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| Eiffel Tower, 2021 |
Who doesn't dream of Paris? Me. I'll be honest. I had heard so many negative things about Paris before I went, so that dampened it a little for me.
However, since I have been, I cannot stop dreaming of Paris. The feeeeeeeling of being there was so incredible. I loved the tea, I loved the Eiffel Tower, I loved the air. I honestly felt like I belonged there, which is an unbelievable feeling.
We decided to go in November, as it was nearing the end of the year and I swore I would not go anywhere attraction-filled for New Years after London. It was our first trip since the pandemic so we were a little nervous. Before we left I got the biggest cold feet of my life, sitting on the couch, telling Shane I wasn't going. We talk about regrets in life, getting up off that couch and making my way to the airport was one of the best decisions I have made in my life to date!
Before we went, I made an extensive plan that was activity packed (and maybe a bit too ambitious). We were visiting for 5 days, and I found us the cutest hotel that was located bang in between the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower. I wanted us to be in the center of the city, so we could be in walking distance of everything, instead of having to rely heavily on public transport.
The plan was to see all the big attractions: the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe, the Catacombes, see Champes-Élysées, hit up a zoo or aquarium and go on a Big Bus tour.
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When I was graduating from Secondary school, I recall one of my teachers gave a short speech. In it, she spoke about our futures and how it's nice to have plans and all, but then she said it's the unplanned days, events, occassions and moments that mean the most in life. Those words have rang true as I have grown older, and I assume they will continue to for the rest of my life.
With that in mind, my extensive planning of the trip never accounted for the first evening in Paris. I put that down as a travel day, a 'we will arrive, get unpacked, starfish and then search for food' kind of day.
When we arrived in Charles de Gaulle airport, we were immediately met with signs all around the airport that advised travellers that today was a bank holiday, and therefore the majority of public transport was not running. FANTASTIC.
Having no other option, after a while of checking prices and weighing up the most affordable and most sensible option, we landed on getting a taxi from the airport, right to our hotel. So we set off looking around for the taxi rank/loading area and walked in circles between the floors of the airport. Trust me friends, if you are ever planning on visiting Charles de Gaulle airport, just make sure it's not a public holiday because they close a whole load of exits the whole way through the airport.
I wouldn't mind, but we weren't just aimlessly walking around, we were looking at Uber or Free Now, one of the taxi apps that shows where the taxi is. We could see a whole load of them were free, hanging around nearby, but with the floors of the airport, we were either above or below them everytime we went up or down an escalator. It was so confusing.
At one point, we found ourselves in some sort of service corridor, that we sincerely doubted we should have been able to walk through, but all of the other nearby entrances and exits were closed off. Eventually we did find the loading area, and a taxi driver was standing there as though waiting for us. Approx. 2 hours of the trip in, we finally got out of the airport!!
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To this day, Shane maintains the taxi ride into the city was one of his fondest memories. I remember it felt surreal, we were sitting in the busy traffic, coming up toward the Arc de Triomphe, cars coming from everywhere and it just felt like a core memory. Do you know what I mean?
Later we settled into our hotel and started talking about food. Shane suggested we head out and visit a place he found on Google Maps, so we set out on foot.
Along the way I could see lights circling in the sky, above the buildings. We ate in a small American diner, I can't recall the name right now, but it was alright for fried chicken. After we ate, we set off to find the source of the lights. You have probably guessed it by now, it was the Eiffel Tower...but can I just say, the absolute suspense I felt, knowing it was so close by and I was yet to see it for the first time, was insane.
We walked through the buildings until we came up to a bridge, absolutely bustling with tourists and food trucks, and there it was: the Eiffel Tower was so incredible, lit up against the night sky. I can't say it was as breath-taking as the Sagrada Familia - that was a whole different level - but this was definitely something else.
I have got to thinking about metropolitan cities, and how people often say they're so overrated and too overrun by tourists. I don't disagree but I also think it's important to 1) have your own opinion, how will you know it's not for you if you don't at least try it?, 2) recognise people say that because tourists usually just go to all the same places and don't venture out to actual places of beauty, but my opinion is that as long as I strike a balance, that shouldn't matter (and I intend to), and 3) acknowlegde that people like metropolitan cities, not just so they can recreate an Instagram photo, but because metropolitan cities are popular for specific reasons, and are in themselves attractions. I'm listening people, but honestly Paris took me by surprise.
