When I went to Paris when I was 16, I had an absolutely wonderful time (minus the food poisoning), but there is something to be said for revisiting a city when you're a bit older so you can truly appreciate it. Our trip was nothing short of perfect.
As many of you know, my BFF Emily works for NBC so she had the opportunity to work at the French Open. This allowed her to be in Paris for 3 weeks this summer. Since a flight to Paris is relatively inexpensive and just a little under 2 hours away, there was no way I was going to pass up a chance to visit her and also experience Paris again.
Michelle and I arrived very early on Wednesday morning. Emily's dad and brother were visiting so we went straight to the hotel (shout out to Uncle Paul Danan for having someone pick us up!) We kept trying to stay awake, but every time we tried to get up, it was like we were a bunch of narcoleptics because we'd pass right back out. We ended up napping most of the day, watching some French TV and eating a very large fresh baguette and some cheese.
Thursday, Emily had off so we got to explore a bit. We headed to the Eiffel Tower where we had a picnic (including wine) and lounged directly beneath it. It was surreal because the weather was absolutely gorgeous.
After the Eiffel Tower, we made our way to the Left Bank to check out the artists. I am an absolute sucker for street art so Michelle and I caved and each bought a beautiful oil panting on canvas. I actually have mine hanging up in our apartment here and it makes me smile every time I look at it. We grabbed a cappuccino and then got to check out the infamous lock bridge. Once again, I couldn't resist and snapped one of them on with the my family's saying "GBASY" on it.
That night, Michelle and I went to dinner at a cute little Italian place (haha typical) near the hotel while Emily went to a work dinner. We had a couple carafes of wine and one of them was on the house because the waiter loved that we were American apparently (perks of dat New Yawk accent, folks.) We got to sit outside and of course had to get dessert. After dinner, we went to a Scottish bar for a few drinks with Emily and some other people from NBC. It was lovely!
Friday, Michelle and I set off to Montmartre, which is one of my favorite places I have ever been. I was nervous it wouldn't live up to the image I had saved in my mind from when we went a few years back, but of course it did. Sacré-Cœur and the views from it are phenomenal. We had to climb just short of a million stairs to get to it, but believe me, it was worth it. We checked out the artists, grabbed some souvenirs and then had lunch at an outdoor restaurant.
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| contemplating hurling myself down the stairs |
After Montmartre, Shell and I decided we wanted some ice cream under the Eiffel Tower so that's exactly what we did. We sat by the water, soaked in the sunshine and did quite a bit of people watching, one of our favorite past times.
That night, we went to Cafe Oz, which is an Australian bar that our friend Raquel had told us about. Emily, Shell and I danced, had some jagerbombs (obviously) and a few pints of Foster's which I was heartbroken to find out that Australians don't actually drink according to our Aussie pals. We grabbed some late night pizza and headed home.
Saturday was a bit rough, but Michelle and I couldn't spend our last day laying around in the hotel room! We made our way to the Louvre but decided we needed a bit of time to hang out in the grass and lay down for a bit before taking in all of the art haha. Well "a bit" turned into 7 hours. We ended up having a picnic, taking a nap, people watching and just truly enjoying the sunshine. By the time we headed into the Louvre, it was apparently closed so we didn't even get to see any of the art. Neither of us were that upset though because I couldn't have asked for a more perfect day with my best friend (and yes that includes the sunburn.)
We ended our day with dinner outside and a bottle of wine at an outdoor cafe with handsome French waiters and lots of chatting which Emily was able to join us for!
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| Champs-Élysées |
Our flight out was very early Sunday morning so we left around 6am. We didn't sleep much as Emily's roommate arrived so we slept on the floor for the few hours we had. Not the most comfortable, but we were so lucky that Em's roommate was cool with us crashing her first night in Paris!
The airport was a NIGHTMARE. Absolutely no rhyme or reason to anything, a ton of lines, cranky people and screaming children. It's the "budget airline" airport, so I guess we shouldn't have been expecting much. As much as I loved Paris, after that airport experience, I had never been happier to hear Irish accents and English except for maybe when we first arrived in Dublin just a few short months ago.
I love Paris. I love Emily. and I love the fact that I got to experience the two of them together along with Shell. It was a truly fabulous trip.
Until next time,
Paige xx
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