Paris! All the things I've heard are true - it is a magical city. We took a TON of pictures so I'll keep the captions to a minimum. Once we got to Paris, we obviously had to go out to celebrate. We got aperol spritzs, a cheese board, and a perfect spot on the corner to take in the city. On our first morning, we set out on foot to discover the city. It was a challenge to not stop at every building and cafe and picturesque street, as it was overwhelming picture perfect. We made it to the Seine and took in the beautiful waterfront views. The buildings along the river are awe striking - so much to take in for my first time here. We walked past the Louvre's famous pyramid (we prepped by watching the De Vinci Code) as well as the hundreds of people waiting in line. Now this was life changing stuff. This is one of the MANY banana nutella crepes we got in Paris, and after this our first, we were hooked. Everyone talks about the French loving croissants and baguettes and snails, but they missed mentioning the crepes (possibly our favorite?)! Hey, we are just simple minded folks. The real reason we landed at the Petit Palace is because we needed to use the bathroom, but once we realized it was a (free!!) museum, we were stoked. The Petit Palais is a fine art museum housed in a grand building near the Jardin des Champs-Élysées. I adored the art here, and just roaming around the building was a lovely experience. Our self-guided walking tour continued as we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe - a site worth seeing. I also loved walking along Ave des Champs-Élysées, a tree lined street with lots of shops and restaurants. Drumroll please... our first real glimpse at the Eiffel Tower! I told Isaac to look excited for this picture, mission accomplished. An incredible experience seeing the tower for the first time, it finally sunk in that I was truly in Paris. We grabbed some sandwiches and sat on a bench marveling at the tower and all the tourists who were just as excited as me. We contemplated getting tickets to climb up but were recommended by a couple people and a tour guide that the Montparnasse Tower (a pretty hideous building if you asked me and probably every Parisian) offered a better view of Paris. On our journey back, we passed the Army museum that had a bunch of canons out front. I took some pictures of Isaac and he offered to take some of me, purposely omitting the canons. Well, at lease we have a good view of the tower. After a big walking day, we opted for some museums the following day. We went to the National Archives Museum which focused on Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Revolution. The exhibit was a great refresher on my world history class in high school. The museum also had exhibits on the history of writing and record keeping, famous documents, and period rooms like the one featured in this photo. The famous Canal St- Martin. Our airbnb was right around the corner from the canal on a quiet street with a couple of restaurants. Isaac and I took a nice morning coffee walk along to canal to check out the neighborhood. The buildings along the canal vary from apartments, restaurants, stores, workout studios... I actually went to a couple spin classes that were all in French. It was challenging but a ton of fun! We visited the Carnavalet Museum, focusing on art and history of the 16th and 17th century, and saw some stunning art pieces and murals. After the museum, we went to a restaurant that we had seen a couple nights before with a huge line in front. I was able to snag a reservation for a few days out and we were pumped to eat traditional French food. So here we have it, the snails! Honestly they were better than we anticipated and we very much enjoyed them. The restaurant had good food for great prices, the only downside being the slow service (hence the huge wait outside). Luckily for us we ate an early dinner and had a lovely experience. The famous Notre Dame! It is still being renovated from the fire in 2019 so were weren't able to go inside, but there was an open air exhibit along the perimeter of the church with pictures and stories of the history, building, and restoration of the church. Again, too many pictures of this beautiful city! And the fall colors??? On our way to our walking tour, we walked through the Latin Quarter and came across this cute coffee shop. Besides the interesting woman out front waving around some yarn, the place was a local gem and the baristas were very friendly. They gave Isaac a free au pain chocolate with his coffee. Newly reenergized and caffeinated Isaac with his free pastry. Also, the beautiful Pantheon in the back. Views of the Pantheon, written on top "To the great men, the grateful homeland". I booked us for another free walking tour, but this time, with a little twist. The one I signed us up for was an "Emily in Paris" tour, which focuses on the Netflix hit show and visits places seen in the episodes. I was pumped because I enjoyed the show and it was a chance to explore a new neighborhood. The host is the woman decked out in all pink. Can you sense Isaac's excitement? The fountain and restaurant in front Emily's apartment in the show! Jardin du Luxembourg in front of the Medici fountain. Looking back, this was nothing beyond a beautiful fountain to us. However, we learned more about the Medici family when we were in Florence and this way a big light bulb moment (the Medici family was very influential - Marie de' Medici married King Henry IV and commissioned this garden)! To make up for our harrowing experience at the Belgian soccer match, we went to the Rugby World Cup match for 3rd place - Argentina vs England. It was a close game but England was able to hold off Argentina by a mere three points. This was such a blast and a new experience for us, maybe we will be big rugby fans now? Another one! On the way home from the rugby game, we obviously had to stop for our favorite snack - banana and nutella crepe. The Basilica of Sacré Coeur or Sacred Heart of Paris. While this was definitely a tourist spot, it is well worth the visit. A great view of the city from the top, and the town of Montmartre is fun to explore. We saw a lot of churches on our trip, mainly in France and Italy, but this placed among our favorites! The artwork in the domes and on the windows is stunning. The quaint streets of Montmartre with epic views. The Dalida statue was created to remember the acclaimed singer and actress Dalida. Apparently, rubbing her breasts brings you luck. More cute streets of Montmartre! After all the stair climbing, in true Parisian fashion, we opted for some afternoon wine and cheese. One of the days we went to a bakery and sat at a corner window drinking coffee and eating sandwiches. We could not stop staring at this ad across the street with the man holding the giant cup of coffee. Isaac opted to pose for a picture, which leads me to believe that this is the morning coffee cup of his