Paris – Sweet Tooth’s Paradise

Having visited Paris four times in the last six years, I have had my share of Paris’s best sweets. From cookies to frozen delights, pastries to beverages, I have a list to suit everyone’s sweet tooth!

1. Macarons
Few people can visit Paris and not at eat a French macaron. You see the colorful treats everywhere you turn. A macaron is a sandwich cookie – ganache, buttercream or jam between two almond merengue cookies. They come in a wide variety of  flavors and countless colors that are often vivid. Macarons are not for everyone’s palate as they are quite sweet but they are worth a taste to find out if they suit yours. You can buy your macarons at world famous and always crowded Ladurée and even at Paris McDonald’s! I like to buy mine at Gerard Mulot in the Marais neighborhood.

2. Crème Brûlée
Crème Brûlée literally translated from French means “brunt crème”. Smooth custard awaits you under a thin crust of scorched sugar that you can gently crack with your spoon. I always order a Crème Brûlée when I dine at Ma Bourgogne, located in Place des Vosges. Crème Brûlée is quite rich. I suggest sharing with someone. Just ask for “deux cuillères, s’il vous plait” (two spoons, please)!

3. Crêpes
Hot, freshly made-while-you-wait Crêpes are available in many locations throughout Paris. It’s a Parisian street food that is served both savory and sweet. My favorite is a Nutella, banana crêpes drizzled with Grand Marnier. I like them for dessert, a snack or anytime! They are especially wonderful on a cold Paris night.

4. Gelato
Enjoy a little Italy while in Paris and have a gelato. Amorino is a chain of gelato stores located throughout Europe. Their signature rose-shaped scoops on comes make your already fantastic gelato even more of an experience! Coconut is, in my opinion, the best flavor at Amorino. I could eat an entire gelato bouquet of them!

5. Tarte au Citron
Tarte au Citron, or lemon tart, is sweet, tangy and creamy with a lightly sweetened crispy crust. It’s a delight to enjoy, especially as an afternoon treat after sightseeing all day, and goes well with a cup of hot French tea. I think the best are found at Gerard Mulot.

6. Chocolate Chaud
Chocolate Chaud is French for “hot chocolate”. But this is not your everyday powdered mix hot chocolate. An authentic chocolate chaud is something special. Using steamed milk and bits of semisweet chocolate, chocolate chaud is a warm cup of sweet richness!  Most Parisian cafes serve chocolate chaud but Angelina is world-famous for theirs.

7. Croissants
If there is one food on this list that I eat every day I am in Paris it’s a croissant. I immediately scout out a bakery near my hotel that appears busy and popular. I head there each and every morning to buy a few fresh, warm, buttery, flakey croissants and a cup of coffee. Often, I will choose an almond or chocolate croissant instead of plain if my sweet tooth requests it. I have no problem declaring croissants found in Paris are the best in the universe!

8. Fresh Fruit
If sugary treats get tiresome (as if!) visit your nearby produce market or even better, find an outdoor food market by searching online for days and locations. Some of the best tasting and best looking fruit I have ever eaten I purchased in Paris.  I always buy a basket or two of strawberries whenever I visit. They make a nice accompaniment to a glass of French champagne!

9. Luxury ice cream
Have you ever tasted luxury ice cream? Once you have a scoop of Berthillon luxury ice cream, you will never want to eat ‘regular’ ice cream again. Berthillon is a family-owned business which began in 1954. They pride themselves on using only natural ingredients and make approximately sixty flavors are produced throughout the year that change with the seasons.

10. Bon bons
Candy lovers will be in candy paradise in Paris. Bon bons, or candy, can be chocolate, hard candy, or any small confection. If you’re looking for a sweet treat to bring home from your trip, candy would be a good choice, especially hard candies

Which sweet would you indulge in while visiting Paris?

Paris has many faces and if you like the continuous buzz and lively scenes, the place to be is on the Left Bank of the city – and more specifically in Latin Quarters. Our latest hotel tip from this area is the Select Hôtel Rive Gauche - a little four-star boutique hotel with a modern and edgy decor. The hotel is perfectly located on Place de la Sorbonne, the square in front of the entrance to the famous Paris Sorbonne University – and just steps away from the beautiful park Jardin De Luxembourg where masses of people chill on the lawns facing the elaborate French Senate building.

