannot go to one of the shopping capitals of the world and not indulge in some retail therapy. Or so I told Rich. The underground station where we got off the tube from the airport deposited us straight into the enormous Forum Des Halles shopping centre. How convenient. I was able to check out, for the first time, the likes of Le Petit Bateau and also Maisons du Monde where I found so many stylish (and affordable) bits for the home that I kicked myself for being hand luggage only on the flight back. I have since discovered, however, the Maisons du Monde website. Uh oh.

I also popped into BHV, a fab department store that was a bit like a cross between a Selfridges and a House of Fraser, where I re-ignited my love for Kookai and treated myself to this ditsy floral dress and this cute shirt.

Eat

Apparently Le Marais is renowned for its falafels so as soon as we dropped our bags, we followed reader Annie’s advice and ordered two falafel pitas from L’As du Falafel. Just delicious.

On the Saturday night we sipped on some ridiculously strong cocktails on the terrace of an old-school café, then stumbled across a tiny trendy Italian restaurant down one of the winding back streets for dinner. Then on to the Paris Plages, a temporary artificial beach along the river Seine. I’ve been wanting to visit this for years and I’ve got to admit, it was my one disappointment of the trip. Yes, there was sand and deck chairs, but it just did not feel anything like a beach! It was, however, another good spot for people watching and more cocktail consuming.

As I hinted above, the highlight of my weekend was Benedict, the location for brunch on the Sunday. As the name suggests, it’s a restaurant which specialises in Eggs Benedict. They had no less than seven variations of the classic hangover dish, from Italian-style to Nordic, and truffle to avocado, all of which came with sides (Rich had the truffle fries and I had the mac and cheese). Guilty pleasures, eat your heart out.

Do you love Paris as much as me? What’s your favourite thing to do in the City of Lights?

Header images includes Bedside table from The White Company, Palm Wallpaper from John Lewis, Bed from Dwell, Paris Print from Tea and Kate and Cushions from Marks and Spencer.