“Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a Storyteller” – Ibn Battuta
Dreaming of Paris Part 1
By Natalya K.
It’s only appropriate that I start with my most exciting and best trip thus far!
3 Week Trip to Europe – France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta, Turkey and Netherlands
Stay tuned for my upcoming trips to Kauai, Hawaii – October 2017, China – November 2017 and Dubai – April 2018!
In May of 2015, I graduated from law school. It was a short-lived sort of celebration because immediately after (the very next day) and the next 2 months I spent every waking minute studying for the CA Bar Exam. BUT once the excruciatingly painful 3 days of the bar exam were over to distract me, I spent the next 2 months strategically planning our Europe trip. It was a trip of a lifetime! We celebrated my graduation, my birthday, our anniversary, and new beginnings.
Our trip started in San Francisco, CA. We flew directly from SF Int’l Airport to Charles de Gaulle, Paris. We spent the next 4 days exploring dreamy Paris! We stayed at Hotel Eber Mars – a boutique hotel located within 200 meters from Champ de Mars and 800 meters from the Eiffel Tower. It was literally less than a 5-minute walk to the Eiffel Tower AND we could see the Eiffel Tower from our balcony. In addition to its perfect location, it was (and still is) very affordable!
In Paris, our first day consisted of checking in to our hotel, napping, dining, and then spending the evening strolling the streets and watching the glorious Eiffel Tower sparkle. There really is something special in this overly glorified wrought iron lattice tower! (Even my husband agreed!)
Our second day started off bright and early as we stopped at a corner Café to pick up coffee and croissants and rushed to meet our tour guide at Louvre. We spent the next few hours at the Museum, then cruised down the Sienne River to the Eiffel Tower. There we ascended to the 1st floor via lift and ate lunch at the 58 Tour Eiffel. What a view of the city from up there! Also, the transparent floor provides for a great experience! People look like little ants from up there! Definitely recommend! Then we walked up the stairs to the 2nd floor (personal choice) and to just explore the tower more. HOWEVER, since our Skip-the-Line tickets for the Eiffel Tower were purchased as part of a full-day tour they were only good for the lift to the 1st floor from the ground but we wanted to go to the very top (which I absolutely recommend), so we had to either go back to the ground floor and purchase different tickets to the top OR walk to the 2nd floor and purchase tickets there. We chose the latter. Finally, we took another lift from the 2nd floor to the very top and it is absolutely worth it!!! We spent the rest of that day at the Eiffel Tower walking around and truly taking it all in.
Afterwards, we went back to our hotel, took a short nap, freshened up and went to explore some more! We ended up going to a nearby grocery store, buying everything for a picnic and going back to the Eiffel Tower!
The next day, we visited Basilique du Sacre-Coeur, Notre-Dame and the Pont des Arts bridge, Les Invalides and spent the day just wandering the streets of Paris.
On our last full day in Paris we took a train to see the Palace of Versailles and spent most of the day there. SO much beauty!
We missed a few “must-see” places such as Luxembourg Gardens, Arc de Triomphe (saw it and drove past it but didn’t make it a point to stop there), Montmartre, and the numerous famous Parisian museums. But that is only because we will most certainly be back and hopefully soon!
Stay Tuned for Part 2
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