The hotel itself has only 66 rooms which are decorated with a clean and contemporary style – with an added bonus of  lively and pretty views out of the window. Our room was clean and stylish – and definitely worth the 4-star rating that the hotel has.  However, keeping in line with Parisian hotels the rooms are quite small, yet functional. However, the bathroom was a bit of unusual one with its frosted glass sliding walls as it gave a feel of being in an aquarium.  As we love the busy sounds of the city, we kept the windows open late into the night and enjoyed music and the hum of conversations on the background. There is just something extra special about Paris!

The decor is really what makes this place so special, there is art, funky furniture in eye-popping colors scattered around giving the place of a more of art deco-style house feel than that of a hotel. The lobby area has a cozy little bar and a couple of living-room -style lounges for relaxation, but there is no restaurant  - and who needs one when there are several right next to the hotel entrance! The hotel serves a traditional Parisian breakfast though in their funky basement-level breakfast room. And if you feel inspired by the decor of the house you are already perfectly located in the Latin Quarters, where there is in addition to all those colorful restaurants plenty of art shops and fabulous little boutiques to browse for little finds for your home.

Place de la Sorbonne and the entrance to the university. The hotel entrance is on the far right hand side corner. There are already several little bistros to choose from for a meal, coffee or just drinks in the evening in this square.

The location of the Select Hôtel Rive Gauche is great for city sightseeing as well. The best starting point for the tour is the lovely Jardin de Luxembourg where one can admire the beauty of the Senate, visit the museum and enjoy a fresh cafe au lait and almond croissant while watching little boats gliding across the pool. If you are a fan of some particular book placed in Paris, such as the Da Vinci Code, then the church of Saint Sulpice is a must stop. And while in the area there oldest church in France, Abbey of St-Germain-des-Prés, is also worth a visit. At the end of the day staying in the heart of the Latin Quarters opens up a whole new world of the vibrant Parisian lifestyle for you, and you are guaranteed to have a good time!

Saint Sulpice Church from the Da Vinci Code -book

Exquisite French food, wine tastings, delicious appetizers, regional cheese selections and cocktail hours – this is the culinary heaven you’ll experience on board – and on excursions from L’Impressioniste, the river barge in Burgundy. From the moment we boarded the barge and were handed our champagne flutes and nibbles of little Dijon mustard-filled savory bits it was nothing short of a taste buds heaven.

For each meal there were carefully chosen red and white, or sometimes rose wines depending on the meals on offer. What I found refreshing was the fact that the dinner wouldn’t start until all guests and the captain were seated down. The chef and the lovely staff would then takes turns to introduce the courses of the meal, as well as describe the wines and their history. And one cannot forget the cheese platters, served after the main course and prior to the dessert. It seems that every village has their own special cheese, and therefore we had plenty of new cheese varieties to try!

The passengers were treated for cocktails and savory nibbles during the cocktail hour that preceded the dinner, and true to the French style the drinks were refreshing but more towards the bitter than overly sweet in taste – such as this typically English summer cocktail made of gin-based Pimms above. The cocktail hour provided a much-needed moment  to relax after a day of sightseeing and wine-tasting and also gave an opportunity to have a little chat with fellow passengers and enjoy the views of the passing Burgundy countryside waking up to spring.

Our first trip destination was Château André Ziltener where we had wine tasting session both in the cellar and the tasting room with instructions for newbies on how wine tastings work and how the taste of the wine can be described. Prior the tasting we toured the vineyard itself and learned how local wine quality was ranked based on where in the valley the grapes were growing. I loved the multi-coloured glass tabled that was used for the wine tasting, and it came with an interesting story, according to which historically “in order to better the quality of wine the monks used to test it through the luminosity of the glass panes.”

Château André Ziltener is located in the picturesque village of Chambolle-Musigny, where you can literally walk from one wine tasting room to another as good quality wine is the specialty of this village. They are also an accredited four-star hotel with a total of ten charming, yet luxurious rooms, suites and apartments and have been called as the most beautiful hotel in Burgundy. This trip certainly is a heaven for those who want to stop and smell the flowers and take a moment to relax, enjoy great food, wine and sightseeing historical little towns and villages!

European Waterways

The culinary and wine tours were part of the European Waterways river cruise in Burgundy. Prices for a 6 night cruise aboard the 12 passenger hotel barge L’Impressionniste are from $4,750 per person in a twin/double en suite cabin, including all meals, wines, an open bar, excursions and local transfers. Contact European Waterways: Toll Free 1-877-879-8808 and check out www.gobarging.com for more details.

Disclosure: I was a media guest of the European Waterways, and received a free one night stay at Hotel Westminster, and the river cruise on L’Impressionniste. All other costs associated with this visit are my own, and my opinions are always my own.

