My friend Hannah and I ventured to Paris over the last weekend in April!
We took an early evening flight and were so excited to be on our way!
We navigated our way on the train and metro to our little Airbnb! We made it to the building but finding our unit was a little bit of a maze! We were exhausted by the time we arrived!
On Saturday morning we wandered our neighborhood,
finding the cutest little spots like this flower shop!
We made it to the Seine River!
And the Notre Dame Cathedral!
It was absolutely beautiful!
It is a royal chapel famous for it's stained glass windows.
Next up was the Eiffel Tower!
The entire structure is truly an engineering marvel and it was so cool to be inside of it as we were going up!
Made it to the very top!
It was absolutely breathtaking!
View of the Trocadéro from the top
After that we walked to the Trocadéro area for some pictures, then to the Arc de Triomphe and a walk down the Champ Élysées.
On Saturday evening we had tickets to a ballet at the Palais Garnier. This building is the setting for the book The Phantom of the Opera that inspired the popular musical.
Hannah and I could not help but burst into the song "Masquerade!"
The entire building is stunning and iPhone pictures do not do it justice!
The actual ballet itself was quite strange. It was basically a choreographer's showcase of three different pieces. Very modern, very contemporary!
We dedicated Sunday to touring the Palace of Versailles. Due to a strike in the public transit system, the regular train to the city of Versailles wasn't running. We found an alternate path but decided to leave super early to allow plenty of time.
We were SO glad we did because we arrived at 8:00 as they were opening and there were just a few people in front of us. We had the place to ourselves for nearly an hour!
It was perfect to wander the gardens and take pictures before it got too crowded!
We toured the Palace at 9:00 and were so thankful
that it was not jam-packed yet.
The Hall of Mirrors where the Treaty of Versailles was signed!
We wandered more gardens and enjoyed some of the fountains before boarding the "little train." It took us to 3 other sections of the area - the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon (which included my favorite gardens) and the Grand Canal.
Not sure if these were azaleas but they were very close! A sweet reminder of home!
My amazing friend and wonderful travel companion!
Pink and yellow tulips!
Musical fountains at Mirror Pool - amazing!
It was a very full and tiring day! We ate an early dinner at a Mexican food place for dinner right across from our Airbnb. This might seem an odd choice considering we were in France, but we were so excited to get burrito bowls, just like Chipotle! SO GOOD. They even had Jarrito's Mexican soda!
Monday brought rain and much colder temperatures. We were glad to have tickets for the Louvre that morning so we could be out of the dreary weather!
The Louvre is enormous and we knew we didn't want to spend our entire day there! But I am really glad we went. We saw the French sculptures and
Napoleon’s Apartments!
We braved the crowds to see the Mona Lisa!
It was a zoo in there but they have it blocked off so you can get a pretty good view of it. The best I could do was a blurry selfie!
We also made it to the Venus de Milo sculpture!
Afterwards we were really tired and hungry, and found a place with cheeseburgers and fries for lunch! That afternoon was spent wandering and enjoying the city on a rainy day!
The Place de Vendôme, the site of the former Texas Embassy (you know, from when Texas was an independent republic)! :)
I had to stop in the macaron shop Laduree's - so beautiful and the macarons were delicious!
I also was excited to visit the famous Shakespeare & Company bookstore - this one of my favorite parts of own entire trip! I walked out with 2 books for myself and 1 for my sister. :)
That evening we finished our trip with a boat tour along the Seine river. It was timed so that we were right along the Eiffel tower when it lit up and sparkled on the hour. Just beautiful!
So grateful to have Hannah in my life!
So much laughter, and many good memories made on this trip!
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