The day after school let out for holiday vacations, my friends Lindsay and Jamie and I wasted no time getting started on holiday travel. First stop, the magical city of Paris. We arrived and checked in to our hostel (shout out to the St. Christopher’s…; our best hostel of the trip)
Upon arrival in Paris, we headed straight to the Christmas markets and taste tested our first bites of Parisian cuisine. Later, just after sunset, we walked along the Seine river toward the lit up Eiffel Tower in the distance. It was a really special time of year to see the Eiffel Tower, because it twinkles on the hour at night. Afterwards we strolled down the de Elysses, the famous street where are the ritzy stores are!
(Christmas market...french soap, yum!)
(most amazing potatoes of my life. period.)
(mulled wine!)
(view of the Eiffel tower from a distance at night)
(arch de triumph)
The next day (Christmas Eve), we took a tour of the city and went back to the Christmas markets to try what we hadn’t had room for the day before. That evening our hostel held a holiday dinner. The dinner sort of sucked, but we met a guy named Joe from Boston and decided to get some drinks and walk around the Montmarte neighborhood (old artist district and location of the Moulin Rouge and all the sex shops) and the Basilica of Sacre Coeur. The Sacre Coeur was quite impressive; it is a Roman Catholic Basilica located at the highest point of the whole city. What made it even more special was that it was all light up because it was night time and while we were there, the bells rang from the domes; it was hard to believe we were in Paris for the holidays.
(om nom nom...mushroom soup!)
(bridge where lovers attach locks to the gate & throw key into the water)
(the Guillotine)
(merrryyyy christmas)
(Moulin Rouge)
(Sacre Coeur)
The next day was Christmas, hooray! We were a tad hungover from the night before, but pushed on and went to the Christmas markets again; this time because everywhere else was closed and our hostel didn’t have a kitchen. After, we went to the Eiffel tower! It was so excited seeing the tower up close and finally seeing such a famous structure that I’ve only seen in movies and photos all of my life. We climbed to the top and got a great view of the city. For supper we went to different Christmas markets..yum! After dinner we decided to go ice skating, as Joe is a hockey player and Linds and I just thought it would be cute to go ice skating in Paris on Christmas. Turns out I suck at skating, the ice really needed some Zamboni attention, and there were some really great guy-skaters there, who were showing off and just being jerks, cutting people off, flying past them, etc. Annoying!
(yum!!!! banana & nutella crepe..my fave)
(Eiffel Tower)
(w/ Jamie & Linds)
(ice skating)
The next days we went to the Louvre. The Louvre was so packed! Notre Dame and tried to go to a Catacomb, however it was closed! For dinner we tried to eat cheap and decided to buy hummus, cheese, sausage a baguette and wine. Yum yum!
(outside the Louvre)
(mona!)
(Winged Victory)
(Venus de Milo)
(notre dame)
(said a little prayer at N.D...haha)
The next day we went to Versailles. When we got there, you could hardly see the Palace because it was extremely foggy. Also, the line was one of the longest lines we waited in throughout our whole trip. I’m pretty sure we waited for about two hours. Uy! When we finally got in, it was packed with people. After inching our way through the palace, we went outside to see the magnificent gardens…unfortunately we were unable to see their awesomeness because of the fog. In the evening we returned to Montmarte and then decided to splurge on our last Parisian meal. I had the most incredible beef bourguignon ever!! Joe had duck and Linds had horse (gross)!
(Versailles!)
(nugget who was less than thrilled to be at Versailles)
(one of the many gardens + fog)
(Amazing last dinner in Paris)
The next day we packed up our stuff, went in search for a popular falafel restaurant (slightly overrated in my opinion) and found our way to the airport.
Overall, Paris was incredible. I think that in the future I would recommend NOT going to Paris over the holiday’s if you want to do all the touristy things…because let’s be real, who doesn’t want to spend Christmas in Paris?! The downside though, is that there are mega crowds. That said, I don’t regret my time there at all, and know that probably could have spent much more time there.
NEXT STOP: Rome
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