We headed up toward the Eiffel Tower, looking up at it and taking it in for a while. Then, we noticed a carrousel just off to the right. Completely unplanned, we bought a ticket for €3 each and got on a horse. ✨Happy memories✨
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The next morning, after breakfast, we started off our long list of activities by taking a Big Bus tour. I did something ridiculously stupid: I didn't bring a coat. Paris gets insanely cold during the Winter, compared to Ireland at least, and I just wasn't expecting it.
While it is a hop on-hop off bus trip, we tend to stay on the bus for the whole journey and do a loop. That way, we can spot other things or areas we may want to see that we didn't previously plan for and get aquainted with the highlights of the city before we set off to each attraction. We established this as our trip strategy following Paris, and it has been hugely helpful when adjusting to a new place.
Following the tour, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. If I did nothing else in Paris except the trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower, I would have been content.
When researching Paris and things to do, it said the queues for the tower are quite long, but we managed to get in in good time, minimal standing around, which was quite nice.
Going up the elevators was incredible, you are literally travelling up a monument, that has been standing for decades. The whole of Paris visible from each floor. The elevator brings you right up to the middle floor first, then you take a stairs to the top floor, to see panoramic views of the city.
Fun fact: there is a bathroom at the top of the tower, with an attendent sitting outside. What an awesome job to sit at the top of the tower everyday!
We went back down to the first floor after a while of gawking out the windows, taking 100s of photographs and face-timing our families. It was nice to talk to Mum and the kids while we stood there, showing them the city around me.
As it was a Wintery month, it started getting dark sooner than we expected, with the evening setting in around 3:30-4pm. The next thing on the list was to see the Arc de Triomphe. When making the plan, I honestly thought we would just be heading over to or nearby the arc and just look at it, admire it, take photos, but you can actually go up to the roof.
We did exactly this. Mind you, it was all stairs, spiralling to the top. From the top, we could again see across the city. This time it was night, so we could see all the roads lit up as though we were in the center of a sunshine, the rays beaming from the arc. From there, we could see the Champes-Élysées. Paris is so pretty.
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The following day, we made our way to the aquarium on the Tocadéro. I have to say, I have been to many aquariums over the years and this one was the smallest so far. I think the Sea Life aquarium that used to be in Bray was bigger.
Nevertheless, we had a blast. Each fish tank had a quote written in large letters in the background, filling the whole back wall. It went from inspirational oysters to edgy jellyfish. There was a section filled with small blue blobs, jellyfish-like, called blubs - these were our favourite.
After the aquarium, we made our way over to a church. I had this attraction on the list but I didn't know what to expect. People online suggested you visit either at dawn or dusk, but I couldn't make it work for our strict schedule, and didn't lend it enough time to take priority. This was a mistake. I have never been to a more beautiful place. Honestly, people, if you are heading to Paris, make sure Sainte-Chapelle is in your list of must sees. It was underrated on the tourist sites and suggestions, but it was amazing.
Sainte-Chapelle is an old gothic church with large, colourful stained glass interiors. When the light hit the window, it was magical. I'm telling you, it's a masterpiece.
To top it off - and I know this is insane - we headed to a nearby cafe after the church to grab a bite to each before we continued our schedule, and I had the best cup of tea of my life. Wow wow.
We visited Paris as soon as it was safe to travel again, coming out of the pandemic, so we spent a lot of time in masks and keeping appropriate distances away from people - But this cafe was different. While some may consider it ignorance, it was as though we had stepped into the pre-pandemic times, where the atmosphere was not-so-tense, and everyone could breath without thinking about breathing. It was like a breath of fresh air, no one was wearing masks, the cafe was quite large, with open-plan seating scattered around a big, round bar. There were a handful of customers, and three or four staff. The staff were sitting around each other, chatting and laughing.
But lets get back to the tea. I can't even describe it - it was black tea, two sugars, milk. Magnifique.
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The quest was not memorable itself, it was something about lovers finding each other. The clues were in the architecture that lead us up to Montmartre. We passed the Moulin Rouge, completely unrelated, while I bought an umbrella for the rain.
