Paris, France Day #1
Traveling to Paris has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember. Great food, accents, museums and moustaches – the City of Light and Love always seemed like an incredible place to visit. I took French in school for 5 years, fell in love with the language, and knew that one day I would be able to test how much I had truly learned from vocab and grammar workbooks. I could never have dreamed that when the time finally came to visit this beautiful city, I would be traveling there with my boyfriend on Valentine’s Day Weekend. But I guess sometimes things have a serendipitous way of working themselves out!
Just like embarking on our journey to Oslo, we somehow managed to get to the airport and clear customs in record time. So quickly in fact that we had the pleasure of spending four hours waiting around in Gatwick Airport. Sometime during a mix of snacking, reading, napping and wandering I came across an invite for people flying out of Gatwick to head over to the Estée Lauder makeup counter for makeovers and giveaways! This was just a few steps from where I had been sitting and voilà! With a face full of fresh makeup, I victoriously marched back to my seat with new mascara.
The flight was supposed to take about an hour but with the wind it ended up being closer to half that time. We flew into the sunset – one of my favorite parts of the day. Seeing Paris lit up from the sky was incredible. It had an energy that was visibly different than that of London or New York. I got so excited as we were told we would be landing soon I could hardly keep myself together.
After a short train ride from Charles De Galle to the 1Arrondisment where we were staying, we finally emerged from the Metro into the crisp Parisian air and were greeted by the towering and incredibly gorgeous Cathedral Notre Dame.
The architecture of the Cathedral was so intricate and full of detail that it could be seen from across the street and a block away. I was drawn to it and immediately felt the need to walk over and see it up close, luggage and all.
While doing so I also got my first glimpse of the Seine, lit up with colorful lights and what seemed to be a house boat party going on below the bridge I was crossing. It became immediately clear that Paris was a city that came alive at night. People were walking, some running God bless their souls, up and down the stairs to the river. Others were lounging outside of cafés and restaurants, chatting and laughing while drinking glasses of wine and Stella. The area in front of the Cathedral seemed to be a popular hangout spot for university students as well, as many were standing around in circles having a casual beer.
It wasn’t until about a half hour later that we had put our stuff down and were out and about on the Parisian streets in search of some much needed food. The first thing that became obvious was the number of crêpe stands on every street – so exciting! But we were starving at that point and wanted a sit down meal, so we ended up heading into an adorable Greek restaurant and the food there was delicious! The lull to head out for a cocktail or glass of wine after dinner was incredible appealing, but we were so exhausted from traveling all day that we decided the best idea was to head back to bed in order to get an early start the next morning. But not before another quick walk around the neighborhood!
It had only taken a few hours, but I was already head over heels for Paris.
Stay Classy! xx