…as Audrey Hepburn once said. My roommate and I traveled to the city of love for a pre-valentines day for a fun weekend get away. We arrived in Paris early Friday morning, so we had all day to explore the beautiful city. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and then ventured out for the day. We followed a 3-day Paris itinerary that i had found on the Travellingbuzz blog which was super helpful in guiding us from place to place. On the first day we were able to see the Eiffel Tower, Musée d’Ospray, and the Louvre.
Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower. We decided to climb the 704 stairs to the second level of the tower and then take the elevator up to the top. Unfortunately, we were in Paris the one weekend that it decided to snow there, so the view from the top was foggy, gray, and obscure. We were only able to see a few feet out from the Eiffel Tower, but it was still a breathtaking view. Standing at the top definitely made my stomach drop, but it was so worth it. Since there were high wind speeds and snow when we were up there, we rushed back down to the second level, where we enjoyed the glass floor viewing area and the ice rink. I will definitely have to come back in the summer time to enjoy a picnic on the luscious green grass next to the tower.
After spending some time at the Eiffel Tower, we made the trek over to Musée d’Orsay to warm up a bit. At this museum, we were able to see the incredible artwork by Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Frédéric Bazille, and many more. There was also a really pretty clock that you can look out of and it has a view of most of Paris, which was really cool. There is so much history in the museum, it was cool to see the actual artwork of paintings that I have learned about in school. Whether you are an art lover or not, I highly recommend visiting this museum!
The next stop was at the Louvre Museum. The are around the Louvre is really pretty and a great place to take pictures. It was hilarious watching all the tourists stand on the cubes and try to touch the top of the Louvre. After laughing at everyone trying to do it, we obviously had to try it ourselves. Since we are students in the EU, we got into the museum for free. We had already seen so much artwork in one day, so we just decided to go straight to the Mona Lisa and then walk around that area. There is so much to see inside the Louvre, so I will definitely go on a tour of it the next time I am in Paris.Later that night we headed to the famous street called Champs-élysées for a delicious dinner at Pizza Vesuvio. Afterwards we walked around all the shops there and then headed back to the hotel.
The next day we started out at the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens, which was so pretty and filled with active people running, playing tennis, and riding scooters, as well as young kids playing soccer. The atmosphere was so relaxing, I could have hung out there all day. After exploring the gardens, we headed down the street to a crepe restaurant, La Creperie des Canettes, where I tried my first ever savory crepe. I got an egg, spinach, and cheese crepe which was so savory and delicious. Then we walked over to the Notre Dame de Paris , which was magnificent. The line was so long and it was freezing out, so we just looked at it and then headed over to the metro to get to Montmartre. Montmartre is the cutest, most precious little town I have ever been to. The people, the shops, and the restaurants were quiet and little, giving it a very home-like feel. The views from the top were breathtaking, but once again the fog would not let us see more than a few feet in front of us. There was a little plaza where a number of people sit and draw portraits of people, which is what I was expecting most of Paris to be like. We were SO cold that we had to leave, so we headed back to Champs-élysées and went to an English movie theater (with French subtitles) and saw 50 Shades Darker so that we could defrost for a couple of hours. At midnight, one of our friends turned 21, so we all headed over to the Eiffel Tower to pop a bottle of champagne while watching the lights of the Eiffel Tower flicker in the midnight sky. It was definitely a night and a weekend to remember!
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