If you haven’t read part 1 yet, you can find that here.
After a 2-hour train ride from London to Paris we have to taxi and went straight to our Airbnb. The Airbnb was really cute and it was just a quick 15-minute walk to the base of the Eiffel Tower. Even though it was quite late when we arrived, we walked there our first night and as soon as we got to the base the lights started twinkling! At the Eiffel Tower there are people who are trying to sell you all sorts of stuff while you’re hanging out there, so we were approached by so many people to buy wine and trinketts. We didn’t buy anything. After staring at the Eiffel Tower for a little bit, we walked to a nearby café and got crepes to go.
This was our first experience having to speak French with anyone – I think I did a decent job (but all I did was say hello and ask if they spoke English)! This crepe was the start of my Parisian crepe eating demise. We ate the crepes and walked back to the AirBnb, while licking nutella off our fingers.
The next morning we woke up and walked to a nearby café in hopes of coffee and croissants. I’m not a big coffee drinker but I can absolutely say that the coffee in Paris is extra gross. I think I basically ordered what should have been the equivalent of an iced coffee and it tasted like dirty water. However, the croissant was phenomenal! We continued on our way to the Saint Michel Fountain, which is where we would start a Sandemans walking tour!
The tour was awesome and really helped us explore a bit of Paris as well as learn/remember a bit about French history. We start off by going towards the Notre Dame in learning a bit about the architecture there! We continued along the tour seeing the Tuileries Gardens, the Assemblee Nationale, the Louvre, the Palais Royal, the Latin Quarter, Pont Neuf, Place de la Concorde, Ille-de-la-Cite, Palace of Justice, and the Sainte Chapelle! All of it was beautiful!
One of my favorite things to learn about was the renovation of the city (called Haussmann’s Renovation) – back in the day (like the 1850’s) all the medieval towns of Paris were knocked down and reconstructed. This means all the architecture there is very consistent, which made it so, so, so pretty!
After the tour, we went to lunch at a café and got crepes and wine. We continued to the Arc de Triomphe and by the time we got there, we were exhausted. It was quite hot in Paris. But we did get a photo of the two of us together and I think it’s the only non-selfie from the trip!
We then went back to the AirBnb and took a nap. Post-nap we walked the Champs Elysees and headed toward the Jardins du Trocadéro. We sat in the garden for a little while, then walked to the base of the Eiffel Tower. Then we went on a Seine River boat ride! This was definitely a highlight of our time in Paris. It was such a beautiful night and it was very cool to see the city from the river. The ride went from the Eiffel Tower to the Notre Dame and back. When we arrived back at the Eiffel Tower, the lights had just turned back on and started twinkling again! We got crepes once we got off and walked back to the AirBnb. Right next to our AirBnb was a crepe street vendor… and since we didn’t have dinner… I got myself another crepe.
The next day, we woke up and went to Kozy Salon for croissants and coffee. This café was delicious – much better than our experience the day before. We then headed to Tour Montparnasse, the only skyscraper in Paris. We went up to the 59th floor to go see the rooftop view! It was SO beautiful! We stayed up there for a while, just staring at the view and figuring out what we were seeing.
We then walked back to the AirBnb, which was next to the Invalides. I dropped off my camera and put flip flops on, then we walked down the street to a bakery to get a baguette and to a shop to get cheese, chocolate, and wine! We took our snacks to the field in front of the Invalides and had a little picnic lunch. We then fell asleep in the grass for like an hour. I woke up and was hungry… so I went back to that same street vendor from the night before and got a crepe… again… of course.
After some relaxation, we went to shower and get ready for dinner. We headed toward Montmarte and stopped at the Basilica. We walked around the streets of Montmarte, which was very artsy and cute – I really liked it. We saw the house where Van Gogh lived and then got dinner. After dinner, we walked around some more, got crepes for dessert, and headed down the hill to see Moulin Rouge! Then we went to the Tuileries Gardens, where we just walked around and ate macarons. We walked back to the AirBnb and went to bed.
The next morning we were on our way to Amsterdam!
