Ahhh, Paris 🙂 a coveted destination and one of the ones I was most looking forward to on our trip! But dang was it a hassle to get here! If you want the full story, go check out my post about Lake Como and Milan to get a glimpse into our treacherous travel journey. Buuuut, I’ll pick up right where we left off. before I do that though, I’ll insert the amazing picture of when this adorable old French woman realized her and I were “matching” our footwear on the bus😂

We arrived in France after a perilous overnight bus ride. I’ve slept a little bit and I slept for the majority of the second bus ride so I’m feeling pretty good. Evan, however, did not sleep for one minute (poor dude). He watched about 13 episodes of the office, however.

We get to Paris and leave our luggage in lockers at the central station Gare de Lyon. We then walk from the station in immediate pursuit of lunch. We couldn’t check into our Air BnB until 7 pm because our host had to work, so we knew we had time to kill until then. The day actually ended up being really good despite running on fumes of sleep. When we got there, we started walking around just to explore- Evan likes to get “the lay of the land”. We decide to stop in this wonderful looking French restaurant, and it did not disappoint! The food was so so good. I got a salad, which my body had been craving for a while, and Evan ordered a classic French thinly cut steak and frites.

After lunch, we kept walking around. We had planned on going shopping the next day but figured since we had nothing to do and were walking around anyways, it would be a good time to go. We visited Veja, Free People, Lululemon, and other typical Parisian clothing stores and brands. If you are a shopper, Paris is your heaven. I decided that I needed to return with someone who would appreciate just a tiny bit more each little shop and unique piece of clothing, because I know shopping with Evan means my time in each store is limited 😂

After shopping, we found an adorable local farmers market in the 3rd and coffee shop where we grabbed an afternoon cup (we needed it, still haven’t slept). We talked with the owners, enjoyed the space for a bit, then continued shopping on the way back to the train station for our bags.

We headed to the Air BnB, checked in, and walked to the grocery store about 200 meters away and grabbed stuff to make dinner, soup and grilled cheese. Evan cooked dinner while I went off on a run (that’s what I call teamwork) and then we sat on the couch, watched an episode of Peaky Blinders while we ate, then went to sleep!

Day 2 in Paris

This day was Eiffel Tower day! We woke up, I went on a run and did a short workout, showered, then we headed to the train to go to the Eiffel Tower. We walked by the beautiful Seine river, strolled around local coffee and pastry shops, and finally we were there! We took some pictures inside of it and waited in line to go through security so we could climb it. For students to climb to the top, tickets were about €5 each. Actually, you can’t climb to the top, just to the second floor. But lift tickets were like €30 to the top, so we decided that the second floor would be good. We learned some history about the tower on the climb up, which made it go by way faster! The climb actually wasn’t near as bad as you’d think, and the views just made it that much better. We stopped for a coffee and beignets on the first floor with an incredible view, walked around to the gift shop and to see all the views, then headed up to the second floor. It really is insane how big it is and how much they have even in the literal tower. In the winter, sometimes they even put an ice skating rink in the first floor of the tower! It was such a fun experience and I really recommend for anyone visiting Paris.

The whole journey up and down including stops for coffee and just being in awe of the beauty that is the tower took about 2 hours. After the tower, it was around 5 pm so we headed to the famous lock bridge that overlooks the tower 🙂

After the tower, we walked to the Lourve to see it around sunset. We were headed there in the morning and had tickets for 10 am, so I really wanted to lay eyes on it to make sure we could get there on time and not miss our reservation, especially since it was free Sunday and tickets are usually more on the expensive side (the first Sunday of the month so many good museums in Paris are free). We walked to the museum and the courtyards around it, of course walking along the Seine to get there- Paris really is one of my favorite places ever!

We walked past the Lourve and straight to a crepe place to get Paris’ famous. I got a really, really good crepe with ricotta cheese, apples, and honey (although you can’t see them through all the lettuce!) Evan got one with anchovies on it- he is very adventurous with foods! We also got some sparkling cider to wash it down.

After this, we headed back home to get some rest for the big day tomorrow 🙂

Day 3 in Paris: the Lourve

We popped up, got ready, and took the train: we were headed to the Lourve! We got there, bypassed the line so quickly with our reservations online (10/10 recommend that if you’re visiting Paris) and headed downstairs. There really aren’t many words to explain the Lourve except “woah”, so I’ll just let pictures try to speak for themselves and say you need to visit yourself if you ever get the chance.

After the Lourve, we grabbed lunch (I don’t remember where but everything in Paris is expensive so I think it was probably expensive) and headed back home on the train so I could change to run. The train took about 45 minutes to get home, but I was running a half marathon in about 2 weeks so I really needed to start getting some major mileage in. We headed back on the train, I changed, then we hopped back on so I could run by the Eiffel Tower 🥰 a sacrificial runner husband moment by Evan because he knew how important it was to me! I did about 8 miles and dang was it special! Running by the Seine and the Eiffel Tower through Paris is just not something you get to experience too often.

After my run, it was dark so we grabbed some dinner and walked another 3 miles to see the Eiffel Tower do it’s thing at NIGHT! I 1000/10 recommend this. It’s cool during the day, but at night it’s insane. Every hour at the beginning of the hour it sparkles and puts on a show for everyone. We sat on the grass and stared at its beauty for about 45 minutes 🥰

Unfortunately, the night turned kind of bad from there. I started feeling sick with a headache, fever, and pain in my back and kidneys (rip). I spent a lot of that night in pain but was finally able to go to sleep and woke up the next morning still feeling crappy.

Not wanting to waste our trip, I tried to suck it up and we went to the holocaust memorial de la sh’oah. It was a really sobering, really informative experience and that combined with the fact that I felt dizzy, lightheaded and freezing meant that it was not a good day. We tried to get coffee after so we could keep going, but when Evan realized not even a cute coffee shop could make me excited something really was wrong. sadly, we had to go back to the Air BnB and nap and rest the whole day (it was needed though). I did not have any pictures from this day, obviously.

I woke up the next day and felt a world better! We woke up, went downtown and found this adorable place in the 2nd called the French Bastards where we got a Black bun chicken sandwich (very popular in Paris, and very good) and a Coke.

We walked around, saying goodbye to all the places we’d come to love during our visit to Paris. We did a lot of walking and by the time we got hungry again, we ate Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame and frites (a typical last French meal) and walked along the Seine before our evening train ride to Madrid.

Overall, Paris was one of my favorites. I truly truly love this place and the culture, food, and people. The city felt very cosmopolitan and very fancy, which was something that was so fun to experience on a trip like this. There were people from every part of the world! The food is impeccable. The coffee is delightful. You truly can just stroll the river, sit in the parks, and hang out at cafes and be perfectly content, although the famous landmarks are definitely worth checking out as well. It was absolutely a hot and trendy place and I understand the hype now! I really hope to be able to return someday (maybe with more money to spend next time 😉

Next stop, Madrid!