I hope you enjoyed the few Instagram photos I posted from my trip to France. Stay tuned for many more photos and my new discoveries from France, including my tips for Paris, pictures from Burgundy and the towns we visited during our trip.

Trendy way to see Europe: River Cruising

One of the trendiest ways to cruise these days is cruising in slow pace on the rivers of Europe. Europe has over 1,300 rivers, and 14 of them are over 600 miles (1000 kilometers) long. You could probably spend a year or two just cruising the rivers of Europe. Not to mention that many European cities are by rivers, including Paris, Prague, Vienna, Lyon and London, offering so much for you to see. What really sets river cruising separate from sea cruising is the significantly smaller vessels, much more intimate settings, and the opportunity to truly see the scenery and experience European countryside and cities in a way impossible done by any other method. Instead of getting on a tour bus and driving to the next town and constantly checking in to a different hotel during your journey, the river boat is your floating hotel where your own private chef and waiting staff are waiting for you with a cocktail when you arrive back from a day of sightseeing.

Many river cruise vessels carry over 100 passengers per boat, offering a more affordable way to river cruise and you can also find many day cruises around Europe to get your river cruise feet wet figuratively speaking. The real top-of-the-line of river cruising is with smaller river barges that carry less than 15 passengers. The real luxury isn’t just the private chef and floating hotel room on the river barge, the real luxury is the slow way of traveling forcing you to slow down and relax, and truly to enjoy the local lifestyle, scenery and cuisine. River barges offer a much more relaxing way of traveling than the larger river boats.

Slow traveling: river cruise on a barge in Burgundy

Our Global Inspirations writer Reeta and I had an opportunity to cruise in the Burgundy area in France last month with European Waterways, on their L’Impressionniste river barge on a three day press trip. L’Impressionniste is an old cargo barge turned into a luxury river barge for 12 passengers. Typically L’Impressionniste has one week long cruises in Burgundy with different themes, such as golf, wine tasting and family cruises. Our trip started with a stay at the Hotel Westminster in Paris, and after a Sunday morning in Paris, we were transported by European Waterways vans to Fleurey-sur-Ouche in Eastern France where the L’Impressionniste was waiting for us. The three days we were on board L’Impressionniste was not just an immersion to European river cruising but also to wines of Burgundy and falling in love with the beautiful French countryside.

The L’Impressionniste travels at around 5 mph giving you plenty of time to take photos and enjoy the scenic view as the barge slowly moves from one lock to another on the Burgundy Canal. The lock houses are gorgeous and usually the lock keepers live in the lock houses.

A lock keeper takes care of several locks in his/her area and was helping the barge crew to get through of all of the locks and once the lock was closed behind us, the lock keeper took his scooter and drove to the next lock to wait for our arrival to help opening the lock.

The slow-paced cruising is a hit among retired people, and the demographic of the typical barge-cruiser tends to be good 20 years older than I am. You might want to send this link as a recommendation for your mother or mother-in-law, but don’t just yet dismiss the river cruising for you either. If sitting on the deck of a river barge with a cocktail or wine glass in your hand and enjoying the views of French countryside is too slow-paced for you, you can choose also walk or bike by the path by canal until jumping back in on the next river lock again. During our walks by the canal we saw many other passenger barges, and local people enjoying the canal path by biking, walking or rollerblading.

One of my absolute favorite things on the entire cruise was to borrow the bicycles from L’Impressionniste and bike to the closest little towns to take photos and take a quick peek how life in the French countryside looks like. I’d say picture perfect.

Floating Hotel

Think of river barges as floating hotels, but instead of just paying for the nightly fee, your vacation is all inclusive. The daily trips, the food, the wine, everything included. No surprises whatsoever. The L’Impressionniste had been updated lately and has air-conditioning but no TVs in the state rooms. The cabins are moderately sized, especially compared to Paris hotels. The mood was “rustic French countryside on a boat” more than anything else. The stateroom isn’t an inviting oasis where you want to spend a day, but the barge had outside deck, inner dining room and sitting area giving you plenty of space for reading a book or having some quiet time.

