My Swiss and Paris trip & Packing for it

This time last weekend, I was in Paris.

Eiffel Tower at Night: One of the most beautiful sights I have seen

I was actually on a business trip to Switzerland, but I snuck some time out on the weekend to visit the Fashion Capital of the World - Paris. I had less than 36 hours in Paris, and it was too less to be honest. It is a beautiful city & deserves at least a week.

I was quite excited & apprehensive when packing for the trip, I'm one of those people who cannot stand cold weather at all (I can't stand summers either here in Mumbai. I guess I'm just difficult to please), but at the same time I didn't want to look out of place. Ki of Dressing Up for Life helped me quite a bit when packing warm clothes for the trip and so did Mehak's / Peaches & Blush post on her Europe trip (read it here) I thought I'd share my packing list here, in case any of you might be planning a trip to colder climates.


1. In Paris, the local girls wear very monochrome colors like black, navy, beige, white/cream & grey. The only splash of color in their outfit will be the scarf. I too carried mostly neutral colors (read: Black) as I was packing for office work as well, plus I really didn't want to look like tourist and neutral colors are very easy to wear coz everything matches everything. Parisian women like to wear black fitted trousers, and jeans are all dark wash, fitted. I also had a woolen beanie cap from Accessorize, but I left it behind at Eiffel Tower. :-(

2. The streets in Paris & most parts of Swiss are cobbled, so walking on them in heels is a bit tough. But if you are a Mumbai girl, you will have most probably negotiated potholed pavements in heels, and this cobbled pathways are like clouds. However, since I wanted to walk around & explore the cities, I packed two pairs of flat leather black & beige oxford shoes from Clark's. They served me rather well. I also took knee length woolen socks as the cold from the snow does travel up the feet. Under any circumstances don't carry your white trainers - you will instantly stand out in Paris. Wear leather. Wear boots or oxfords.

3. Paris is really cold in winter and windy as well at times, in Swiss it was snowing everywhere. So Ki advised me to layer well. First a thermal, followed by my top, a thin woolen sweater (I took a black one) and finally a long, knee length beige coat on top (carry this on you, in the flight, it'll save luggage space). I additionally purchased a couple of woolen scarfs from Paris. This kept me warm even when it was snowing a lot in Zurich. I also carried some woolen gloves, but I didn't wear them (I hate gloves) and ended up with a lot of internal bleeding injuries because of the cold. So don't make the same mistake I did. I thought I was coming down with Frost Bite. (Yes, I'm also a hypochondriac) I also took a knee length black dress just in case and my DKNY Cozy in both black & white.

4. Makeup: I carried very basic makeup. Revlon Mulled Wine Lipstick, Faces Metal Brown Eyeliner, NYX Red Cheeks Cream Blush, Ponds TM & Maybelline Peach Bloom Lip Balm. That was it. It was so cold there that my cheeks naturally turned pink & I really didn't need to use the blush at all. Most days I used the brown eyeliner & peach lip balm.

5. Skincare: Again very basic, I carried Neutrogena Norwegian Formula Hand Cream as moisturizer for the hands & face, (yea, I used it on my face & am glad to report that I didn't break out at all & neither did I get any flaky dry bits) sunscreen  Elovera cream and TBS Vit E Cream Cleanser. I forgot to carry Body Butter & had really dry legs. I skipped hair care & used the hotel prdts instead.

6. Accessories: I didn't carry any. I just wore tiny silver hoops and nothing else.

I essentially packed very light. I shopped a bit for skincare in French Pharmacies and also made a lot of notes on the makeup trends in both Paris & Swiss, but I'll save those for my next post.

Have you been to Paris or Switzerland? How do you pack for cold climate trips?