Days in Paris: One
Hours slept: five?
Amount of exercise done: 26,793 steps
Love at first sight for me happened when I was about 11 or 12 years old and I heard my mothers bosses talk in French. This love only continued to increase as I began to take french courses which would then lead it to be my minor when in college.
So it’s been 15 years of loving a language. Studying it so meticulously, in the hope that when you have the opportunity to go to France you can utilize it. Well good people, that moment finally arrived and let me tell you, those 15 years were parfait!
We took the Eurostar from London to Paris. It was extremely convenient and affordable. Since we did the Eurostar Snap, we found out our departure time 2 days before. Luckily we had an early departure from London and would be in Paris by 10 a.m. And we departed the next day at 3:15 pm. So together, this gave us a good amount of time.
Upon arriving in Paris, we took an 8 minute walk from Gare du Nord to Le Village Hostel in Montmartre, where we were staying for the night. Immediately we were welcomed by the friendly international staff who stored our bags and provided us with maps and metro information.
Not wanting to lose anytime, I mapped out a walking tour that took us to:
- Les Galleries Lafayette and the Opera
- The Louvre and Jardín Tuileries
- Les Champs Élysée and L’Arc de Triomphe
- Trocadéro and La Tour Eiffel
While this may seem like a lot of walking we made sure to include various coffee/ pastry breaks and to be quite honest we were used to it. Once we got to Les Galleries Lafayette, we stopped at Angelina Bakery and had a cafe au lait with a petit croissant and pain au chocolat. It was delicious!
Then after we finished taking pictures outside the Louvre and walking among les jardins, we stopped at the original Laduree. We enjoyed macaroons and I ordered an Orangina.
Unfortunately by this point in time it began to drizzle. However, Skylar and I were determined. We continued along and made it to L’Arc de triomphe where we climbed up the stairs for a gorgeous sunset view of Paris. Although foggy, there’s no mistaking the beauty of the city of lights.
Unfortunately and fortunately, once we climbed down and began making our way to Trocadéro, it began to rain. So much so that we stopped at a local bar called l’Etoile Vénitienne. Originally this was a place where we would wait out the rain and dry off. It turned into a glass of wine, an amazing bartender who allowed me to charge my phone and steak frites. It was a fantastic accident waiting to happen.
Once we were done with dinner and continued on our way, we realized the rain cleared the fog and now we had gorgeous views of the city. We boarded our river cruise with Bateaux Parisiennes and enjoyed the city of lights through the eyes of the Seine River. We even got the treat the see the Eiffel Tower light show from a good distance.
Afterwards we strolled along the Seine as we made our way to la Tour Eiffel and imagined the magnificent metal human marvel.
After seeing that beauty, I realized that Paris will always have my heart. Lucky for me, while this may have been the end of day one, we still had another day in Paris!
The Unnatural Packer 