Breakfast was served in the dining room each morning and we enjoyed café au lait with panne au chocolat and croissants like you do when in France. The lunch and dinner was cooked by Chef Selbey each day, who surprisingly was British but mastered the local cuisine like Coq au vin or Quiche Lorraine. I was equally delighted by his perfectly cooked lamb with minted peas. Each meal was thoughtfully paired with Burgundy area wines, typically white for starter and red for main course. We enjoyed local wines from Hautes-Côtes de Nuits to Moulin-à-Vent and everything in between, and with each wine the hostess of the night would tell us more details of each wine we enjoyed. Each evening I realized I did need at least ten more years of wine drinking training before being able to keep up with the wine drinking pace on board L’Impressionniste.

Wait, there is more. Our days we filled with more wine tasting and visits to local vineyards and towns. Stay tuned for more details of our French culinary tour, the wine and the day trips we took during our river cruise. To make sure never miss a travel post, please subscribe to the Skimbaco Travel Feed.

European Waterways

Prices for a 6 night cruise aboard the 12 passenger hotel barge L’Impressionniste are from $4,750 per person in a twin/double en suite cabin, including all meals, wines, an open bar, excursions and local transfers. Full boat charters are also available.

Contact European Waterways: Toll Free 1-877-879-8808 and check out www.gobarging.com for more details.

Disclosure: I was a media guest of the European Waterways, and received a free one night stay at Hotel Westminster, flights and the river cruise on L’Impressionniste. All other costs associated with this visit are my own, and my opinions are always my own.

Hotel Westminster in Paris, France

Dreaming of a romantic trip to Paris with a hotel to match the theme?
Then Hotel Westminster could be perfectly suited for you as it has the glitter and glamour of yesteryear with matching romantic décor, yet it is small and private enough to give the feel of intimacy. And with often exuberant Paris pricing this hotel certainly gives value for your money in comparison with other four to five stars hotels nearby. Hotel Westminster is considered as one of the best historic hotels in town, and it was, as one can guess, named after the British Duke of Westminster who used to stay in the hotel.

The location is just unbeatable on the border of 2^nd  and 1^st arrondissements of Paris – just steps away from the famous Place Vendôme monument and its’ luxury shopping. Also the traditional must-visit sights of Paris – Tuileries Gardens, Louvre, Opera and other gilded historic places are also only a few minutes walk away. This area is very glamorous and beautiful, and also less busy than constantly buzzing Latin Quarters on Le Rive Gauche – the left bank of the river.

Entering the hotel is such a peaceful experience, as the interior is timeless, sumptuous, cool and fragrant with flowers. These rooms are very Parisian in terms of size (small) but ceilings are high and decor is very floral and romantic. Some modern amenities have been added such as the TV, free WiFi and minibar, but typical to many French hotels there is no coffee and tea-making equipment in room. Our room had no street view as it overlooked the courtyard, but it didn’t matter too much for it was such a quiet and pretty view to look at regardless.

Hotel Westminster is also famous for the Michelin-star Le Céladon restaurant and its chef Christophe Moisand who offers exquisite French cuisine. Also the breakfast was very French and Parisian and just the perfect start for the morning – coffee with hot milk served with croissants, pastries – you name it. All so delicious that already at the beginning of your stay you are thinking: Paris je t’aime!

Disclosure: my stay at the Hotel Westminster was comped as part of European Waterways River Cruise press trip. My opinions are my own, and I was not asked to write this review.

Food can be a source of many things; happiness, excitement, discovery, frustration or disappointment to name a few. But when traveling, it is often an adventure. The new tastes and smells connect to that exact location and can bring back memories from years gone. For me, making pasta at home always takes me back to the Emilia Romagna region in Italy, where I learned to make pasta with my daughter with help from the dedicated grandmothers of the region in Casa Artusi.

Also quite recently I went on a food adventure.

This time I had a guide. And we visited many a place, from market halls to very established restaurants, small cafes and local food stores.

It wasn’t anywhere exotic. And if you really think of it, it shouldn’t have been an adventure. I was in my old hometown, in my native land after all, on a short business trip to Helsinki in Finland.

But still, I got the tingling feeling of excitement when discovering these mainly small producers and businesses. How did I never know what was just around the corner when I lived here!

And this got me thinking, once again. You really don’t need to go anywhere far to find an adventure, something exciting and new. There are so many things in our vicinity we take for granted, without getting to properly know our surroundings until we leave, and come back almost as a tourist, with a fresh mindset. Maybe it is now time for me to go on an adventure in my new home town here in Norway. I don’t think I will find a guide though. But these kinds of adventures don’t actually require one!

I participated on a Food Sightseeing tour in Helsinki as part of a business trip to Finland. Even though it was part of a work tour, I would readily go and do it again on my own time and cost. Besides the food, we saw areas and places that you wouldn’t really experience as a “normal tourist” in Helsinki, and this was important part of the tour as well. Apparently my husband is already planning on me taking him along the next time we travel to Helsinki together!

