Coolstorybob (2024)

13/12/2021

I completely fell in love with Nashville. I already had amazing memories from the city from when I visited 14 years ago, when I was 14-years-old (yep, exactly half my lifetime ago), but this time just cemented my love for the home of Country Music. The city feels safe, relaxed, and there is live music absolutely everywhere you go! I’ve been so so so excited to share this city guide with you, and I really hope it helps and gives you an idea of what we did and what we loved most!As our trip was so intense and hectic (we drove from Chicago down to New Orleans, covering around 1,400 miles, in just two weeks), we really didn’t want to rush around each city we visited and wanted to see a few key things and actually enjoy them and really spend our time taking it all in. This worked really well for us, and ensured we pretty much did everything on our list and also weren’t rushing to see it all!

Robert's Western World Nashville Tennessee
What to pack:

superga

Kate Spade New York

Schott

NastyGal

Levi's

Day 1 in Nashville
We had three-nights in Nashville, and arrived in the city around 4pm on the Tuesday after around five hours of driving from St Louis in Missouri after our Route 66 Roadtrip. We dropped off the car with the hotel’s valet, and checked in to the beautiful five-star Hermitage Hotel. It’s the most luxurious and most famous hotel in the city, and we were crazy excited to be spending our three nights here in such opulent surroundings! After taking a look at our room and unpacking, we got changed and drove over to the Grand Ole Opry as we had tickets to their Tuesday evening show.

Hermitage Hotel Nashville Lobby
Honestly, spending our first evening at the Grand Ole Opry was a dream come true and couldn’t have been a better introduction to Nashville! The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly American country music stage concert that has been running since 1925, and it’s the longest running radio broadcast in US history! A trip to Nashville isn’t complete without a visit (hence I had to return 14 years later, haha). When I was 14 I was DESPERATE to go, but because they only have recordings on Tuesdays and Fridays, we couldn’t go as we weren’t in the city on either of those days.

We picked up our tickets from the box office (we were stood behind a cowboy in the queue which made us very excited), bought a few souvenirs in the shop, and then went inside to take our seats. As soon as the show started we were both completely overwhelmed. Both Clare and I are huge empaths, and super sensitive people in general, and we just looked at each other and had tears in our eyes! Afterwards we were discussing the show and both of us agreed we just felt really overwhelmed that we had been planning this trip for over a year, saving up, and now we were living it.

Grand Ole Opry Nashville Tennessee
The show itself was incredible. Country Music is so emotional and thoughtful, the lyrics are just like poetry set to music, and we loved every second. We saw Trace Adkins, Charlie Daniels, Hank Williams Sr’s grand-daughter Holly Williams, Waylon Payne, The Swon Brothers, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, and Bill Anderson. After the show we had a backstage tour which was well-worth doing and really interesting. We got to see the green room, the dressing rooms, and stand on the stage and the famous ‘circle’ of wood that was taken from the Ryman Auditorium when the Opry moved locations.

We headed back to the hotel afterwards to get some rest before our busy day and night out the following night!

Day 2 in Nashville
We woke bright and early and walked all the way from our hotel up to Union Station, which is now a hotel. Union Station is a breathtaking old building that was a railroad terminal in the early 1900s. You can stroll in and take a peek in the hotel lobby and marvel at the architecture!

We then walked from Union Station up to Historic RCA Studio B (where Elvis recorded over 200 of his records), only to discover that you can only visit Studio B on an organised tour that picks you up from the Country Music Hall of Fame. Thankfully the guy was really lovely and I think he felt sorry for us when we told him how far we’d walked, so he asked us to come back in an hour or so and he’ll get us onto one of the tours.

So we strolled up to Pancake Pantry via the Vanderbilt University grounds (which looked DREAMY), and queued up for pancakes. Even on a Wednesday morning there was still a huge queue for pancakes, but it moved really quickly and within 10-mins we were sat down awaiting our pancakes that tasted as though they had arrived straight from heaven. I had apple and cinnamon because it’s probably my fave pancake topping (right up there with peach). They were incredible.

