Paris, France

Paris, France (Stop #5 on our Road Trip)

Paris!  I was very excited about this one.  I mean, most of the interior design elements and furniture that I admire is from France or French inspired.  I was so excited to visit, especially with my family.  We left our home-stay in Arlon, Belgium and drove about 4 hours away to get to our new apartment that we had rented outside of the city for one night.  

France is beautiful and I was the one that had to drive along the countryside to get there.  It was actually a pretty relaxing drive and a lot different looking than the Germany country side (and the speed limits are a lot slower).  To save money again, we booked an apartment with airbnb.com and we stayed a bit outside of the city.  Staying in the city center would have cost a lot more and we didn't want to drive in the city either.  We kind of got a late start and arrived at our apartment around 2 pm.  We had a bit of a problem with the parking situation.  Our host's website said "free parking", but when we got there they said that we had to reserve the free parking in advance and we had to find a place to park in the street!  This was very frustrating and it took us about two hours to find a good spot and then head to the metro line to get to the city.

We finally figured things out and thankfully Brandon had already visited Paris a few months previous to our trip so he was very good at helping us navigate the metro into the city.  A few line switches and by 4 pm we finally made it into the city.  This was  a very late start for us and getting into the city at 4 pm wasn't exactly what we had planned, but we had to roll with it.  There was so much to get to.  Straight out of the metro we turned the block and this is what we saw...

From what I had been hearing for a long time was the Eiffel Tower is so overrated and not a big deal.  I even heard this from Brandon so my expectations weren't too high. I'm sorry, but how jaded are you that the Eiffel Tower is "overrated"?  I thought it was beautiful.  It was so much bigger than I had thought and after all the hours of straight traveling it took to get there seeing the Tower was a relief and I was so excited.  Brandon and I even snuck a kiss under the Tower.

We thought about going up to the top.  We figured if we tried to go later on at night the line wouldn't be so long, but in the Summer I guess the line is always long.

With all the traveling, we were very hungry and needed dinner.  I was so excited to try French food as I'd already had some good food in Belgium.  We walked about a mile past the Eiffel Tower and sat down at a cafe style restaurant.  I wish I could remember the name of it but the food was on par.  I did take some pictures though.

I had duck confite with fries and one of the most amazing glasses of wine I've ever had.  And my brother an I split some escargot (snails) and fromage (cheese).  The escargot was good, but it wasn't as good as the escargot that I've also tried in Jamaica.  I'm a cheese lover and had to try the cheese in France.  It was a Camembert which is similar to Brie.  The cheese was great.

This was a good dinner.  Our waiter was very entertaining (and a little cocky).  He even popped in one of our pics (uninvited).  What a character.

We basically only had a half of day to hoof it around the city and see as much as possible.  I don't know how to stress this enough, but HALF A DAY IN PARIS IS NOT ENOUGH.  Even one day in Paris is not enough.  I don't know what I was thinking when I planned only one day in Paris.  This is a HUGE city and all of the attractions are spread about.  If you do go to Paris spend AT LEAST TWO NIGHTS there.  But we were determined to see the basics at least so we headed to the Louvre.

Of course it was closed on a Tuesday, but we just enjoyed the weather and taking pictures of the views outside.  Plus my brother (the chef) wanted to go to this chocolate restaurant he was raving about that was a few blocks away from the Louvre called, Angelina.  Randomly, that was closed too.  Tough break.  Haha, I should also mentioned that right after this we tried to make it to the Catacombs which Brandon was super excited to see.  Can you guess if it was open?  That's okay, this just gives me a reason to go back.

 Above, The Arc De Triomphe, built to commemorate Napoleon's military victories.  Below, the Seine River.

No time to check out the shopping district in Paris which is what every girl dreams of, so I took a window picture and we moved on.

This was a long day, though a short day actually in Paris and we did sooo much walking.  Brandon calculated that we must have done 10 + miles of walking in 7 hours which is how much time we actually spent in the city.  We made our way back on the metro and to our apartment for the night.

Like I mentioned above, Paris cannot be done in a day.  There is too much to see and it is too spread out.  I didn't get to show you another side of Paris, just the great time I had seeing the main attractions.  Save yourself the trouble and book an extra night.  It will be worth it.  If I had more time I would have loved to do so many more things, at the very least check out the shopping district, Paris fleas, Versailles, and The Catacombs.  Germany borders France so I'm not too far away.  I'll definitely be back.   Maybe for a girls trip.

Favorite Thing about Paris:

Sounds cliche but the Eiffel Tower.  It wasn't "overrated" for me.

Last Stop: Strasbourg, France

If you only had 7 hours in Paris, what would you do?  And, Go!

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