Ah, Paris (said with a Parisian accent). How I love thee!
I have wanted to go to France since I did a project on
Marseilles in a French class in Jr. High. I planned to go during my first trip
to London in 2012, and when that didn’t work out I wondered if I would ever
make it. Thanks to my best friend moving to London for school I got a second
chance in 2013!
Day trip to Paris while visiting her? Why not!
So, we got up at 3am, waited for a night bus… to the train station…
to catch the Chunnel to Paris. Once in Paris, we began a whirlwind 9-hour
walking tour of the magnificent city that I can’t wait to visit again!
My first glimpse of the city (not including the train station or the Metro):
First stop: The Concord. I was fascinated by this fountain:
Next stop: Crepes from a random stand in a park. Yum!! Only
wish I had bought two…
At this point we realized it was much warmer than we planned for. So, we made a quick pit-stop at H&M for my friend to buy a dress before walking up to the Arch de Triumph
We walked a few more miles (think I’m exaggerating? I’m not! See the map at the end of the post…) before stopping for some lunch in the gardens outside the Louver. Who knew that a fresh baguette, Brie, and some lettuce and tomato could taste so heavenly? And then follow that up with beautiful gelato. Amazing!
That gave us some additional energy to explore, and be silly…
Our next major stop was Notre Dame, which took us along the
Seine and over some bridges.
I’m not entirely sure which I took more pictures of – the Eiffel Tower, or Notre Dame. Both are so captivating. And I really couldn’t believe that I was seeing either of them in person. Me? How could that be?!
Next came the time for making hard decisions (and
determining that I simply had to return to Paris again someday…) about how to
spend out last couple of hours in Paris before heading back to the train to
London. After learning we could not take a riverboat one-way, we decided to hop
on the Metro and head to the Eiffel Tower.
Turns out it was cheaper, and the line was significantly
shorter, to walk up the stairs instead of taking the elevator (what’s really
shocking is that that is not always the case!). After walking nearly 8 miles in
as many hours, what’s a few hundred stairs? :)
The views were incredible the whole way up! While I want to
go back and go all the way to the very top, I am grateful for the chance I had
to climb those stairs and enjoy that experience.
I’m already making plans to go back…and stay for longer…and
venture a little further…and maybe take the train a little more….