Our poor little legs were rather tired from our epic morning walk, so we grabbed an Uber back to Historic RCA Studio B (it was only a 5-min drive). It worked out really well, the lovely guy at the Studio let us in through the staff entrance and took us for a private tour around and showed us some areas the normal tours aren’t allowed. Then we joined the official tour group and got to sit at the same piano Elvis sat at!

After Studio B we hitched a ride back to the Country Music Hall of Fame with the rest of the tour group, and picked up our tickets for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It took us around an hour and a half to visit, and was absolutely fascinating! It was interesting finding out more about the country music stars we’d seen the previous night at the Grand Ole Opry and the Grand Ole Opry members we had heard about on the backstage tour.

As we’d had a bit of a cultural morning and afternoon we decided it was time to check out Nashville’s bar scene via Boot Barn (aka, Cowboy boot heaven)! We started at The George Jones which is right on the riverfront. They have a rooftop bar with live music, views over the river, and great happy hour prices. We had a couple of drinks and some bar snacks as we were a little peckish, and then headed back to our hotel to get freshened up and changed for a proper night out.

Our night out began with dinner at BB Kings – we enjoyed it and loved the food and vibe and live music, but they charged Clare DOUBLE the amount they should have, and are still refusing to pay it back (and Monzo are being awful about it too). This is the main problem with the American payment system – you sign the bill and they can just take the wrong amount from your bank account, rather than you seeing how much you’re paying when you input your pin number on a chip and pin.

Anyway, after dinner we wandered up to Robert’s Western World. This was one of my favourite bars of the night! It was just SO American, SO country, SO Nashville! The music, the bar, the people. All of it was just awesome.

After Robert’s Western World we strolled up to Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. I remember visiting Tootsie’s as a 14-year-old, and we got kicked out at 9pm because under 21’s aren’t allowed in after that time haha. Thankfully this time we weren’t kicked out, and we listened to the live country music while drinking Fireball shots (did you know, the Southern States are the home of the Fireball shot apparently?!).

The amazing thing about the H***y Tonk’s on Nashville’s Broadway, is that from 3pm until about 5am every single day they’re open and playing live music. Entry into each bar is free, you just tip the musicians however much you want.

After Tootsie’s we wandered across the road and went into the bars we liked the vibe and music of. We went to: Nudie’s H***y Tonk, Kid Rock’s Big Ass H***y Tonk Rock & Roll Steakhouse, and one of our favourites of the night; Tequila Cowboy! Tequila Cowboy we spent a while in, it had a nice chilled vibe, good music, and friendly people and bar staff! We also got some free drinks there, so, ya know, we were obvs gonna stay a while longer.

By this time we were stumbling down the road, but we weren’t done yet! Oh hell naw. Enroute back to the hotel we stopped off in Doc Holliday’s Saloon for a more relaxed vibe with music and water, and then we went to Big Shotz where the band were AWESOME and played Proud Mary for me. We also made friends with a Hen Party – they kept talking at us in British accents and we kept talking at them in Southern accents haha.

We had one last stop on our way back to the hotel. We went to Printers Alley and Ms Kelly’s Karaoke Bar. We watched some Americans murder Bohemian Rhapsody, but then the most magical thing happened. Two guys got up to sing Muddy Waters’ Got My Mojo Workin’, and I could have cried from joy. They were AH-MAZING. So, so amazing. One played the harmonica while the other sang, and I honestly felt like we were at a private concert. I even preferred their version to the original!

Finally it was time to sleep, and rest ready for the following day!

Day 3 in Nashville
We had a pretty long lie-in the next day and then headed down to the hotel’s restaurant, Capitol Grille, for brunch. I had the delish waffles with blackberries, while Clare had the insane banana french toast (it literally looked like a door-stop it was so huge). We then wandered over to the Ryman Auditorium and saw the very first home of the Grand Ole Opry radio show, and found out more about the history of the auditorium. We then walked over to the Tennessee State Capitol, and on to Germantown which is where our lunch location was!