Anyone know of similar sightseeing tours elsewhere in the world? 

Iceland is perhaps at its best as an adventure travel destination, but my visits have been always short, and the main purpose has been to have a short relaxing stop between the USA and Europe. Yes, I admit, I go to Iceland for a great spa and swimming experience, and for the amazing sea food. Maybe one day I will actually adventure too, but one thing is for sure: I will return.

Read my Iceland recommendations of two hotels where to stay, and two airlines how to get to Iceland on my previous post. Also – the first two suggestions here are not actually in Reykjavik, the Blue Lagoon is about 30 minutes away. Many call it an expensive tourist trap, but we have visited it in wintertime and it hasn’t been too crowded on either time, and we absolutely love it.

1. Swim at Blue Lagoon
It literally is possible to have a 6 hour stopover in Iceland and take a quick shuttle or taxi from the airport to go swim at the world famous Blue Lagoon geothermal spa. An experience you will remember a lifetime. Just be warned: you might get hooked.

2. Eat at the LAVA restaurant
The LAVA restaurant in Blue Lagoon is an experience of its own. The minimalistic restaurant looks amazing, and the food is worth every penny. The ox tail and duck for dinner is excellent, but my favorite is the turbot with lemon sauce.

3. Listen to music at Harpa Concert Hall
Reykjavik got a new concert hall two years ago, and I highly recommend checking out the events held at Harpa during your visit. The building itself is a piece of art, and worth visiting for a tour. On the evenings the entire building is lit up and has dancing lights like Northern lights.

4. Go whale watching
You can catch whale watching boats from the Reykjavik harbor and spend a day at the Atlantic watching the majestic marine mammals. Check out Elding for whale watching cruises.

5. Enjoy fusion food at Tapas Húsið
Speaking of whales – is it horrible of me next to suggest actually eating some? Right at the Reykjavik harbor you can find Tapas Húsið, an excellent Spanish style tapas restaurant where you can get small plates of tapas prepared according to many global cuisines, including traditional Icelandic cuisine. And yes, you can get whale tapas here. The food is so good that it gathers tourists around the world and locals alike, and if you want to sit downstairs, table reservations are recommended. I even bumped into an Icelandic friend there, Hjörtur Smárason, an Icelander living in Denmark, who only had a few hour stopover in Reykjavik on his way to Greenland and he stopped at the Tapas Húsið with his travel companions from around the world.

6. Take a walk to Grótta Island
Grótta island is just outside Reykjavik, and you can walk there during low tides. The lighthouse on the island is a great landmark, and the view from the island to Mt. Esja is stunning. It’s a perfect (short) walk to the island to take photos, enjoy the scenic view, see the lighthouse and bird-watch.

7. Eat sushi at Suhsibarinn
Eating sushi in Iceland is a must for the fresh seafood available. I was trying to find a sushi place to eat and found 3 best places to eat sushi in Reykjavik from I Heart Reyjavik website. The food was excellent and especially the “Magic roll” was indeed magically good. Tip: they have a street side restaurant/take-away joint with only one table, go there first and they will most likely recommend you their nicer 2nd floor restaurant and give you a discount coupon for the meal.

8. Check out the Sun Voyager statue
The Grótta Island is on the south side of the city, but the north side is equally worth the visit and a walk. Pass the Harpa concert hall on the way and head to north side of the city. You can view the Mt. Esja also from there, and see the Viking ship sculpture Sun Voyager by Jon Gunnar Arnason. During the 20 minutes we were taking photos of the Sun Voyager, a group of young college students gathered around the statue and one of them got naked and climbed on the top of the statue while others were snapping photos. I don’t recommend getting frisky with it, but posing with Sun Voyager is a thing to do when in Iceland.

9. Shop downtown Reykjavik
The downtown area is relatively small, but full of shops, coffee shops and close to the city hall you can find a small Tjörnin lake, and it’s juts gorgeous with ducks and swans swimming in it. Several Kaffi & Te coffee shops have free wifi and excellent coffee. Our favorite was Eldur and Is coffee shop, where they served Italian style ice cream and French style crepes, a winning combination.

10. Go boat watching in the Reykjavik harbor
I love boats, and this time we unfortunately didn’t get to do a whale watching tour although I love them. A walk in the harbor was enough for me. You can watch the fishing boats, big and small to leave and arrive the harbor, as well the tourist boats and even a Danish military vessel was docked in the marina.