dreams. The Hôtel de Ville, the town hall in Paris. An adorable bookstore I stumbled upon, mostly filled with interesting and funny coffee table books. This was probably the most unexpected thing to happen to us in Paris... I convinced Isaac to see the Taylor Swift Eras movie with me and we went a couple weeks after opening day. Little did we know, there are BIG Taylor Swift fans in Paris and the whole place was completely packed. We snagged a spot near the front, but people were standing and singing throughout the movie. Besides the people taking videos and pictures with flash and running in front of the screen a couple times, it was cute to see the excitement. Overall, the movie was entertaining, but the movie goers were the real entertainment The Palais-Royal Garden was a tucked away park, that was a peaceful spot away from the hubbub of the Louvre. As we took this picture, a pigeon LANDED ON ME, hence, Isaac's wide eyes. I was in shock for a moment, trying to figure out if that had actually just happened, but would later come to find out that Paris is not the city with the most aggressive pigeons... The Palais-Royal Garden also has an open air exhibit on famous architecture and has this installation with columns of varying heights in the courtyard. Isaac got up on the column I couldn't climb - show off. Instead of an ugly construction fence, they put up this huge set of mirrors! Always a sucker for a mirror selfie. The Seine ft. the Musée d'Orsay behind us. Honestly, we has to conserve our museum energy so we ended up skipping this one. On our way to the Modern Art Museum, along the Jardin d'Erevan. I think this was one of my favorite spots in Paris - the gorgeous tree lined path with the river and sights of the Eiffel Tower to the left. The view on the left!! The prettiest walk we did in Paris and led us right to both the modern art museum and Tokyo Palace museum. The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris (and free!) was one of my favorite art museums we went to. Not too overwhelming, but packed full of really good, thought inspiring work. Onward to the Palace of Versailles: we decided to go in the afternoon even though it was more crowded, but we were able to get the late light coming in through the windows. And the sunset over the gardens? Worth it! How epic is this room? The art on the ceiling? The chandelier? The crown molding? The soft light creeping through the windows? So heavenly. A peek of the gardens... While this probably wasn't (definitely not) the best way the King could have used people's tax money, it is pretty epic to explore the Palace now. The grand hallway. Exploring the Versailles Gardens at golden hour was the cherry on top of this day trip. Just a slice of the Palace behind us. We spent a good couple hours here and didn't even see everything. The gardens are also enormous, filled with hedges and statues and fountains. People rent golf carts to get around.. Another shot of the canal near our airbnb - in true fall fashion. Rue Cremieux, a cozy little street off the main drag with colorful buildings. Patiently posing for all my pictures :-) Isaac was thoroughly creeped out by the puppet shop. I found this coffee shop on tik tok where there is a spiral staircase to the underground seating area. It was giving cozy cave man vibes. We were recommended by multiple people to go to the Montpanasse Tower for the best view of Paris, so up we went. They had this cute photo op at the top. This was my view of Isaac taking my picture... we were willing to brave a little rain to see the sunset over Paris, 60+ floors up. The view from the top! With the sun setting on a misty day, it was such a beautiful sight. Plus a rainbow?! The luck doesn't run out. While the Montparnasse Tower may be one of the ugliest buildings in the area, it makes up for it with these spectacular views. One night we explored a local bar, and let me tell you, this was definitely a locals place. The man who owns it and bartends was over 80 years old, we basically had to use all hand gestures to order. Then there were a couple of local musicians playing in the corner, singing the most random selections of songs. The bar was decorated with a cat shrine, mermaid statues, twinkling Christmas lights, and a collection of interesting murals. But hey, we love a place with some character. Now finally, the Louvre! We had to mentally prepare for a museum of this magnitude. We chose to download the museum's app that had various paths accompanied with an audioguide. This was awesome because we got to hit all the best work and not burn ourselves out. These glass covered courtyards with statues were some of our favorite parts of the museum. The building itself is such a masterpiece, it makes the experience even more engaging. The Egyptian collection had some of the coolest statues and stonework. It's giving "walk like an Egyptian" vibes (yes, the song outdates me). A goregous walk home from the Louvre, enjoying the sunny day and a head packed full of knowledge. The Notre Dame during a lovely sunset walk on our way to the Catacombs of Paris. The Catacombs of Paris, one of the sites we went to on our last days. This experience was different than anything we had done previously, and very interesting. It was also haunting and humbling being surrounded with the bones of millions of people. Due to public health concerns of the cemetaries in the late 18th century, they transferred the bones to the undergroud tunnels that are about 5 stories below ground. We walked throught the tunnels that spanned about 1.5k, not counting the rest of the tunnels that are restricted. A spooky way to end our time in Paris, but after all, it was spooky season. Well, the actual way we ended our time in Paris was a trip to Disneyland Paris! I convinced Isaac to go since the tickets are under half what we would pay in LA. Honestly, this picture makes me believe he actually was excited to be in Disney. View of Fantasyland while chugging coffee to keep up with the energy at the park. Star Tours outfit checkkkkkk Cheesing. After a few thousand rides, we took a snack break and got these delicious toasted turkey and cheese sandwiches. I swear, the French do not mess with their cheese. Isaac was hyped after we drove the bright blue convertible around Autopia. After cramming in a more rides, another food break was needed. Isaac opted for a Mickey pizza and beer, while I looked like the no fun salad girl. I just needed a break from all the bread and cheese!!! It rained a bit while we saw the live Lion King show (which was AMAZING and I would recommend x 1000), but we got an epic view of a rainbow over the park. Sunset over the park! Not pictured: me tripping and falling down the stairs. Don't worry, I only hurt my ego. Isaac "patiently" waiting for the parade. A stormy shot on main street. Overall, Disneyland was a fun punch of energy to end our trip in Paris and propelled us straight into our time in Switzerland.