It might have been the rain, but we decided to pause the quest for the day and make our way to the next activity instead. We made our way back through the metros and over to the Louvre. Funny how things happen...
So I had put the Louvre as a very casual activity. I thought we would need a few hours, tops, and misjudged how long we would take 1) at the other activities and 2) travelling to and fro.
We headed to the first floor, the history and architecture information about the Louvre. Shane usually likes this part of the tour, but I barely read anything and look at fun stuff. One thing I did want to see during this trip was the Mona Lisa, however, but I was patient.
It wasn't until we started out to the next floor, containing Egyption artifacts, that we realised some exhibits were starting to close. Oh no. I had completely misjudged time and the size of this place. I nudged Shane as he continued reading everything, and told him it looked like we were shortly going to have to leave. He was taken aback - maybe disappointed - and I just stood there, looking around.
Just then, as though an angel, I heard a woman nearby ask a member of staff where to find the Mona Lisa. Can you believe it? She started making a dart to the room containing the painting. We followed suit.
In the room, a crowd swarmed one of the tiniest exhibits I have seen. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was a little underwhelming. However, I did get the opportunity to lay eyes on the iconic piece, which was an honour.
For the next hour, we stood around outside the Louvre, around the glass pyramid, taking pictures and having a laugh, frozen from the cold, wet from the rain.
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For our last day, we played catch-up on our quest first thing. We headed back over to Montmartre, this time with better weather.
We passed funny street names, took pictures outside Le Bateau Lavoir, saw the Moulin de la Galette (a windmill up close!), visited Le Passe-Muraille (a bronze statue of 'The Man Who Walks Through Walls'), and La Maison Rose. As we walked, we found ourselves passing through a market, along the street, the atmosphere was happy.
We came up to the I Love You wall and admired the mosaic of blue and red tiles with in or around 50 other people. We spotted the Irish sentence for 'I love you', took some pictures, and continued on with our quest.
The streets of Montmartre feel both as though you have just stepped back in time, and romantic. You can see the city stretch out below the hill as you weave through side streets and follow the road down from La Maison Rose.
On our way back to the city, we passed the Notre Dame. I purposefully kept it off our itinerary while it was getting restored after the fire in 2019. We took some time to admire the building from a distance, before contining our journey back to our hotel.
After napping, packing and eating our last meal of the trip, we headed back out for a late night stroll. I suggested we go to a strip of walkway on the river Seine that runs under the Pont de Grenelle. It was lit up by vintage-style street lights, the trees bare of leaves (considering it was mid-Winter) and benches lined the walkway. The Eiffel Tower was visible in the background. I swear it was like we had stepped right into a jigsaw.
At the far end of the walkway is a replica of the Statue of Liberty facing out to the water. We spent some time just standing at the end of the walk, right below the statue as river cruises sailed on by into the night.
Some tidbits:
* I chickened out of going to the Catacombs. Just the idea of going that far below ground freaked me out and we made a decision to skip that part of our itiniary
* We didn't complete our visit to the Louvre, and I believe we will keep that for the future, when we inevitably bring our children on educational trips to mainland Europe.
The biggest question on everyone's mind (mainly my mothers) was if we got engaged there. The answer was no, and I was comfortable with this decision. One major thing about metropolitan cities that boast "The most romatic place" etc etc, is often they are not that. They are nothing relatively close to romantic. This isn't solely my opinion, however I appreciate it is something enough people in the world think so therefore it's a common fact. I don't disagree that Paris is a romantic place, but I disagree that there is "an atmosphere of love" anywhere close to the Eiffel Tower. If you plan to visit Paris for a romantic proposal, bring your SO on a trek to Montmartre or a lesser known gem like Sainte-Chapelle.
I honestly loved my time in Paris. On my quest to know where I would like to end up in life, I could easily find myself in an old-timey apartment in the city of Paris. Easy. One of my Before 30 tasks is to find out where I want to land for my forever home, and Paris kind of felt a step closer to finding the answer. Shane heavily disagreed, so the discussion needs to continue, but it was nice to feel at home even for a short time, and explore this completely unexpected part of my identity.
I don't know friends, maybe I was just feeling that Paris magic, or maybe it was just the wicked tea. Either way, I'll count the days to my next visit x
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