In what felt like an absolute dream, I got to spend 7 days in Paris last April! I’d been obsessed with Parisian life and culture since high school. And though I hadn’t learned the language past taking a few months of classes, I knew I had to jump at the chance to go.
Day 1 (Travel Day)
I found my sister (& travel partner) and I a pair affordable, direct flights from LAX. We both lived in Las Vegas at the time, but since she’d been working for an airline, we flew standby from Vegas to LA. The flight was harmless enough and we spent a night in a hotel in LA, getting pumped for Paris! The flight to Paris was about 11 hours- the farthest I’d ever flown before. I packed some compression socks, my toothbrush, & a she-wee (I’m only a little ashamed on that one lol) in my carryon. Clearly I was ready to go!
About 12 hours, a tiny wait at customs, and a Lyft ride later, and we checked into our Airbnb. We were staying in Montmarte, so I navigated us to Sacre Coeur after we’d settled in. It was about 8:00 pm, and we were surprised to see that the sun was still out! We went inside the church, walked around it, and enjoyed some time overlooking the city from the steps in front of Sacre Coeur. It was a beautiful welcome to the city. Soon after, we went into a local restaurant, had dinner, and then went back to our Airbnb to rest.
Day 2
We awoke around 7:00 am and hit the ground running! The plan for this day was to at least see the Arc de Triomphe. My sister and I stopped at a nearby boulangerie for breakfast and coffee before we began navigating the city. We got to the Arc de Triomphe early enough to set up our cameras and have our own little photoshoot in front of it. Eventually, more tourists made their way to where we’d be set and began watching us take photos. It felt a little weird, so we decided to walk down Champs-Élysées. We didn’t get too far before stopping for food. I got an amazing pesto pasta and my sister ate an onion & mushroom pizza.
After enjoying lunch, we made our way to Pont Alexandre III. This is how we saw the Eiffel Tower in the day light for the first time. Imagine me walking down the street all willy nilly, then looking up, and BAM. There she is! So then, fueled by the sight of the beautiful Iron Lady, I pulled up directions for us to go to Trocadéro. In the early days of my love affair with Paris, I used to watch all of the Damon & Jo travel videos on Youtube, and I’d remembered Damon mentioning the view of the Eiffel Tower from there.
It did not disappoint! In fact, my sister and I decided to have yet another photoshoot once we got there. People weren’t staring or being too weird this time around, so we spent a good amount of time taking photos and enjoying the sights.
From there, we walked to the Eiffel Tower. Neither of us wanted to wait in line to go up it, so we continued to walk around the area and Champ de Mars. I’d say we spent a solid two or three hours just hanging out near the Eiffel Tower before getting hungry and leaving to find dinner.
After dinner, we walked around Montmarte again and stumbled upon Moulin Rouge. Neither of us felt like paying the price of admission to go see a show. We’d had a long day of walking around Paris and knew we’d be too tired to pay attention as soon as we shelled over the money for entrance. So we took some photos outside of it and decided to call it a night.
On the way home, we found this small gelato shop that we decided to try. And lucky we did! That was the best gelato I’ve ever had! I can only imagine how much tastier it is in Italy! We ate our treats as we walked up the intense hills of Montmarte- seriously, it felt like being back in San Fransisco! By the time we returned to our Airbnb, we were pooped.
Day 3
It was another day of early rising because we wanted to go to The Lourve. I, personally, wanted to beat the crowds so we could have, you guessed it, another photoshoot before it got too crowded. I didn’t come all the way to Paris to fight other people for the Insta worthy selfies, okay! We got breakfast from one of the many boulangeries by The Lourve, and then got to snapping away. My sister and I hadn’t even entered the museum yet and everything was so beautiful.
We then spent a few hours walking around inside the museum before hunger took over. After that, we got some snacks and walked around Tuileries Gardens a little bit. Eventually, we sat and just soaked up the sun light and the nice weather. Next on our list for the day was Notre Dame. The cathedral was breathtaking! But neither of us realized we had to RSVP for tickets to walk up to the top of it, so we didn’t get the chance to do that.