Welcome our new writer Sonja Hannus, who is currently in Finland, but will be traveling to New York and Hong Kong this year. Follow her inner peace journey and adventures in healthy lifestyle.

Johan & Nyström – perfect brunch spot

Brunch is one of my favorite ways to spend time. A relaxing moment with friends, including tasty food – there is no better way to start a weekend day, if you ask me. Even better if the food served is healthy and nutritious yet delicious.

I’ve always been interested in raw food but at the same time too lazy to prepare the delicious looking dishes I see on blogs by myself. Johan & Nyström’s brunch was a perfect opportunity to taste heavenly tasty raw dishes, not to mention enjoying all this in most idyllic surroundings. The cafe is located in a old brick building at Katajannokka in Helsinki, overlooking the sea and impressive huge sailing boats.

As a brunch lover, I am a demanding customer. Johan & Nyström’s brunch exceeded my all expectations and without question took the place as my favourite brunch in Helsinki. I loved everything – each detail from delicious food to the surroundings, which were all perfectly though out. The food alone would have been amazing experience but the idyllic environment made the experience perfect. As a New York lover, the old brick walls and high, light space took my heart. I will definitely come back. Brunch is served every other weekend, while the cafe is open daily. I truly recommend visiting – this place is one of most inspiring in Helsinki. The cafe has landed from Sweden – Johan & Nyström’s cafes can also be found from Malmö and Tullinge.

The brunch included heavenly good dishes for raw food lovers such as dried raspberries, self-made muesli and coconut yogurt, almond milk, blackcurrant sauce, “tuna” salad (made of vegetables and herbs), fresh salad, seed crackers, patees, “cole slaw”, the famous zucchini pasta, avocado sauce, hummus, raw blueberry pie and chocolate brownies…. Perfection. I dare to claim that even not-so-healthygeeks will love this brunch – maybe even get excited of raw food ;)

Following pictures borrowed from Johan & Nyström website, to better illustrate the amazing feeling of the space:

http://johanochnystrom.se/fi

The Eiffel Tower, or la Tour Eiffel, as the French call their iconic structure, is the most visited paid landmark in the world having surpassed 250,000,000 visitors in 2010.

Built of iron and completed in 1889, the 1050-feet tall latticed tower weighs 7300 metric tonnes and took two years, two months and five days to complete. It was named after Gustave Eiffel, a engineer and the owner of the company that designed and built the tower. Today, it has become one of the most photographed structures in the world.

If you would like to visit the summit of the Eiffel Tower on your next trip to Paris, you can now buy tickets ahead of time. Simply go online to http://ticket.toureiffel.fr, select your preferred language, date and time, and pay for your tickets. Et voilà!

We asked the manager at the lovely hotel where we stayed to print our tickets for us. But you may want to book your tickets well in advance, especially during the high tourist seasons, and print them out at home.

You may also have a code sent to your cell phone if you set up an account connected to your phone on the ticketing website.

It’s likely that you will have to wait in line even with your reserved tickets, but the wait time will be much shorter. It took us approximately 25 minutes to get to the summit once we got into the queue.

Quickly, you ascend to the second level. Some people will get off at that level while the rest get on the final elevator to the summit. This elevator is even smaller and even more crowded than the first.

Once you arrive at the top, be prepared for windy conditions. However, there is no need to worry about being blown off the top. It’s securely fenced in all the way up. Thankfully, the fence is wide enough to fit your camera lens through to take some spectacular photos.

We found ourselves walking around the summit several times, getting different shots of the Seine, Sacre Coeur, the financial district and Arc du Triomphe.

My favorite view from the summit is of the Jardins du Trocadero.

Once you’ve taken your photos, enjoy your time at the summit with a glass of champagne.It’s a small glass (maybe 4 ounces), served in a plastic flute, and, at 11 euros, it’s not a bargain but who cares?

Drinking French champagne on top of the world’s most famous tower, overlooking one of the planet’s most beautiful cities while toasting to your loved one is living life to the fullest  - the Skimbaco Lifestyle philosophy – and something you probably only do once in your life.

So I say, live it up!

At some point, when the champagne is gone and the battery on your camera has been exhausted, it’s time to descend. While you have no choice in how you get from the summit to floor two – the elevator is your only option – you do have a choice once you’re off that elevator. You may get on the next elevator or you may take the stairs. We opted for stairs. It’s so interesting to see the intricacies of the Eiffel Tower up close.