Monell’s is super famous in Nashville, and is essentially a gorgeous big house, filled with huge tables for about 10 people. Lunch is a set price, and you all sit on a big table with strangers and share the food and talk like a family would!

It’s supposed to be a family-style lunch, and we met some GREAT people! There are no photos allowed inside, but on one side of me was an older lady who goes to Monell’s about once a month. She looooves Country Music so told us her favourite bars (The Stage was one of them). One my other side was Clare, and then on her other side was a Police Officer. He’s a regular at Monell’s and is originally from Altanta. Let me tell you, it was slightly strange being sat having lunch with a gun right next to you, but, ‘Merica.

The food was INCREDIBLE, and there was so much of it! Everything is homemade, and we had; Meatloaf, fried chicken, roast beef, mac & cheese, greens, cornbread, biscuits and grits, mashed potatoes, peas, and carrots. To drink there are big jugs of sweet iced tea and lemonade. And then there was dessert; the most delicious Cherry Cobbler I have ever had in my entire life. And can you guess how much all this cost? Just $15!

We had the best time at Monell’s and absolutely loved it. We headed back to our hotel after our late lunch, and then drove out to the outlet’s for a bit of shopping. We also stopped off in the Gulch neighbourhood en-route to get photos with the street art!

After the Outlet centre it was quite late, but we were so full from our Monell’s lunch that we skipped dinner, and had an early night before our long drive to Memphis the next day. We made the most of our beautiful hotel room – having lovely hot baths in the huge bath tub and then laying in bed in our dressing gowns watching TV until we fell asleep.

Checking out of The Hermitage the next day was very sad. We loved our stay and wish we could have stayed longer! Alas, Memphis was next on our list. But not before stopping off at Reese Witherspoon’s adorable clothing store, Draper James, and getting a snap with the street art on the street at the side of the shop!

I really did fall in love with Nashville, and I’m desperate to go back again soon! I think out of all the places we visited, Nashville stole my heart.

11/12/2021

Last week Barbour launched their new watch collection. Edd and I went along to the launch, and were greeted with flutes of champagne while the lovely people of Barbour took us through the collection. I fell in love with both the purple and tartan watches (you’ll find out which one I chose at the end!), and was shocked at how large the collection is.
Barbour women's watch launch london
Barbour actually dabbled in the watch industry years ago back in the eighties, however this time around they mean business. The watches each have solid Swiss Movement, and the time pieces start at just £125, rising to £300. Each watch has elements of the British brand, from tartan to quilted leather, to metal.

Barbour watch launch london
The signature watch is the £300 men’s Beauson Leather Strap watch. A beauty if ever you saw one.

Barbour Men's Beauson Leather Strap Watch
barbour covent garden london
barbour womens watch
As well as material and leather straps, they also have a wide range of more traditional metal watches, and a good variety of thin and thick bracelets. Apparently quite a lot of women are actually buying the men’s watches for themselves, and from looking at them, many of the watches are actually quite unisex.

So which one did I go for? The Tartan Fell Watch. I decided to go for it as it’s a bit different, and I love how every tartan fell watch is slightly different from another, each one has a unique tartan design.

Barbour tartan fell watch
After the Barbour event we then headed on to Be At One just down the street in Covent Garden, for the London Cocktail Week launch of the new ABSOLUT Cherry flavour. After throwing some shapes on the dance floor with the marketing teams for Be At One and ABSOLUT, as well as far too many Cherry flavoured cocktails, we stumbled across the cobbles of Covent Garden back to the train station just in time for the last train home. All in all an excellent night getting to hear all about some awesome new products!

