Our last day in Paris started with a must see: Musée d’Orsay. We spent all morning wandering through rooms of paintings and sculptures, but definitely seemed to have more shared interest in the sculptures. Not only was the art amazing and impressive, the architecture and detailing of the building is beautiful. It was a great morning and totally different from most of what we’ve been doing.
After the museum, we decided that we really wanted to go on a boat, so we bought a 1 day pass for the BatoBus, a hop on hop off boat along the Seine. We took almost an entire loop before hopping off at the Invalides stop to go find our favorite crêpe stand (again). After lunch, we laid down on the green to take in the gorgeous weather and just enjoy some of our final moments in Paris. Of course, we also had to grab some sweet crêpes before we got too far away!
Then, we headed back to the boat to go see Notre Dame. While the repairs are going well, and the back looks like it is back to normal, the front and sides are still covered in scaffolding. Of course, as we knew, this means that it is not open to visitors so we settled for a nice spot that overlooked the Seine and Notre Dame.
When we were ready, we walked to the front of the small island to see the park and then back along the other side before taking a bridge over to the mainland. We kept walking along the water until we got to the Louvre where there was another boat stop. This boat took us to the Eiffel Tower where we found a restaurant along the water to get wine, a cheese board, and a salad to share. This ended up being the perfect dinner, but there was one more thing we were set on finding before we left Paris. It took us a little longer than we expected, but we found a cute restaurant that served crème brûlée and quickly got a table and some wine. It was delicious and was the perfect way to end the night before catching a metro back to the hostel. Tomorrow we will be off to Nice!!
Montmartre is only a quick bus ride away from our hostel which made it the perfect start to our day after a slightly later morning. The first thing we wanted to do was ride the funicular which took us to the steps of Sacre Cœur. We admired the view, strolled through the church with its beautiful stained glass, and took some pictures before heading over to look at the art in the square. It was gorgeous and we had to keep reminding ourselves that we had no way to pack it safely so we wouldn’t splurge. After wandering through the streets some more and enjoying all of the art and the atmosphere, we found a smaller shop that was selling smaller and cheeper prints that we could fit in our folder so we decided to get some of those.
At this point, we started getting hungry and found ourselves at an outdoor table of a French restaurant. We happily sat down and started with an order of escargot. They were delicious and we both really enjoyed them, the garlic butter warmed our chest! Our next course was moules frites and chicken which we also enjoyed (especially the mussels). Our waiter was very friendly and helpful which made the experience even better.
Once we finished lunch, we made our way down to Moulin Rouge before catching a metro to the Pompidou center. We walked past a street artist sculpting two dogs out of sand before finding a spot to relax and people watch for a bit. Our next stop was to Amorino’s for gelato which was yummy in our tummies.
Our last destination was La Marais, the Jewish quarter, which is known for its falafel and cute cobblestone streets. We wandered around some more and looked at some of the shops before settling in a park nearby. When we started getting hungry, we went back to a falafel shop for pita wraps which we brought to a different park to enjoy. Since we had agreed that today would be a slower day, we then headed back to the hostel to shower and plan our day for tomorrow.
After a late night out maneuvering the streets of Paris, I’m sure you all know that we would have loved to sleep in to catch up on some much needed sleep. Unfortunately, our excitement for this city and the plans we made did not let that happen.
After waking up with the sun, we grabbed a quick breakfast before rushing out the door to catch a bus, then a metro, then another metro until we arrived at the meeting point for our group tour to the beautiful Versailles! Once everyone was there, we boarded a train that took us right to the palace. We wandered through the palace and gawked at the extravagance and beauty of everything inside along with the glimpses of the garden we caught through the windows.
Our guide shared that Louis XIV, who built the palace, was always very proud of his large legs which is why they are featured in all of his portraits and sculptures. There is one such sculpture at the entrance of the palace in which Louis XIV is riding his horse. If you look quickly, it just looks like a sculpture of a man on a horse, but once the guide pointed out his love for his legs, it is very easy to notice the fact that Louis XIV’s legs are sculpted to be even larger than the legs of the horse!
After the palace, we walked across the street to pick up bikes that we would use for the rest of the tour. Once we were all ready, we biked over to a local market where we purchased all the necessary supplies for a picnic in the garden. We started at the boulonnerie where we picked up a baguette and a chocolate croissant, then we headed to a fruit stand for strawberries and raspberries. Next, we’re headed into the indoor booths for the fromagerie where we bought some Brie and Camembert. Last but certainly not least, we made sure to pick up a demi bottle of wine which made the perfect final addition to our picnic. We headed back to our guide who nudged us in the direction of a stand selling fresh squeezed orange juice. We wandered over to give it a look and ended up ordering a cup of orange juice to drink before we left. It was delicious!