After we descended, we took a few more dozen photos before we agreed it was time to get something to eat. We had a late lunch at Café Gustave, close to the Eiffel Tower, and enjoyed some traditional French cuisine of Croque Madame and French Onion Soup.

It was a wonderful way to spend an afternoon experiencing the highlights of Paris!

I highly recommend visiting the summit of the Eiffel Tower while in Paris. The views from the top are well worth the time and effort it takes to get there. Having  been to the summit at night as well as during the day, I suggest a daytime visit for better views and photo opportunities.

Thank you for traveling with me to the summit of the Eiffel Tower!

Our team is pretty excited about the new movie The Big Wedding coming in theaters on April 26th, but our reasons are as different as our team is! Some of us love wedding movies, because we never really had a big wedding, for others it reminds of their big wedding day, and some in our team are still single ladies (and a guy) still waiting for their big day. We thought it would be fun to feature our different weddings – all very different, but all with the same happy ending! Read also more about the Big Wedding movie and how to treat your better half or a friend for movies for free.

Big Southern Wedding – Leigh’s Wedding Story

Leigh, our Luxury Travel Editor, had a Southern April wedding that rivaled the pomp and circumstance of British royal weddings on a smaller scale, of course. She and Will married in a downtown cathedral in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 6, 2002 at 12 p.m. And yes, she had those church bells ring 12 times before she made that long walk down the aisle with a 12-feet-Belgium lace veil, which was purchased by her mother-in-law in Belgium in 1961, cascading behind her.

Her reception was held in a stately, historic Raleigh landmark, which houses the five-star restaurant, Second-Empire Restaurant and Tavern. Long before William and Kate made it fashionable, guests at Leigh’s reception mingled over Butler-passed canapés. Her monogrammed wedding cake came straight from the pages of Martha Stewart Weddings.

Leigh says the entire ceremony went off without a hitch, but 11 years later, it is a complete blur except for one specific wedding memory. Leigh, who is not really a morning person, had to be at her stylist’s salon for her hair and make-up at 6 a.m. She had several cups of coffee to keep her awake, but she certainly did not expect a locked bathroom at the salon with the key accidentally left inside. By the time, her roommate picked her up at 9:30 a.m.; this Southern bride couldn’t get home quickly enough. She left the salon with a veil attached to her head, and one hand holding a shopping bag containing the rest of the 12-feet Belgium lace attached to her wedding veil, and the other hand holding her crotch. That’s not quite how you picture a Southern bride on the morning of her wedding, but at least, she can laugh about it now.

Private Hawaiian beach wedding – Adrienne’s Wedding Story

Adrienne, our California travel and fashion writer, decided after purchasing a home in Sonoma Valley with her fiancée, to forgo a big wedding in California and elope in Maui instead. The Hawaiian vacation had already been planned for months. It was to be a simple week-long getaway.
The day before leaving on the trip, her fiancée Bill suggested half-jokingly, that they elope while in Maui as they had been engaged for a year and a half with no date set. Adrienne jumped at the idea!

Once they arrived in Maui and got settled in their rented condo, they got to work on planning their elopement ceremony. Every place they contacted was booked for that Saturday, October 14th. Not surprisingly, they had their pick of places and times for Friday, October 13th. And it was a full moon. Everything was open!

Bill and Adrienne, who are not superstitious, had no problem marrying on Friday the 13th. They quickly found a Hawaiian officiant, booked a time at the Kea Lani Hotel in Wailea, applied for a marriage license, bought Adrienne a dress and a bouquet of flowers, and called their jeweler in California to overnight their wedding bands. Aside from their wedding bands being temporarily lost in the mail, everything went smoothly from start to finish.

After their ceremony, they checked into the most luxurious hotel on the island, Grand Wailea. They had reserved a garden room, the least expensive available, for one week. When they were told their room was not available, they panicked. The front desk staff gave them a key to another room and told them to come back if they weren’t satisfied with the accommodations. They made their way to the room, passing through a gated-off section of the hotel and went up the elevator to the top floor. Soon they found themselves standing before double doors. They looked at each other in shock and delight. Once they opened the doors they found a gorgeous, plush and enormous room, about 1500 square feet, with a spacious lanai overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It would be their home for the next week; an ocean view luxury suite at a bargain garden room price. Now who says Friday the 13th is an unlucky day? Certainly not Adrienne and Bill!