07/12/2021

On my way to Australia I spent 10 days in the Middle East, visiting Dubai, Qatar, and Muscat. They were all places I’d been wanting to visit for years, and with Nigel now in Dubai and Polly in Doha, it was a great excuse for an extended stopover! I was in Dubai for 7 nights, and stayed with Nigel while I was there in his epic apartment in Dubai Marina. But I really wanted to experience a night in a Dubai hotel, they’re so famous for their luxury hotels that I just had to try one out, so I booked myself into the five-star Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach for a night.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool
I chose possibly the worst night possible for my hotel stay because we were in Abu Dhabi at Zaya Nurai (blog post coming soon) all day on the Sunday, and then on the Monday we flew to Doha, so I checked in around 9pm and then left the next day at 12ish. Despite having such a short amount of time there I do feel as though I made the most of my stay, and managed to do a fair amount considering the hotel has 11 restaurants, lounges, and nightclubs on site, as well as two outdoor pools, an indoor lap pool, a spa, tennis courts, and a private beach!
I wasn’t in Dubai to relax, I was there to party as hard as possible before I arrived in the sleepy city of Perth in Western Australia to start my new life, so what did we do while I was staying at the Four Seasons? We partied, hard, and tried to check out a few of the 11 onsite bars and lounges. But first, let me take you for a little tour of my room and tell you more about the hotel.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Photo from Four Seasons

As my taxi pulled up to the hotel I was in awe of the size and sheer buzz around the place, people were milling about around the entrance and walking to and from the many bars and restaurants. As soon as the doorman opened the taxi door he welcomed me with a huge smile and ‘Welcome to the Four Seasons Miss Lux’, I was literally in shock. How on earth did they know who I was before I’d even gotten out of the taxi? And how on earth do the doormen remember every guest by name? Already I knew that the service here would be incredible.
I checked in and went up to my Deluxe city-view room, which had a great view of the top half of the Burj Khalifa! The room was stunning, there was a little entrance hall which led onto the large and spacious bedroom, bathroom, and walk-in closet.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
The bathroom was one of the best I’ve seen, I loved the bathtub, and the standalone shower was huge! The only downside was the lack of amenities, they just provided the absolute basics like shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and soap.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
The bedroom was gorgeous and the perfect size for just me, and I loved the tablet next to the bed which you could book tables from, set alarms, and even book spa services. I used it to book my taxi to the airport the next day, and the concierge from downstairs called me about 10 minutes later to confirm everything. There was also a table and chairs, a sofa, an a huge mini-bar, as well as a huge balcony with seating to watch the hustle and bustle of the hotel entrance below.
Because I arrived so late my bed was already turned down so sadly I couldn’t get any photos of it looking all pretty and made up with the cushions etc.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Luxury Hotel
I was looking rather disheveled after my day on the beach at Zaya Nurai, so had a shower and then got changed and ready. I met Nigel and Gohei at the onsite rooftop bar, Mercury Lounge, and I tested out a cocktail and ordered some calamari, while they had wine. I didn’t take my big camera with me as I didn’t want to lug it around when going to the bars and club, so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with phone photos.
The Mercury Lounge was super glamorous and absolutely buzzing with life, even on a Sunday evening (Sunday is a work day in Dubai), and I loved the music and atmosphere. The views over the Burj Khalifa and Dubai skyline was insane, and the staff were so lovely! We had a couple of drinks and snacks, and then headed downstairs to Coya.
Mercury Lounge at Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai
I’d been to Coya in London for dinner a couple of weeks before, so we just went to the Dubai one for drinks and to see what it was like. It had the exact same atmosphere and vibe as the London one, which I loved. Such a cool place, and it had more of an expat crowd (think colleagues having drinks after work) than Mercury Lounge which had a lot more guests from the hotel.
Coya Bar at Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai
We then took a short walk to the club next door, Provocateur. The door woman had her clipboard firmly in hand, and asked if we had a table booking. I said “We’re guests from the hotel and were told we could come and check it out?” and she smiled and just waved us straight through. Gohei didn’t stay too long as he had work the next day (he’s a chef so had to be on top form), but Nigel and I stayed until around 2am, and had the best night. Oh my days. We drank far too much and I can’t even remember these photos being taken, but I just remember having such a fun night.
Provocateur at Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai
The music was mainly house and techno, but whereas I usually hate that music because you can’t dance to it, the DJs played House and techno stuff that had a beat so you could actually dance. It was amazing. We danced until my feet couldn’t hold me up anymore and then Nige escorted me back to my hotel.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai
The next morning I woke up surprisingly early, and after packing up and getting showered and dressed I went down to the Suq restaurant for breakfast. It was probably one of the best buffet breakfasts I’ve ever experienced. They had everything you could think of, from dim sum to hash browns, and from crepes to ice-cream (with loads of toppings!).
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Breakfast
Photo from Four Seasons
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Breakfast
I started off with a healthy plate of fruit…and then gave in and had a banana and Nutella crepe that was made in front of me, and a tub of ice-cream. The ice-cream was so delicious and the flavours on offer were all really unusual flavours which I loved! I sat outside and slowly nursed my hangover with my very sugary breakfast.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Breakfast
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Breakfast
After breakfast it was time for a dip in the pool! It seemed a shame to use an indoor lap pool when the weather was so glorious, so I headed straight for the outdoor pool.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool
I chose a spot overlooking the beach, right next to the Four Seasons’ signature seafood restaurant, Sea Fu (I really wish I’d tried this place as it has rave reviews). The sunbeds were actually in the swimming pool, so you could sit on your sunbed with your toes dipped into the refreshing water! I was brought a little cool bag full of mini bottles of water, which I thought was a really lovely touch and reminded me of the Shangri-La in Chiang Mai.
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool
Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Swimming Pool