Once everyone had all of their food, we got back on our bikes and headed to the gardens. We had a wonderful ride around the gardens with a bit of history sprinkled in. Eventually, we stopped for our picnic and enjoyed the feast we had picked up at the market. Surprisingly, only a few of the strawberries were crushed on the ride over which consisted solely of cobblestone and/or dirt roads. Even so, all of the food was amazing.
After we finished eating and learning some more history from the palace, we finishing our loop around the ponds and arrived at le grand triton. We stopped for a break to learn about Louis XV and his 300 mistresses and admire the pink marble building before heading over to le petit triton. This was Marie Antoinette’s place where she could spend time when she was tired of being the center of attention in the palace. It was gorgeous, but perhaps not as gorgeous as her gardens which we also wandered through.
That was our last stop before we biked back through the town to return the bikes at the guide shop and heading for our train. At that point we were exhausted and decided to just grab some quick crepes and sandwiches at the stand we found yesterday. We spent a little time on the green at les Invalides before heading back to the hostel. It was a much needed earlier night in where we relaxed, showered early, and met one of our roommates who will be here for the rest of our stay in Paris. We are about to get some much needed sleep and enjoy a slightly later morning tomorrow.
Yesterday was our last morning in London, so, after packing up all of our bags, we left the hostel and wandered around some of the nearby neighborhoods. I finally found fish and chips at a pub called Munchkins whose back room/bathrooms were painted in the theme of Wizard of Oz. The food was delicious and the servers were very kind. After eating, we made our way back to Kings Cross so that we could see platform 9 3/4. Our last stop before the train station was a market where we got a smoothie and a cannoli from local vendors. It was a fun day end to our first city before boarding our 3 hour train to Paris.
Our first day in Paris has been the perfect start to our time in France! We are currently writing from the top of the Eiffel Tower where we are awaiting sunset! When we arrived last night, we were a little worried that our hostel was much farther from city center than we had realized, but the morning helped us see it in a better light. The hostel provided our breakfast before we set out to the metro station. We rode into the city and got off a little before Arc de Triomphe, so that we could take in more of the city before we were surrounded by tourists.
We sat across the street from the Arc de Triomphe and watched the cars before crossing under the road and getting in line for tickets. Eventually, we made it to the front of all of the lines and climbed the spiral staircase up one side of the arch. Once we reached the top, we were greeted with a gorgeous view overlooking the city and the Eiffel Tower. Eventually, we decided it was time to head down, so we climbed down the spiral staircase in the other side of the arch. Again, we crossed back through the tunnel, but, this time, we went the opposite direction to see Champs-Élysées.
After wandering past (and through) shops that we aren’t close to being able to afford, we made our way toward the Seine and crossed a bridge to enjoy lunch in l’Esplanade des Invalides with some friends. To our luck, there was a crêpe stand right where we were meeting, so we enjoyed our first street crêpes of the trip! They were delicious (of course) and it was the perfect first lunch in Paris.
After finishing lunch, we made our way back across the Seine to le Jardin des Tuileries and the pyramids outside of the Louvre. The weather was still gorgeous, so we took a short break and sat by a fountain to enjoyed our view until we decided it was time to head over toward the Eiffel Tower.
After walking part of the way, we realized that the train was the fastest way to get there, so we headed into a train station in hopes that we would get to go up earlier. The walk from the train to the tower gave us some different, fun views of the tower that we hadn’t seen yet and we took our time taking in the scenery.
We got to the base of the tower and through the first round of security about half an hour before our time slot. And, of course, they told us we had to wait. That was no bother, we were the third group in line in our time slot which meant we would be on the first possible elevator. After what felt like forever (but in reality was closer to 30min), they let us in and we made it past the second security checkpoint and onto the elevator. The elevator went directly to the second level where we took in the view and found some snacks.
The next step was, obviously, the third floor so we got in yet another line. A little while later, we finally reached the top and, with it, a gorgeous view of the entire city!! It was definitely worth the wait and we are both in love with the view.
Then came the real wait. From the first time we talked about what we wanted to do in Paris, we agreed that we wanted to be at the top of the Eiffel Tower at sunset, and we were! Three and a half hours after we reached the top, we witnessed a gorgeous sunset over Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Once it set, we rushed to the bottom (even took the stairs from the last floor) to watch it light up for the first time of the night. At that point we were starving, so we got crepes from the first vendor we saw and then rushed to catch a bus back to the hostel.
Bonsoir, Paris!!
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