Wow, what a trip! All I can say is that Paris is just as magical as I remembered from when I visited years ago with my grandma and sister. There is something about being there that gives you a “pinch me” surreal feeling. Even though it was a short trip of 2 days, I was so grateful to go and get to see some familiar and friendly faces (shoutout Alice, Jordan and Amanda.)
The first day, I arrived around 9:30 am and navigated the metro to a cafe near my friend Amanda’s apartment in the city. She let me there and we had some coffee and breakfast sandwiches before heading to her place to drop off my bag. Her apartment had a beautiful balcony view and was spacious for Europe. After I had settled myself and put stuff down, I was ready to go.
She took me first to Musée d’Orsay which was filled with beautiful impressionist art and iconic views of the city through its famous glass clock window. We also walked along the Seine and sat and caught up on each other’s lives. The weather was absolutely perfect: warm and very sunny.
Once we got hungry, we stopped for food near the bookstore: Shakespeare and Company and then wandered around inside looking at its beautiful decor and large book selection. We finished our wandering by heading to Montmartre to watch the sun go down and overlook the city. There we ate crepes and took lots of pictures in the beautiful golden light. We headed back to her apartment again afterwards to charge our phones and unwind a bit before we needed to meet Alice and Jordan at our Airb&b.
We ended up getting to the Airb&b around 8:30 pm and settled in. It was beautiful and spacious and clean and had a nice balcony with a street view, located very centrally. We put up some wall decorations Jordan and Alice had brought which were very valentines themed and brought out a bottle of wine.
Then we changed for dinner and found a cute nearby restaurant to eat a late dinner. The food was much needed after a busy day and it was so lovely to see Jordan and Alice after so much time away. After dinner, we watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle and headed back to Airb&b after parting ways with Amanda until the next day. Jordan, Alice and I drank wine before bed and caught each other up on Abroad so far.
Paris day two was equally as jam-packed. We woke up early-ish and met up a boulangerie near the Eiffel Tower. There we ate chocolate croissants and purchased two baguettes for a picnic later. We stopped at a second place for coffee before heading over to the tower to take some pictures and enjoy the day.
After many photos and eating a whole baguette, we headed to Notre Dame to wander and then stopped for ice cream afterwards. We saw protestors from inside the cafe while we were inside which was both scary and exciting. Our final stop was The Louvre where we spent much of the day. We got crepes at a little truck right outside the museum and then took in some of the art. We also checked out the shopping area in the lower floor of the louvre and spent sunset in the park full of sculptures surrounding the louvre. The sky looked like cotton candy and it was the perfect place to end a peaceful and beautiful day with friends.
Paris was the dose of new experiences surrounded by old friends that I felt that I needed. It really put me at ease and made me appreciate how lucky I am in my life. Below are some fond memories from the trip.
The Bucketlister 