Courthouse wedding in Alabama – Katja’s Wedding Story

If you have heard Katja’s wedding story before… you know she didn’t really have a wedding. Katja met her husband Matt in Germany, and they are from the other sides of the world. Katja moved to the US four months later and they got engaged immediately. They lived in Alabama, where Matt was attending the US Army flight school at the time, and neither had any family or friends there. So not the romantic wedding story you’d like to hear!

Katja and Matt got married on a lunch break in a court house on July 2nd, 1998 in Enterprise, Alabama. Their witnesses were Matt’s family and his classmates, dressed in army uniforms and green flight suits, reminding of the movie Top Gun – if Maverick had married Charlie, that’s how they would have done it too. The thought made Katja smile on her wedding day – she was a young girl when Top Gun came out and she remembers riding her bicycle home from the movie theater swearing that she’d marry a pilot one day. Some girls dream of the big weddings they see in the movies, Katja just wanted the right pilot to keep her above the clouds the rest of her life.

The lace in Katja’s dress? Not heirloom, she bought it from a fabric boutique in Finland and designed her own dress and her mom sewed it. The beach? Not Hawaii, but a long weekend “honeymoon” in Panama City Beach, Florida – with the new in-laws! The wedding photos? Taken in Austin, Texas later that year, and they wore an evening gown and dress uniform to celebrate Matt’s “wings” from the flight school.

Outdoor Village Wedding in Slovenia – Satu’s Wedding Story

When friends and family heard that Satu, our Adventure Travel Editor was planning to get married in Slovenia, they immediately thought that she, a Finn, and her British husband wanted to get married in a “mutual ground”. But no, the main reason was that they wanted to give everyone little taste of the outdoor life they enjoy, whether it was rafting, kayaking, climbing, biking or hiking. And for those that really wanted some city life, shopping in Venice and Ljublana wasn’t far either.

When planning the wedding, Satu and Simon thought that it was going to be a mix of Finnish and British traditions, but little they knew that their local friends and villagers had some additional plans: the local traditions were to be in the mix too! According to the local customs, Satu was to come and get her husband-to-be from his house on the wedding day before the outdoor ceremony, as he owned a property in the village. So after spending a relaxing morning with her bridesmaids in the hair-saloon and hotel where she was to stay for the night, Satu made her way to the village and to their house. But, instead of simply getting her husband and heading for the ceremony, they had to face a series of challenges to make sure they were ready for the marriage. These ranged from putting on a diaper on a baby doll for Satu, to Simon having to tie a fly to demonstrate that he can catch food for the whole family. Best of all Satu had to prove her sportiness by rollerskating up and down the main road running through the village, in her wedding dress! Luckily there were many to catch her when on the way back she couldn’t quite brake with the skis…

Looking back, Satu remarks that the day couldn’t have been any better. The weather was amazing, the food which was organised by their local friends who own a fine-dine restaurant was fabulous, and most importantly many of their close friends and family had been able to make the journey to join their special day. “I want to get married again, to the same man and in the same place” she says.

Last Minute Winter Wedding in Finland – Reeta’s Wedding Story

Reeta and her Spanish husband Bruno had planned to get married for years, but the one time they had booked a date and venue, her cousin had booked the same day, so Reeta cancelled hers. She was determined to get married before they had children, so they sort of did in the end – two months before their first daughter was born! The whole event was planned in nine days, and was a small one. Reeta was working in England and her husband-to-be in Denmark at the time, and they flew in a day before the wedding back to her native country Finland. The required wedding certificate had been lost in the mail, so they weren’t even sure if the whole was going to happen or not until hours before the big event!

The wedding took place in December 2003 in the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Turku, Western Finland, and the wedding couple wore grey (perfectly matching to the weather): Reeta had bought her maternity outfit in Chicago in a recent business trip, and the groom wore almost matching light summer suit from Armani – not quite what she had dreamed of. Her fingers got swollen from the flight and the ring didn’t fit on; and truth be told she only started to wear it last year after getting it re-sized as her fingers never recovered! The happy couple didn’t have time to book a wedding photographer, so the groom’s father took (very few) photos and they honeymoon is still waiting to happen – hopefully in French Polynesia in the near future. This was certainly a very unusual affair and a day to be remembered!

Big Wedding – the movie

With an all-star cast led by Robert DeNiro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, with Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams, THE BIG WEDDING is an uproarious romantic comedy about a charmingly modern family trying to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco. In theaters on April 26th. When you buy your tickets now to BUY ONE GET ONE FREE – movies and weddings are always more fun with a plus one! Get two tickets to see the Big Wedding for $12 at The Big Wedding movie official website.