Recently, I had the opportunity to go to Paris. Being the globetrotter I am, I jumped at the opportunity.
We left from King’s Cross Station on Friday. Sadly, by the time we got to the train station and went through customs, I did not have time to look for Platform 9 ¾. It’s on my London bucket list though.
Anyway, it was about a two-hour train ride from London to Paris taking the Chunnel, which goes under the English Channel. It was cool, and the ride was so nice I have decided trains are the best way to travel as long as the fare is cheap.
After arriving in Paris, we relaxed at the hotel for a bit and enjoyed the comfy beds. However, the need for food soon outweighed the need for comfort, so I went to go grab dinner with a few friends. We went to a Thai place that served “street food” that would normally be served from food trucks.
Or, at least I think that’s what our waiter was saying. His accent was pretty thick. The menu was all in French so I had to make use of cognates (thank you to my one year of Spanish) to find the chicken on the menu.
Later that night, we went on a sightseeing tour of Paris, via the Seine River. After the tour, we decided to do some exploring. Thankfully, a member of our group had a phone with service, so we were able to use Google Maps to find our way to the Eiffel Tower.
Trying to get there proved to be an interesting task because the police blockaded the streets and a huge procession of bikers came roaring through town. People were shouting and laughing, so I’m assuming that everything was okay.
Once they all cleared out and the police left on their motorcycles, we continued on our merry little way.
When we made it to the tower, we were the only ones there except for street vendors trying to sell miniature Eiffel Towers and alcohol. They were very pushy but after saying no a few times, they let us be.
It felt almost magical, like that feeling you get when you watch a movie or read a book that you know by heart.
The next day, we took a tour of Paris. Our tour guide was a riot and had us in stitches almost the whole bus ride. We saw the Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame, the Phantom’s opera house, the Eiffel Tower, etc. Unfortunately, we did not have time to go into all of these places, but we were able to see the outside of most of them.
After the tour, we went to the Louvre. There was so much to see there that, as our tour guide said, it would take years to see everything. Or you could do it in 100 days if you only looked at each work for 30 seconds. Crazy, right?
I did find the “Mona Lisa,” though, so that was cool. I also was able to find my favorite statue, the “Venus de Milo.” Hercules may or may not have influenced my feelings towards this work of art.
Our final day in Paris was spent seeing all of the sights that we were not able to fully enjoy the day before. We went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower. Sadly, it was foggy and we couldn’t see a lot, but at least we were there.
We went in the Notre Dame cathedral during Sunday Mass, which was something to behold. After that, we made our way to Sacre-Coeur, which is said to provide the best views of Paris. Let me just say it did not disappoint.
Our day ended with snapping a few pictures outside of the Moulin Rouge and making our way to a café to grab dinner. I ate a crepe and had a glass of champagne while a musician across the street played accordion music. It literally felt like we were in a movie, which was the perfect way to end a magical weekend.