After a quick dip in the pool and half an hour or so lazing in the sunshine, I headed back up to my room and then panic struck. I plugged my phone in to quickly charge it a bit, and it completely died on me and came up with a blue screen of death. This was my 2-month-old Samsung Galaxy S7, so I literally went into panic mode and had no clue what to do.
My plan to take photos of the hotel lobby and public areas went out the window, and I hurriedly grabbed my suitcase and went to check out and get to the airport ASAP to meet Nigel for our flight to Doha. Thankfully at Dubai airport I managed to reset the phone, and luckily it’s been ok since then! So apologies, but you’ll have to make do with the official photo of the stunning downstairs public area.
Mercury Lounge at Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach Dubai Hotel
Photo from Four Seasons

My stay at the Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach was short, but very, very sweet. I loved everything about it; the style, the glamour, the atmosphere, and the staff. The service was some of the best I’ve ever experienced (up there with Hotel Imperial in Vienna and the Shangri-La in Chiang Mai), and I hope I can go back one day for a longer more relaxing stay!
If you’re looking for a luxury hotel in Dubai, I can’t recommend Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach enough!

04/12/2021

I’ve been back from Antigua less than a week and I’m already longing to be back on those golden sandy beaches and swimming in the warm waters of the Caribbean. I went with my friend Claire, who you’ve seen on this blog a fair amount over the years, and we had such a wonderful girls trip! After I had such a great time on Palm Island last year, Elite Island Resorts kindly asked me to check out a couple of their hotels in Antigua, so naturally I said yes! We spent five nights at St James’s Club, and beside the glorious ocean views from our room, it was the perfect hotel for two friends wanting a few days of cocktails and relaxation.

We left London early Saturday morning, and arrived in Antigua mid-afternoon to bright blue skies and a little confusion over our transfers. We couldn’t find the person with our name, so accidentally got into a taxi with a few other people going to the same hotel as us. It was one of the funniest taxi journeys ever! Reggae music blared and the driver stopped off at his house and introduced us to his son (who was one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen), and after saying hello we continued on to the resort.
First impressions were how big it was, I knew it would be very different from Palm, but it was a bit of a shock seeing just how huge the resort was. However, it was gorgeous and so lush with hundreds of palm trees everywhere. We arrived and after being offered a drink, we checked in and a golf buggy took us to our room.

