Paris Travel Diary Part 1
For part one of the travel diary I’m going to take you through what we did on the day we landed, and then our first full day. For some background, we only had a total of 2 FULL days in Paris, the others were mainly half days; either mornings or afternoons traveling to and from Annecy. We packed so much into our two days and I’m so excited to share Part 1 with you!
Around midnight we visited the tower while it sparkled
This was my first time to Paris. I went in with a completely open mind, and even low expectations, if you can believe it. Let me tell you, I was completley blown away with how much I enjoyed myself. I cannot wait to get back there and explore everything that we missed – which is so much. We crammed a ton in during our time in Paris and while it was a lot, I don’t have any regrets. For part one of the travel diary I’m going to take you through what we did on the day we landed, and then our first full day. For some background, we only had a total of 2 FULL days in Paris, the others were mainly half days; either mornings or afternoons traveling to and from Annecy.
As you can imagine, we were both pretty jet lagged after our long , uncomfortable flight from NYC. That didn’t slow us down too much though. We quickly freshened up in the hotel, threw on some comfortable, yet Pairs – worthy clothes and headed out to explore! The first stop on our walk was a street called Rue Cler. I had it on my list of places to explore before coming to Paris. It’s essentially a street full of markets, shops, fromagerie’s, wine stores and cafe’s. I recommend a visit if you’re in the area. We went there the next day for breakfast and also for wine, cheese and bread. Super convenient. My main goal of our first afternoon, or what was left of it, was to see the Eiffel tower up close, especially at golden hour. Part of the reason we stayed where we did was to be within walking distance from some of the major sites. I wanted to get some of the more ‘touristy’ things out of the way in the first part of our trip.
On the drive in from the airport I saw the tower from afar and I had a “pinch me” moment. The Eiffel tower is even more beautiful in person. It’s one of those things that you have seen a million photos of, but to finally see it in person is really breathtaking and seems really surreal. I did not take those moments for granted. The best street to get really close to the tower, and a great photo, is on Rue de l’Université. This is where you will see a lot of people taking photos, but if you get there at the right time you may be able to have the street to yourself. I don’t recommend having too many plans your first afternoon in town, especially if you’re landing late in the day. Give yourself an opportunity to wander, get lost, and figure out your surroundings. The only real plan we had was to see the tower up close and head to dinner at a place called Ferdi – known for their burgers – and that was enough for us. After dinner we were pretty exhausted so we called it an early night!
The next morning – our first full day in Paris – we got up with the sun. While we are on vacation, I hate wasting days away, so we always tend to wake up super early to make sure we have time to do what we want – especially given we only had a couple full days. The goal of the morning was to visit the Arc de Triomphe. This morning might have been one of my favorites. On our way to the Arc we stopped by the Eiffle Tower again to see if we could get a few photos on the Rue de l’Université while no one was there. I also wanted to enjoy the moment alone with Jordan there. It’s so cool to be so close to such an incredible monument. We arrived to the street around 9:30am. Afterwards, it was on to the Arc!
If you can’t tell from the photos above we had such a blast shooting in front of the Arc de Triomphe. We were laughing and dodging traffic for an hour to get a shot that didn’t make me look scared, or had sun in my eyes HA! It was such a memorable morning! Afterwards, we visited Rue Cler once more for some croissants and cappuccinos before heading back to the hotel to get ready for lunch (always getting ready to eat lol).
One thing to note when traveling in Paris is that the Taxi’s and Ubers are extremely easy to hail and order. We mainly took Uber’s around since they were easy to call before heading anywhere, but we also took cabs whenever possible since they were a little cheaper. Cabs were so clean too, and all the drivers were so kind – so different from NYC. 🙂
For lunch we were headed to Les Philosophes. I had my eye on this restaurant since we first decided we were going to Paris. It’s known for a relaxed atmosphere, good food and amazing French Onion Soup. I absolutely, 100%, consider myself a French Onion soup connoisseur. I cook it all the time at home, and have specific cook books on how to make it. The Onion Soup at Les Philosophes was honestly to die for. We went back another time before leaving Paris. In addition to the soup we shared a salad and of course, had a bottle of Rose. Everything was absolutely perfect.
Another thing to noteworthy about Paris is that you don’t ever have to walk inside and ask for a table. If there are seats available, just sit. I made the rookie mistake of walking in and asking for a table here, and I didn’t make it again!
Because it was still fairly early, we took our time after lunch to walk around and explore Le Marais, especially since we’d be staying there later in the week. The neighborhood was hopping with people and we had such a blast people watching and getting lost on the small side streets. The shopping in that area was also amazing! There was a mix of small boutique shops as well as more well-known retailers scattered around. I ended up buying a bright orange sweater from this store called Bimby y Lola. I will be sharing more on that sweater on Paris Part 2.
Later that night we went to Fontaine de Mars. It’s an amazing French restaurant – I highly recommend dinner here one night. We had outdoor reservations for 10pm and it was the most beautiful night. With views of the tower, full glasses of wine and good company, it was easily one of my favorite nights in Paris. I even tried snails for the first time! If you follow along on my Instagram, and stories, you know later that night, around midnight we visited the tower while it sparkled, and enjoyed some more wine while we watched the tower. The tower sparkles for 5 minutes, at the top of every hour (until 1am) and it’s such a sight to see!
I will be sharing Part 2 next week! Can’t wait!
XO – With Love, Em