However, we did go to Aux Tours De Notre Dame, a restaurant near Notre Dome, and I tried escargot for the first time! And it honestly wasn’t bad. They were covered in garlic & pesto and had the texture of mushrooms. Once I got past the fact that I was eating the little guys I used to find in our backyard, I actually enjoyed eating them. My least favorite part was removing the snail from its shell.
Day 4
Another early day saw us headed to the Palace of Versailles. It was pretty cold out this day, so we only spent a little bit of time in the gardens. It was beautiful, though! We heard the army (maybe??) shooting in the forest and saw people rowing in the lake at the far end of the gardens.
Once inside, we walked through countless rooms, all as beautiful as I expected. My favorite room was the Hall of Mirrors. I’d, again, learned about this because of Damon Dominque from Damon & Jo. As soon as I realized we were entering the hall, I was camera ready! It felt really surreal to be there, and it’s a moment I’ll always cherish.
There’s something really breathtaking about being in a place you’ve only read about or seen on tv. In that moment, I felt small and insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but I think that’s why it felt so beautiful. We finished up at Versailles shortly afterward.
After heading to a Pret for a snack, we decided to make our way to Sainte-Chapelle. The stained glass inside the church was absolutely breathtaking! Once we finished at the church, we walked around the city aimlessly and found ourselves again, at the Notre Dame. This time, we decided to go into Shakespeare & Company and buy some books to take home. The shop is so cute, and I could easily spend hours there whenever I return.
After buying our books that we weren’t sure we’d be able to fit in our suitcases back, we were ready for a break. We returned to our Airbnb for a little bit of rest and, of course, more food.
Once we woke from our respective naps, we decided to return to the Eiffel Tower to see her shine at night. In case you didn’t know, every hour, for 5 minutes, the Iron Lady sparkles. It’s really pretty to see, but I can’t help but imagine how annoying the lights are to the locals who live within seeing distance of the Eiffel. Once we tired of taking photos there, we went to a local shop for dinner and walked back home.
Day 5
I decided I wanted breakfast at Cafe de Flore on this day. It was crowded, but we were able to find a table inside and upstairs. We ordered our (slightly expensive and overrated) food, and hung out for awhile. When we were ready to leave, we made our way to Palais Garnier aka where Phantom of the Opera takes place. It was a dark day for them (as in they had an actual creative team in the theatre working), so we couldn’t tour the house, but it was still a great time anyway.
From there, we went to Luxembourg Gardens and spent a couple hours people watching and reading. And just like we had for the last few days, we found ourselves back at Notre Dame again. We still didn’t feel ready to climb it- this time due to soreness, so we vowed to return the next day and go to the top. That never happened, though… She caught on fire the next day.
Since we had a plan free afternoon, we decided to have a picnic at Eiffel Tower/Champs de Mars next. We went to the store and got fruit, cheese, crackers, and of course, wine! Armed with four food, some books and jackets, we spent a couple hours enjoying life in front of the Iron Lady.
Day 6
On our final full day in Paris, we slept in and went to Musée d’Orsay. It was a gloomy day, fitting since the Notre Dame had just burned down the night before. We were saddened we’d missed out on seeing Paris from the top of Notre Dam and felt a little slower paced, so spending the day inside was our best bet. We spent a few hours in the museum before deicing to go get dinner.
I don’t remember where we spent our last dinner in Paris, but I know we had wine, and that’s all that matters, right? At dinner, our waiter complimenting my French. I didn’t speak much of it on the trip, but I made sure to use the words I did know. He’d said my accent sounded good, and to keep working on learning the language. I haven’t learned much more French since then, but maybe I should, if only for the sake of kind waiter!
Day 7 (Travel Day)
Our trip had, sadly, finally come to an end. We checked out of our Airbnb and headed to the airport. I was sad to be leaving, but I also felt so lucky to have spent a wonderful 7 days in Paris, my favorite European city. I left France feeling renewed and with a new appreciation for life.
