City lights, cafes and macarons. Need I say more?
Paris had always been right at the top of my bucket list and let me tell you now, it didn’t let me down. Considering Paris is known as one of the most beautiful European cities, a tough title to claim, I had heard some very mixed reviews about the city of love. Some of my friends loved it and claimed that it’s of their favourite destinations whereas others found it dirty and said that it didn’t quite live up to the hype. I was desperately hoping the latter opinion wouldn’t be the one I agreed with. Well folks, I’m pleased to announce that I am definitely a proud member of the ‘I love Paris’ club.
Dirty? Well perhaps because I had just come from India I would have thought that just about anywhere else was exceptionally clean. What I did notice however was the beautiful architecture, the rich history and the even richer desserts. I’m not normally a fan of sweet treats being a savoury girl from way back but I couldn’t pass up the chance to try my very first ever crepe (yes, you read correctly) and to sample a delicious passionfruit and chocolate macaron.
Chocolat in the markets on the Champs-Elysées
Unfortunately I only had one full day to take in the sights of Paris so I utilised my time accordingly. The first stop on my list was, you guessed it, the Eiffel Tower. Now unless you’ve been living under a rock for…well your entire life, you’ll be well aware of what the Eiffel Tower is so no need for me to rabbit on about it. If I have one tip: catch the light show in the evening, it’s definitely not to be missed!
Instead of waiting in line for a tedious two hours, I decided to catch views of Paris from the top of the Arc De Triumph. The views from the Arc De Triumph were insane and to make matters better, you could see the Eiffel Tower which made your view even more quintessentially Parisian. Remember, if you’re an EU passport holder you have free entry into a lot of attractions including the Arc De Triumph so keep it handy!
For lunch my friend and I stopped at a Parisian cafe and watched the world go by. If I had more time, I could have easily spent 3 or 4 hours doing this. Contrary to popular belief, the Parisian’s have lifted their game and we were met by extremely friendly waiters. Due to the negative reputation the Parisian hospitality were receiving the government released brochures to those working in the tourism industry educating them on how to interact with tourists. Well whatever they did, it worked!
Now I personally don’t get the Mona Lisa hype but this still didn’t stop me from paying the world famous Louvre a visit. Even if you’re not that into art, it’s still worth a look. You could easily spend a whole day here taking in the talent from around the globe or, like myself, pop in for a few hours to check out what the fuss is all about and of course take a dorky tourist photo.
To top my day off I stopped by the Notre Dame to take some snaps and then ended the night cruising the canals of Paris on the best thing to go cruising on canals with; a boat. Honestly, I wouldn’t worry about the boat cruise. You’ll have way more fun walking around the streets of Paris than freezing your rear end off on a boat that basically throws a U-ey (U-turn for the non-Australians) every 100 meters.
Do you have any tips on what to do in Paris? I’d love to hear them in the comments below!
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Until next time,
Katie x