PARIS

Paris was the perfect place to kick off our adventure. We were there for 10 days, and they flew by faster than we could have ever imagined. There were so many things we wanted to do and so little time to do them. The only logical response would be to go back again. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Once we got settled in, we needed a day to recover. We had both experienced jet lag before, but that particular journey had really done a number on us. We fell asleep almost instantly after arriving at our Airbnb and woke up around 2 or 3 am. Whoops! Unfortunately, being wide awake in the wee hours of the morning was not a one-time occurrence, but an untoward pattern that would plague us a few days more.

On our street was a cute little Patisserie, so we bought some AMAZING French pastries right away. Croissants, eclairs, and a chocolate chip baguette was our first meal in Europe! We had a cozy day in our apartment dealing with WiFi issues, realizing that the water gets unbelievably hot, and eating lots of rice and eggs. Our apartment was so small, but somehow fit a bed, stove, fridge, washer, bathroom, shower and a closet. The picture here has me standing at the edge of the room and you can see where it ends behind me!

The next day we finally went in to the city, and we learned a lesson the hard way on the way there. Being the upstanding people we are, we lawfully purchased tickets for the tram that went from our neighborhood to the Paris subway. Unfortunately, we did not know that there was a little machine on the tram that you needed to validate your ticket on in order to avoid a fine. (In our defense, the tram was very full and we did not see anyone else do it, how were we supposed to know?) Out of nowhere, the tram police (not an exaggeration) appeared and fined us 70 euros for not validating our tickets. Of course, we tried to explain ourselves, hand them our tickets, and basically do what we could to resolve the situation, but it was to no avail. You just gotta validate your ticket, and we didn’t. Needless to say, we never made that mistake again.

Besides losing 70 euros in a completely avoidable fashion, our first day was pretty amazing. We kicked it off in prime tourist fashion by going to the Eiffel Tower! We had heard that it was really underwhelming, but honestly I thought it was huge. We got some great pictures and then went down to the Seine to buy a delicious crepe. We then went to the Arc de Triomphe and had a nice stroll down Champs-Élysées. What a gorgeous street! We kept marveling at how beautiful the city was. We just weren’t used to such old city architecture where every single building is beautiful. Every street you look down is like a postcard in Paris.

On our next day out, we took a trip to Versailles. Once you learn the ropes, the public transportation system in Paris is wonderful. It is so easy to get places! A few short subway rides and, voilà! You’re at Versailles! It’s kind of cool that the grand palace is so close to the city. It was very opulent, with gold gates and gold trimming on the buildings. Truthfully, the gardens were my personal favorite. The inside of the palace was still very impressive. There were paintings everywhere, everything was gilded, and there was so much history!

The grounds were stunning. We went on a day where there was baroque music playing while we browsed the gardens. We felt very fancy. We enjoyed the spanning views from the upper area and then had lunch on the grounds. We split a delicious crepe and roast duck breast.

Our next adventure was a walking tour of Montmartre. This ended up being one of my favorite things that we did in Paris. The history of that area is fascinating! Before we went, I simply had to have a Nutella crepe, and yes, it was divine. We stood outside the Moulin Rouge, walked the streets of Picasso, Monet, and Renoir, learned about a pop star named Dalida, and other artists. We finished the tour by going through the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. Afterwards, we had a delicious Parisian dinner surrounded by artists. I had French Onion Soup, a staple for the aforementioned artists, and Marcus had mussels and fries. Yum!

Marcus and I are huge fans of Disney Theme Parks. We’ve been to Disneyland at least once a year for our entire marriage. Of course we were going to Disneyland Paris! The tickets were surprisingly affordable, so we got the park hopper to visit Walt Disney Studio Park, which is basically their version of California Adventure.

We started off in the Walt Disney Studio Park for a few rides that are exclusive to Paris. Our first ride of the day was Crush’s Coaster, a spinning ride where you’re on Crush’s turtle shell. It was fun! We also rode the Ratatouille ride, the Tower of Terror, and the Aerosmith ride. An Aerosmith ride felt weirdly out of place, but it was awesome. You reach 100 km/hr in the first 3 seconds so it was pretty intense, as you can see by the fantastic picture.

Now on to Disneyland Park! Yes, it was magical. The castle is beautiful, Main Street was so classic, and the rides were amped up a little from the other parks. Space Mountain was the obvious winner of the day (as usual), but Thunder Mountain was pretty awesome and so was Phantom Manor. Oh, and I beat Marcus on Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters (also as usual).

The pinnacle of the whole experience was the light and firework show. It was amazing. They projected things on to the castle with fireworks along with a water and fire show. I actually cried a little bit in it I loved it so much!

We took it easy for a day and just had a nice evening on the Seine, gazing at the Notre Dame and eating a delicious and beautiful gelato. It was nice to just walk around and take in the city. We saw lots of brides walking around taking pictures and it made for some great people watching. It was also a great moment for our own pictures.

Our final day in Paris started off with visiting the Palais Garnier which was a lifelong dream of mine as an avid fan of Phantom of the Opera. I read the book in Elementary School and I’ve been obsessed ever since. In fact, Marcus and I sang along to the entire soundtrack driving to Seattle (he really nailed Christine’s parts). We learned a lot about the history of the architecture and the other legends surrounding the Opera House. The aesthetics of the opera house rivaled those of Versailles in my opinion. It was so intricate and gold was just everywhere! Of course we were able to see the infamous Box 5 and the stage where the legend really came to life.

I think this was my favorite thing we did. Standing outside the Opera House and seeing the facade was such a fulfilling moment for me! Andrew Lloyd Webber’s songs were in my head the whole time.

What trip to Paris would be complete without a trip to the Louvre?? We visited the museum in our last hours in Paris. On our way there we grabbed a lunch of smoked salmon and the most delicious salad I’ve ever had. It was just lettuce with dressing on it, but the dressing was so good I would have drunk it. We also found a scarf shop where I bought a silk scarf with one of Monet’s paintings printed on it.

The Louvre is gigantic and I think we barely scratched the surface, but it was great nonetheless. We got a little lost a few times, but hey, I think that’s just part of the experience. We did see the Mona Lisa, which we also were told was underwhelming. We can now confirm that it definitely is underwhelming. Maybe it would be more impressive if there wasn’t a horde of people swarming the tiny painting. We got a glimpse and that was good enough for us! We saw the Venus de Milo, the only three Monet paintings there, and thousands more. Some of our favorites were the faces made of vegetables, the marble statues, and the French section. There were definitely some paintings we got a good chuckle out of and some that were so big I can’t even imagine the amount of work it would have taken to make. It was an educational experience that I won’t soon forget!

And that was Paris! It was an amazing and non stop experience that I’m so glad we got to have! We left our tiny Airbnb and hopped on a bus to our next destination, Tours in the Loire Valley!