Over our few days at St James’s we experienced most of the things the resort had to offer. We loved the breakfasts; not only did they do a huge buffet spread but they also had an A La Carte menu and a brilliant fresh egg/omelette station. There was also an A La Carte option at lunchtime, and then dinner was a buffet. Also they did some of the best banana bread I have ever tasted.
Our favourite restaurant for dinner was The Docksider, it was nestled in the bay right on the waterfront, with a stunning sunset view. The food was also very good, and it felt more special and luxurious than Rainbow Garden where breakfast and lunch were served. The photo below doesn’t do the restaurant justice, at night time the tables have table-cloths and candles, and it’s a really beautiful set-up.

Coco’s is a fab relaxed lunch option with views over the Atlantic ocean, and I had a very tasty fish and chips there with a light-as-air batter. There’s also a lounge area where you can relax and use the free wifi.

However, you could also book in for Piccolo Mondo, the resort’s Italian fine dining restaurant, which is a $35 surcharge per person. Claire and I tried this one night as we won a meal for two in the weekly manager’s drinks (other guests won various excursions and dining experiences), and it was really very good. We had a truly sensational meal there and I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the resort and wanting something a little quieter than the other larger restaurants.
The beaches weren’t your typical Caribbean ones as the resort is on the Atlantic Ocean side of the island, but they were still absolutely gorgeous and pretty idyllic. Cocos beach was right outside our room, but we only went there the morning we left as the ocean was always quite rough. We tended to stick to the bay side, which had soft golden sand and the water was always flat-as-a-pancake and really lovely and warm to swim in. They also have funny floaty things you can sit in or lay in!

The resort had loads going on every day, from yoga sessions to hobie cat lessons and on Saturday nights there’s a great barbecue on the beach with a wide range of good quality food! We really enjoyed it and had a fun evening.

We used the swimming pools quite a lot, the one near Coco’s was a bit rubbish, our favourites were the main one by the bar and restaurant, and the tiered one near the ‘villas’ part of the resort.

On the downsides we found the room quite basic and dated, especially the bathroom, and I didn’t find the staff as friendly as Palm Island and Galley Bay, but I guess it’s due to the fact St James’s Club is far larger with a much higher number of guests and staff members. The friendliest members of staff were the guys on the resort’s catamaran, but I’ll tell you all about that soon!
Also the excursions the guest services team try to sell at St James’s Club are all the most expensive ones, when we got to Galley Bay we were sad to see they had far more options at more reasonable prices (and more suitable to us and closer to what we wanted), but by then it was too late as some were only available on specific days.

If you’re a family or group of friends looking for a typical all-inclusive large Caribbean resort with a great atmosphere, St James’s Club is the place. We loved the fact there were lots of groups of friends so we didn’t feel out of place as we would have had it been more of a ‘couples’ resort. If you want a resort with decent food at the buffet, as well as an A La Carte choice, and excellent (and very strong) cocktails, this is the place. However if you’re looking for a truly luxurious and personal resort to relax and have some peace and quiet without any children running around, this is not it. But I’ll tell you all about a great adults-only alternative in Antigua that fits that description very soon 😉
Also a big shout out to Ebony at St James’s for being absolutely awesome!

04/12/2021

I’ve been to Paris many, many times over the years and stayed in a mix of hotels and friends’ apartments whilst in the city. However it had been almost three years since I last stayed overnight in Paris, as last time I went in 2017 I did a ‘one day in Paris‘ trip. The Shangri-La Paris had long been on my radar, mostly because I’ve been staying at the hotels reasonably regularly for the past twenty years (and I’m only 27, so the majority of my life), but also because it’s well-known to be one of the best luxury hotels in France’s capital. From start to finish our stay was everything I had dreamed of and more, and I’m so excited to tell you about our stay!

