Merci Paris

Our arrival in Paris gave the locals a pretty good show. Unless you’ve personally tried navigating the crowded Paris streets and subways with 33 people who are each lugging a backpack and large suitcase and have absolutely no idea where they’re going, you just can’t quite completely appreciate the experience. Lugging that suitcase up the sixth flight of stairs after that suitcase had been shut in the subway doors, I was about ready to empty the thing then and there. Our best performance was trying to find the hotel. Many cafes in Paris are designed so that everyone sits directly facing the street. Therefore, we had quite the captive audience as all 33 of us trudged single file down the street towards our hotel. As it turns out, the hotel was back in the direction we had just come from. And consequently, all 33 of us proceeded to turn around and file past the exact same audience a few minutes later. But we did make it, the hotel was much nicer than our London hostel, and the getting there is just all part of the experience…

And what an experience Paris was. Our first evening there was absolutely magical and full of everything you imagine Paris to be – crepes from a street vendor, the Eiffel Tower, a moonlight boat ride, late night hot chocolate at a pavement café... I fulfilled a childhood dream in taking my picture in front of the Eiffel Tower. (And by picture, I mean stopping every few steps to take a new one.) Words can’t describe how beautiful the Eiffel Tower is when lit up at night, especially during the light show when it twinkles. And during the boat ride around Paris with the city all lit up, I had to pinch myself. We found a cafe by the Eiffel Tower for hot chocolate. Just a side note - the metro closes at 1 am, and if you miss it, getting home is quite an ordeal. We got a little carried away with our first Parisian experience and learned that the hard way…

We had a business visit at Disneyland Paris our second day. The best part – we got free entrance into the park! After spending some time there, a group of us headed back to explore Paris. Thanks to Megan and her excellent navigation and French-speaking skills, we did quite well getting around. Notre Dame is stunning, especially the stained glass windows. The Louvre is breathtaking – you could literally spend days in there. We didn’t have that long, but I can say I’ve seen the Mona Lisa! We had dinner at a cute little café where I had the best croque monsieur. We ended the day at Lock Bridge where we all pitched in to buy a lock and wrote our initials on it. Becky stood on the bridge to lock it to the top of a lamp post (which she managed to do right before the police came to tell her to get down), and we tossed the key into the river. Such a lovely day… Paris is a beautiful city, and the architecture never ceased to impress me.

The next day began with a visit to the Palace of Versailles. The palace and gardens are unbelievable and sort of rekindle those girlhood dreams of becoming a princess… After an audio tour of the palace and a walk around the gardens, Saudalia and I waited in a super long line to climb the Eiffel Tower. But it was well worth it. 674 stairs later, we were rewarded with breathtaking views of Paris and the satisfaction of saying we had climbed the tower. Our group activity that night was to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed to the top just in time for sunset and snapped more than a couple of photos. It’s amazing to see the different tree-lined avenues that all culminate at the Arc.

Paris was a whole lot of walking, and we decided to add a bit more before we left the city. We went to church in the morning before the bus picked us up to head to Switzerland. We thought our metro passes had expired, so we went by foot. We walked and walked and walked. Over an hour later, we arrived very late and rather tired. On the way back, we decided to try our metro passes just in case… Lesson learned - try that first. But hey, we got to see just that much more of the city.

Whenever I pictured myself going to Europe, it was always to Paris. The city was one of my favorites and is definitely on my list to return to someday. Merci Paris, for not letting me down. 

“A bad day in Paris is still better than a good day anywhere else.” - Anonymous