Jordan and I wanted to hit as many cities on our two-week trip as we could without completely short-changing any. Knowing that two days were already shot because of travel we settled on four cities for three days each.
Our first city was Paris. We wanted to hit the highlights and hope that a return trip someday could fill in the rest.
Day One:
On our first day we hit the streets bright and early. We got up, got dressed, and started walking downtown from our AirBnb in the 10th Arrondissement. We stopped halfway at the first decent looking café we saw and grabbed coffee and a croissant. Leading up to the trip, I looked up places where you could get the best coffee, the best croissant, the absolute best of each thing. Once we arrived, reality set in. If we wanted to make it to all the places we wanted to see, we would have to settle for convenience. This wasn’t the worst thing, because every croissant I had in Paris was the best croissant I had ever eaten.
Our first stop was Notre Dame. Even with our early morning arrival, the line for Notre Dame was pretty long. We agreed that the tour inside would be saved for our next visit and instead walked around the massive church, admiring the architecture and the gargoyles.
Notre Damn, we look good
From there, we followed the Seine until we reached the Eiffel Tower. While there we were approached by a woman with a clipboard asking us to sign a petition. I quickly got Jordan and I out of the interaction, knowing that this is a common scam, especially in tourist-heavy parts of Paris. Your first sign that this is a scam is that neither of us are anything close to qualifying as a constituent in Paris, so our signature does nothing. We found a nice bench to sit on and admire the scene. Nothing prepared us for how massive and imposing the Eiffel Tower is, and we found ourselves even more impressed than we expected.
Lunch was, again, at a café stop on our walk towards the Arc de Triomphe. We ordered nutella crepes and lemonade to drink. I had not realized that lemonade is completely different in Europe. Expecting juice, I received a soda.
After lunch, we gave my sore feet a rest and rented Velb bikes. These bikes have stations all over the city and were fairly easy to check out and ride. We rode the bikes to the Arc. This landmark we entered. We were blown away by the beautiful details covering the Arc.
Once we reached the top, we were treated to an incredible view of Paris.
We descended the stairs and walked along the Champs d’Elysee. This was alright, but we aren’t big into shopping so this wasn’t our scene. From here we made our way walking back to our AirBnb. We stopped on a bench at the Jardin des Tuileries to rest our feet and people watch. More accurately, to watch people walk their dogs. I got excited seeing a French Bulldog while in France and Jordan teased me saying, “They just call them bulldogs here.”
On our walk back, we happened upon Laduree Paris Royale. I told Jordan that we absolutely had to stop and buy some of their famous macarons. We got them in rose petal, chocolate, and cognac flavors and then kept on walking through Montmartre. We admired the beautiful neighborhood, and I struggled making it uphill.
We popped into a Carrefour to grab some camembert and a bottle of bordeaux. I couldn’t believe how cheap it was! We walked another block to a boulanger to get a baguette. We took our food and wine back to our studio apartment and enjoyed them for dinner.
Day Two:
The next morning we got up and took the RER to Versailles. Jordan being a Social Studies teacher and I having a BA in History, Versailles was a must-see for us. We learned the hard way to be careful which line you take to Versailles, as ours was one that backtracks and does a massive loop before actually heading in the right direction.
Hopping off the train we were surprised by how little signage there was. We luckily had already downloaded the area on Google Maps so we used that to find our way into town. As we made our way there our jaws dropped at the sheer size of the palace. We also thanked ourselves for getting up early and taking the first train to Versailles, because the line to get in was mercifully short.
After we got in, paid, and got our audio tour guides, we began exploring the gaudy and historic palace. We couldn’t believe the absolute decadence. Jordan and I were also giddy to see paintings we recognized from textbooks, one being a painting he used in his own lessons to students in his World History course.
We grabbed a café au lait after we finished with the palace and set out for the gardens. The garden was bigger than most parks I have visited. We wound our way through shrubbery and found a sandwich stand where we ate our lunch on a bench in the beautiful, vast garden.
When we had our fill of the gardens, we left the palace grounds and sought out the Royal Tennis Courts. We were impressed by the sight, knowing the significance it had in the French Revolution. However, we were disappointed as we were unable to go inside. We took one last stroll through the quaint town before taking the RER back to Paris.
Getting off at a stop near Notre Dame, we walked around parts of the neighborhood we missed. We checked out the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore and geeked out over all the great authors like Fitzgerald and Hemingway who spent their time there. We then made our way to Berthillon to have the best ice cream I have ever had. Never had I experienced such incredible flavors.
We walked back up to Montmartre and had dinner at L’ete en Pente Douce. We had bordeaux and shared some delicious pot roast with gnocchi, along with a cheese board. After dinner we went to a few bars to have some more wine before making our way to Sacre Coeur. The views from Sacre Coeur were unbelievable (and free!). A few men paced up and down selling Heinekens out of a 12 pack. Jordan was too amused not to buy one. We drank our beers sitting in the grass and enjoyed the views.
We ended our night at a nearby bar called Floors that offered a view of Sacre Coeur from its rooftop. We drank and fondly looked back at where we just were.
Day Three:
I’m kind of cheating here. Our third day we went to the airport and flew to Berlin. However, we came back to Paris at the end of our trip. I’m counting those activities as day three.
On our return to Paris, we visited the Louvre. We ended up getting an AirBnb experience and had a man billing himself as both and art expert and comedian give us a tour. The experience was a reasonable price and included our tickets into the Louvre, so we were sold.
While both Jordan and I are history buffs, we aren’t extremely knowledgeable in the realm of art. Sure, some pieces I can tell you about, but most of what I see in a museum I only appreciate aesthetically. Cedrik met us in the lobby and we chatted about a shared love for Frank Zappa while waiting for the rest of our group to arrive. Once everyone was present, Cedrik brought us through a fantastic tour of the famed art museum.
Cedrik’s tour was as advertised. Jordan and I learned a lot about the pieces we saw, and we laughed a lot. We were able to get much more out of the Louvre this way than we would have if left to our own devices.
We ended our last night at a restaurant in the very trendy Latin Quarter neighborhood. We saved so much money on our trip by eating groceries rather than at restaurants, so we thought we would have a nice date night to celebrate being under budget.
We chose a cozy restaurant called Au Port du Salut. We put on the nicest clothes that we brought and made dinner reservations. Of course, we didn’t end up needing them because we wanted to eat much earlier than the French would normally eat. Feeling adventurous, we took the recommendation from our friendly blonde server to order the veal kidneys as an appetizer. Thankfully, it was a great recommendation! For dinner, I chose the honeyed lamb and J chose the duck confit. Every sip of the bordeaux our server recommended and every bite of our food felt heavenly. Halfway through our meal, a young French woman sat at the piano and performed jazz standards. Our last night could not have been more magical!
City of Lights
When we told friends we were going to Paris, an unbelievable amount of them said not to. They told us it was their least favorite European city, that it was dirty, disappointing, and that the people were rude. I’m not sure if my expectations changed because of this, but Jordan and I really enjoyed Paris. We saw so much beauty and history, and we never once had a negative interaction with the locals (unless you count being catcalled when I was walking alone, but that is a different thing entirely). Don’t let naysayers keep you from visiting this amazing city!
