Meag Rad

We made it to Paris! The three hour flight landed us at CDG around 10am on the 20th leaving us plenty of time to plan for a full day. I should probably mention that we booked everything through AirBNB and we could not be happier with the apartment we chose! 

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We stayed 6 short blocks from the Eiffel Tower and 3 blocks from the train which we became very accustomed to during our stay. The trains in Paris are very similar to the electric lines in Chicago so we had no trouble getting from place to place through transfers when we couldn’t physically walk anymore. 

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We had some trouble finding our apartment at first because the street layouts make absolutely no numerical sense and hardly anyone we saw spoke a lick of English. Though we stayed on the Avenue de Segur (named the same as the train stop) and we found 40 & 42 de Segur, we for the life of us, could not find 41 or 43. After two failed attempts at asking for directions and our third trip down the block we decided to walk in the opposite direction… this worked in our favor when we found our apartment three blocks down from its predecessor and successor. 

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Anyways…

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The first thing we did was walk the six blocks to the Eiffel Tower, obviously! I’ve seen several movies, countless posters and heard plenty of stories about the structure but nothing compares to seeing it in person for the first time. After taking a few pictures in the Parc du Champ de Mars we got in the short line to go to the very top! The views were great from but personally, I think the ride up was the best part. 

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After taking 8 million pictures/ videos, we made the journey back down and walked the few blocks to the beautiful and chaotic Arc de Triomphe followed by a walk along the most famous shopping avenue in Paris, the Champs Elysées, and a pass-by of the army museum, Musée de l'Armée. 

 

p.s. Anyone that was worried about my safety while I was in Paris should find comfort in the fact that everywhere I went there was an officer or some army personnel with a giant assault riffle hanging around their neck no more than 20 feet away… I’ve never felt so safe in my life! 

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The second day brought on the tour of the Palace of Versailles and a TON of walking. We decided to take a tour with a guide in order to skip the long lines and get personal insight on the grounds. We went with fat tire tours and had a guide named Jerricca, she was amazing! (Side note: she is from Canada and came to Paris to be a nanny for a year, ended up meeting a guy and never went home… #goals) The garden tour was two hours followed by a one hour audio tour. I would definitely suggest seeing the Palace if you ever get the chance! And only 20 minutes outside the city! We followed this up with the love lock bridge and a trip to the outside of Notre Dame while waiting for our friend Aari’s plane to land!

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Day three (07.22.16) was our last full day in Paris and our most attraction filled now that Aari had arrived. We began the day with the Musée du Louvre! The outside was everything I ever thought it would be and more. The glass, exposed structure and historic palace were incredible. Because we got there just as it was opening, we were able to get a lot of pictures outside before people started flooding in. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the inside. Aari and I held our own among the masses in the crowd to see the Mona Lisa and eventually made it to the front but we definitely took a few elbows to the face and selfie sticks to the back of the head on the way up. Not only was it impossible to get up there, getting back out was just as bad! While it was an experience to see such a big part of history, it is not an experience I would like to relive. (Suggestion: bring a camera with a good zoom and steer clear of moms on power trips) After seeing a few of the exhibitions we went on our way to the next destination, Centre Georges Pompidou (an art museum by Renzo Piano). Next was Notre Dame followed by Sainte-Chapelle, both chapels filled with amazing floor to ceiling stained glass. Being that it was our last night in town and so conveniently a Friday night, we went to the Parc du Champ de Mars to watch the lighting of the Eiffel Tower. They light it every night at 10pm and it sparkles on the hour for 5 minutes until 1am. It was the perfect end to our trip… other than the macaroons I ate at the airport. haha

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Obviously all of this sight seeing wouldn’t be complete without incredible coffee and croissants to jump-start our mornings, savory lunch entrees to get us to our next destination, the sweet deserts we ate to outweigh the bitter locals or all the wine we drank to forget about our blisters. Until next time, Paris! Onto Venice!