Hey Guys!
My parents recently flew into England to spend 3 days in Paris with my Hubby and I. My husband and I wanted to go to Paris to celebrate 2 years of marriage and 10 years together so what better place to do it in than the city of love! If you didn't know, we are currently living in England for the rest of the year (Check out our House tour HERE).
I wanted to share where we went, traveling tips, and photos from our trip. Enjoy!
Day 1: We flew out on a Friday afternoon on the airline Flybe. This is a low value airline since the flight was only an hour long. It was a great airline and I HIGHLY recommend checking it out. When we landed in Paris we took a train to our hotel. We bought a travel card similar to the one we got in London (Check out my London Travel Guide HERE) so that we could ride trains, subways and buses as much as we wanted for the 3 days we were in Paris. The train was nice and clean and it only took 45 minutes! It was cool to see the scenery outside change from country to cityscapes! Once we got into the city it was a short walk to our hotel. We stayed HERE and loved how close it was to the train station. I recommend staying there because of location, amenities, and atmosphere. It is also inexpensive! It is a bit noisy at night so if that bothers you than I would stay somewhere else. Hotels get more expensive the closer they are to the attractions like the Louvre, Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dome so we decided to stay in one that was not close to these. But we were only 20 min away from all of those attractions by bus or subway.
After we settled into our hotel we went out for dinner. We went to a tiny place by our hotel and had the most delicious Italian dinner, wine and ice cream! I don't remember what the name was but everyone was super polite especially since we didn't speak French! After dinner we just went back to our hotel to rest up for the travels ahead.
Day 2 was our busiest day. I planned for us to visit the Lourve, the Eiffel Tower, and the Arc De Triomphe. We ate breakfast at our hotel than took the subway over to the Lourve. It opens at 9 am so we wanted to get there early since it can get very busy. I HIGHLY recommend doing this so that you can spend less time standing in line and more time seeing beautiful art! The Lourve is very big and almost impossible to see all in one day so we planned out the exhibits that we really wanted to see in the 3 hours we planned to be there. We chose to see the Mona Lisa, Egiptian artifacts, Royal furniture through the years, and some jewels! The outside of the Lourve is so beautiful! I recommend going accross the street and standing on a big concrete block next to the road to get the best picture of the Lourve! The muesum is so beautiful and I HIGHLY recommend visiting it if you have time. There is also a mini Arc outside that frames the big Arc in the distance!
After the Louvre we had a quick lunch and made our way to the Arc De Triomphe. This is a beautiful are full of many streets with shops, restarants and street vendors. As we were taking pictures in front of it we noticed you could go on top. We weren't planning to go to the top but realized the line was only 10 min long and decided to do it. I am so glad we did because the view was incredible! You can see everything and even the Eiffel Tower! We didn't plan on going up in the Eiffel Tower because we heard the line is hours long so I highly recommend going up in the Arc instead! Especially since you can see the Eiffel Tower from the top! It makes for great pictures! This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip.
After the Arc we stopped for some drinks and snacks than made our way to the Eiffel Tower. Even though I have seen the Tower in pictures it takes your breath away in real life! It is huge and truly magnificent. The line was so long to get to the top so we were so glad we went to the top of the Arc instead. You can buy tickets for these attractions ahead of time but we decided not to do this just in case the lines were still long. We didn't want to waste our limited time waiting in line. We instead wanted to walk and see as much as possible. I highly recommend getting a picture from under the Tower, and from both sides. Honestly any angle is beautiful! We than walked accross the street to a large stone staircase and saw the tower light up. It glitters every hour for 15 minutes starting at 7 pm and it took my breath away! I had to stop and take a moment to refelct because I was sitting in Paris, eating Macaroons, and watching the glittering Eiffel Tower in front of me. It was truly magical! You are allowed to drink anywhere in Paris so if I ever went back I would bring a bottle of wine and a blanket to the park right under the tower and watch the tower sparkle. Don't miss it!
Just like hotels, the closer restaurants are to main attractions the more expensive they are so we decided to walk a bit before finding an "American" restaurant. After that we went back to our hotel to rest up for our final day.
Our final day was Notre Dame day. We headed over to it and it is so beautiful. It is by a canal and some truly beautiful buildings. We went inside and words can't describe how gorgeous it is! It is free to go in and since we went on a Sunday there was a mass we could join. The stained glass was beautiful and it was cool to learn about the history of Notre Dame. Did you know it was the church that started the Gothic architecture movement? After that we walked around the art district and went to a street cafe. Paris has a ton of little cafes that have the yummiest sandwiches and coffee. We then walked along the canal in front of Notre Dame and checked out some of the vendors. I bought and painting of Paris by a local artist. If you want a unique souvenir or gift I highly recommend checking out the art.
We than decided to just walk the area and stumbled upon some other beautiful cathedrals, cool buildings, and souvenir shops. After that we headed back to the train station and flew home. Paris was truly magical and I am so glad I got to experience it with my Husband and Parents.
