Travel to: Paris, France | Falling in Love with this City
Let's just take a step back and reminisce on better times. Times of relaxation and exploring new places. I've been wanting to find ways to incorporate more lifestyle based content and I'd love to share my travels with all of you, as well as create a way for myself to document my travels to look back on in the future! (This post has been queued up in my drafts for a while, and in the midst all the events that have happened since in Paris sincerely break my heart. My heart and thoughts go out to anyone and everyone that has been affected.)
Both my boyfriend and I were fortunate enough to be able to get time off of work to visit Europe for 2 1/2 weeks back in September. I'll be doing a few posts on the cities we visited mostly in the form of a photo essay, and I'll throw in a few thoughts (or a lot) on things we learned, the food we ate (some of it), and our favorite places we visited. This was the first big solo trip for the both of us as working adults with zero financial help from our parents. We definitely wanted to have a good time, but we were cautious of how much we spent throughout the trip. I won't lie, my boyfriend was much better with the money management than me - just one of the many reasons I'm thankful to have him!
Keep on scrolling through to see Paris through my eyes, and see just how this city grabbed and pulled at my heartstrings.
(And for your musical enjoyment - this song was playing as I was doing a final read through and thought it was fitting.)
All photos on our trip were taken with an iPhone6 -- backpacking for 2 1/2 weeks = no space for a real camera.
Scrolling through all my old photos and editing them made me miss this place all the more. It's an experience I am so grateful to have had, and hope I am fortunate enough to be able to visit again in the future.
For those of you that would like to read on...
The first stop in our European adventure was Paris, which is a place I have been dreaming of visiting since I was in 7th grade. I took French for 5 years when I was younger, but I'll be honest and say that I forgot most of it. However, I did try my best to say hello, thank you, and use as much French vocabulary as I could remember. Fortunately, most everyone we encountered understood and/or spoke English.
Paris is a place that I fell in love with quickly, and not for the typical romance aspect that most are often drawn to. Rather, I fell in love with the quaint, yet modern, vibes of the city. I loved that there was so much history packed in with the hustle and bustle of a thriving city. Not to mention the architecture work of everything around us.
Our stay in Paris was the longest of our Europe trip, topping out at 5 days and 4 nights. For affordability and a true local experience, we opted for an AirBnB in place of a hotel - we have zero regrets about this. We found a small apartment close by to the Metro (Line B). We'll admit that we were completely confused by the lines and stations at first, but we soon mastered the Metro and were able to switch lines without stopping to examine maps (can we pass as Parisians now?). We opted for the all-day passes which were perfect for us - it allowed us to really get around the entire city in any order we wished, without having to stop to pay for a ticket each time. We had initially planned on making a day trip to Versailles, but weather had other plans for us. We'll be saving this for next time cause there will definitely be a next time (nudge nudge to the bf). We definitely recommend planning out your itinerary and buying the 3-day or 5-day unlimited metro pass, depending on what works best for your schedule. As it will help you to save a few bucks $!
One thing we did for most of our trip was wake up early, like before 7AM early, and be out and about in order to beat the crowds. Since I am accustom to waking up around 6:30AM everyday for work I was more than eager to be a human alarm clock for my boyfriend. Fortunately I was able to adjust to the time difference relatively quickly and this didn't end up being much of a problem for us. Just soaking in alllll that early morning light and empty spaces, as seen in the photos above. If you can manage the early mornings, I would highly recommend it!
*Fun Fact: I am a huge architect and interior design junkie, I could scroll through Tumblr feeds and pour upon Pinterest boards for hours soaking in all the beautiful details that go into creating a space, a home, a street - really anything we live in. When I was younger I dreamed of being an architect or interior designer, but one I (regrettably) never pursued. So you can imagine all of the happiness and excitement gushing out seeing everything. The architecture and craftsmanship of all the buildings, down to the details in the walls themselves or the ironwork of the gates were something to be admired. Every brick, every lamp, every tree - all serving its purpose for a grander picture. But really, I felt like I was real time walking through some Pinterest boards.
And there it is, part 1 of my Paris trip is done. My next post will be on the places we visited in Paris. To be continued next week!
Have you ever been to Paris?