We arrived midday Saturday and were instantly in awe of the architecture and beautiful interiors. The staff showed us into a little parlour room where we could drink tea and nibble on French croissants, financiers, and mini chocolates, while we waited to be checked in. This was really lovely and made us feel instantly relaxed and at-ease after a rather stressful flight. We took in our surroundings and planned what we wanted to do for the rest of the afternoon, and were honestly just a little overwhelmed by how beautiful the hotel was.

The hotel is an old mansion built in 1899 for Prince Roland Bonaparte, and was restored by Shangri-La back in 2010 and turned into a hotel. They’ve lovingly restored it and kept many of the original features, but of course the signature Shangri-La scent fills your nostrils as soon as you enter, and instantly reminded me that I was ‘home’, so to speak. The little parlour rooms and the grand staircase were my favourite aspects, as well as the huge subterranean swimming pool in the old stables!

After finishing our tea and pastries we were shown up to our Eiffel Tower View Room on the 6th floor. I was slightly disappointed at first as the room was really modern with low ceilings and wide but short windows, and I’d been SO looking forward to staying in one of the older styled rooms with the beautiful floor-to-ceiling french windows and historical features, but. Then I saw the view. And then I also saw the view from the bathroom. And my jaw dropped and I may have squealed.

The room itself may not have been particularly photogenic, but the view certainly was! We poured glasses of V***e Clicquot, toasted to our adventure, and nibbled on gold-leaf covered macarons whilst staring at the Eiffel Tower. We were unmistakably in Paris.

My Australian best friend and I had been dreaming of this trip for almost eleven years, and now it was finally coming true. Eleven years ago we were sat in the school playground planning our Europe trip, and writing out lists of clothes we would take, cities we would visit, and how much budget we would need for train fares and hostels. We were 17 and had waitressing jobs, and just wanted to finish school so we could travel.Life and university got in the way, but eleven years later we’ve both built up our careers and dreams, and we finally got to visit Paris together. But instead of staying in a hostel, we were in one of the most luxurious hotels in Paris eating macarons covered in gold. It was a surreal and emotional ‘pinch-me’ moment, and we may have teared up a little.

The room itself had everything you could possibly need, including a huge walk-in-wardrobe, a gigantic bed, and a bathroom filled with amenities should have have forgotten your toothbrush, toothpaste, or even a razor.After investigating the room we headed down to the pool and spa for a relaxing half hour before hitting the city. There isn’t much of a spa at the hotel, there’s just the huge swimming pool, and then a sauna in the women’s changing rooms. We were a little disappointed there wasn’t a steam room, but we just spent some extra time in the sauna instead.

Whilst staying at the hotel we were also lucky enough to dine at their Michelin-starred Cantonese restaurant, Shang Palace. You may have seen the evening on my Instagram stories, but essentially we ate so much that we had to abandon our plans to go bar-crawling in Montmatre, and go straight to bed afterward to sleep! The head chef kindly put together a tasting menu for us, and my goodness everything was just incredible. Our absolute favourites though were actually two of the starter dishes; the Red-rice flour rolls with shrimp, and Fried eggplant glazed with gravy, sesame, and ginger.

As well as Shang Palace the hotel also have a two-Michelin starred restaurant, and the more relaxed breakfast room where a huge buffet breakfast is laid out. I was really impressed with the breakfast and it was actually one of the best hotel breakfasts I’ve ever had. They also do a la carte, and so the first morning I chose an omelette (which was literally the most perfect omelette I have ever had in my life), and the second morning I opted for the french toast (which I decorated with berries and apricot jam and greek yoghurt from the buffet).

Service-wise every member of staff we had contact with was incredible. They went above and beyond during our entire stay, and made us feel so welcome. Caitlin was devastated when we left and said they made her feel like she was part of a family they were all just so friendly, and both of us agreed that one day we will go back there and stay longer, as two nights just didn’t feel like enough!

Coolstorybob

13/12/2021

11/12/2021

07/12/2021

04/12/2021

04/12/2021

Address

Telephone

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share