Since I was a little girl, I would fantasize about and romanticize the city of Paris. The Eiffel Tower, speaking the French language to locals, and doing it all with the person I love most. If only I could tell that little girl how her dream became reality this weekend. Paris is the city of love and lights, and definitely one of my greatest adventures thus far. Over the past four days, we have been running through the streets of Paris and making it our own. We had a packed schedule so I'm going to take you day by day.
As soon as I got off the plane, I rushed through the airport to meet up with my boyfriend, RJ. We took the metro to our hotel which was conveniently located six minutes from the tower (we could even see it from our hotel room window, which was dreamy). The Eiffel Tower is just as beautiful as I heard people say, if not better and bigger in real life. It was my number one thing to see in Paris and I am happy to say I spent most of my time looking at the tower. It is unreal at night all lit up and sparkling. It sparkles for five minutes every hour on the hour from 8pm to midnight and never gets old, it's magical every time.
On the eve of the first day, we got dinner at a local restaurant called Castel Cafe. The food was as I expected, we ordered french fries (but they are just fries in France) and french onion soup (just onion soup in France) and salad. I am not embarrassed to say that we did in fact eat french onion soup once a day for four days straight. If you are a soup lover of the onion kind, France should be your next vacation solely to try it. I can talk about this soup forever, so let's move on.
We made lists of what we wanted to see and accomplish each day but didn't set alarms to wake up early for any of them. Our day two itinerary consisted of:
1. The Eiffel Tower (again)
2. The Arc de Triomphe
3. Notre Dame Cathedral
4. Lunch at Café de Flore
5. Dinner for our two year anniversary at Café de l'Homme
When I was preparing to go to Paris, I watched YouTube videos and read lots of blogs that said it is nearly impossible to walk around and see the major sights in one day. They are all located in different arrondissements which are similar to districts throughout the city. Paris has 20 Arrondissements and the major sights are located in the 1st, 4th, 7th, 8th, 12th, and 18th. However, by taking the metro around town combined with walking, we found it rather easy to get to each place on our itinerary plus other sights we stumbled upon.
We started local at the Eiffel Tower in the 7th Arrondissement for some self timer photos and a walk around the river. On our walk we stopped at the Flame of Liberty and even made our way to the Arc de Triomphe (in the 8th Arrondissement). The streets were scenic and mostly walkable with directions on my phone so we didn't get lost. The Arc was really interesting to see and what made it different from any other attraction was that there was a traffic circle around it. Cars drove around the Arc de Triomphe all day long and because of that, there is an underground tunnel that people must walk through to get to the center. We were not allowed to cross the major traffic, although who would want to risk it anyways.
From the Arc, we took the metro to Café de Flore for lunch and happened to eat the best French onion soup ever. I ordered the social media famous hot chocolate with the whipped cream and it was worth $10, let me tell you. The chocolate was so rich and the waiter poured it in my tea cup right at the table. This lunch lasted about two hours so if you're in a rush, I would recommend grabbing something small from a cafe counter. However it was nice for us to slow down, talk, and eat after a long morning.
By 3pm we made it to Notre Dame Cathedral. It is still being redone from the fire a few years back but its beauty was still obvious. At some of the main attractions like the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Sacre Cœur, there is a person with a huge vintage camera who takes photos of tourists. They are usually free and the photos are printed on a brown paper that looks like it's on the front of a newspaper. We found the lady at Notre Dame and got our picture taken. It took less than a minute and is a super cute souvenir idea (especially because it's free!).
Dinner for our two year anniversary was at Café de l'Homme and to say it was an incredible view and most delicious dinner I have ever had would not be a lie. We had reservations outside for 7pm, which is right when they open and took the metro there from our hotel. In order to make a reservation outside, they ask for a deposit of $50 per person for the table but at the end of the meal, the amount paid goes to the bill. The view was the Eiffel Tower all lit up and gorgeous and when it lit up on the hour, we had the perfect view to see it sparkle. Wine glass in hand, I (not so) patiently waited for 8pm so I could see the tower sparkle and the wait was definitely worth it.
When it's time to order food, we usually go crazy and basically order the entire menu. We got truffle pasta, steak, truffle mashed potatoes, regular mashed potatoes, and french fries. I love anything truffle and the truffle mashed potatoes didn't disappoint. They were two crispy squares of potato with truffle in between the layers that melted in my mouth when I took a bite.
We took our sweet time eating dinner and catching up but after a little bit, our food started to get cold because it was so windy out. The weather was not our best friend and the wind was blowing so hard at some points that glasses were falling off the table and breaking on the ground. The staff gave us blankets to stay warm as well as the option to go inside to finish the rest of our meal but nothing was separating me and this view.
A cheese course separated the main meal and dessert and by that time, we were sharing my side of the booth for the view (and to keep warm). The waiter put our silverware on the same side of the table which I thought was very cute. For dessert, I had a hard time picking what I wanted (shocker) so I asked the waiter for his opinion and he recommended the Mille-Feuille which is a pastry with chocolate and vanilla cream on top. It was delicious and I will forever get it at any restaurant that has it on their menu.
We finished the best meal of our lives thus far in three memorable hours and wish it could have been longer. Heading home on the metro (in true rom-com fashion) I wore his jacket and he picked me up to walk me down the steps. The moments of today are something I will never forget. Paris, thank you for the dreamiest day.
How will this ever be topped?
BS