They say “Paris is always a good idea”, but we’d actually like to disagree with that: Paris is always a great idea. What could be better than to spend the weekend in the City of Lights? We had just four days to discover this beautiful, iconic capital – and we planned on filling our itinerary with non-stop eating, culture and just basically soaking in as much beauty as possible.
Our flight landed early so we decided not to waste a second of time. Our first day consisted of getting acquainted with the city, which basically meant walking around aimlessly and appreciating the scenery. It was gloomy and rainy on our first day but that didn’t stop Paris from taking our breath away. Each block and each turn just kept getting more and more beautiful, as if we were stuck in a never-ending painting. After hours of walking and appreciating – and a stop for some éclairs (of course) – we found ourselves in St. Germain. Located in the 6tharrondissement, the area is dotted with cafés at every corner just trying to lure you in with their freshly baked almond croissants. Each apartment building looks like it has a story to tell. Each brick and tile are so beautifully laid, it almost made us want to refund our return ticket and call this our new home. Even with the rain on our faces and our cheeks rosy from the cold we couldn’t help but fall in love. All this and it was just the first day!
After a good night’s rest, we knew it was our duty to become the typical tourist just this once… I mean come on youhave to! We refueled our energy tanks and were out the door. Our first stop? You guessed it – the Eiffel Tower. The weather was in our favor today and as we walked towards the monumental statue, the sun not only glistened on our face, but it made for the perfect lighting effect on the tower. After being called “Lady Gaga” a few times from souvenir sellers on the street (we still don’t get it) we finally were facing the beauty nose to nose (actually metal to nose.) “Wow” was all we managed to say for just about a few minutes. Soaking in the beauty it truly felt like we were looking at a postcard. It was a lot bigger than we expected and not to mention a lot more stunning. After acouple (thousand) pictures we had to say our goodbyes, but we knew we would be back at night to see it light up and take another gazillion pictures. So wemade our way past the famous Carousel, where the children’s smiles were almost as big as ours.
The next day we woke up feeling the love so it made perfect sense to embrace the feeling and go to Pont des Arts, also known as the lock bridge. Pont des Arts is a bridge where there are over 700,000 locks locked on the railing, symbolizing never-ending love and friendship. This gesture isn’t only done by tourists, but by Parisian citizens as well. As they say “Do as the French do” and that we did. After 20 minutes of debating which nut goes on which lock (don’t worry hazelnut we didn’t forget you) we locked up all our lovelocks and made thoughtful wishes as we threw the keys in the water and continued our journey to the next destination. Just a small 10-minute walk from the bridge we finally reached the home of the Mona Lisa – The Louvre. Although a lot smaller from the outside than we thought it would be, it was nonetheless beautiful. The line to go inside was of course about a good 2 days long, so we decided to admire the beauty from the outside. The surrounding buildings and architecture were all just a positive touch to the scenery. All that admiring took out most of our energy and we headed down to Ferdi – the restaurant we heard had a reputation for having the best burger in town. Ending a Saturday night with our hearts and bellies satisfied in Paris…what more can you ask for?
Since our last day happened to fall on a Sunday, we saved the only street that we knew would be up and running on the last day of the weekend: The Champs-Élysées. Even though the weather was grey and drizzly, the street looked ever so beautiful. (Does anything make Paris ugly?) We started from the top and passed about a dozen hundred shops, a couple old-fashioned movie theaters, and OF COURSE – Ladurée. We waited our fair share until we grabbed a box and basically took three of each macaroon available. Not to play favorites or anything… but the pistachio one had to be our favorite. As the sun was setting on our last day, there was one more place we needed to see. The end of Champs-Élysées is the home of the Arc de Triomphe. We were extremely lucky as we had just made it in time to see it transition from day to night. The lights turned on and illuminated every inch of the beautiful arc. And once again we found ourselves in awe staring at a real life painting.
