Ever since I was a little girl, I dreamt of going to Paris. There was just something so magnificent about the City of Love and the infamous Eiffel Tower.

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Disclosure:  My slight obsession with the Olsen twins may or may not have had a part in my longing to go to Paris. When I was young, I watched all their movies and kinda wanted the visit all the places they visited, especially in their movie Passport to Paris. What?, don’t judge me.

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Every year in high school, the seniors got to go on a trip to Europe and when my year came around, I thought I’d hit the jackpot because the trip was to Paris!

I was so excited!

I brought the forms home to my mom and begged and pleaded to go. The trip was super expensive though and we really just didn’t have that kind of money, so needless to say I was devastated when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to go.

I cried my eyes out…probably for a good couple of days, especially when the time rolled around and my peers were all heading out to the place of MY dreams.

Flash forward 9 years, whaat!, and I just so happened to meet and become involved with someone who lives in France.

Crazy right?

I know!

So after talking for a couple of months, I started looking at flights to Paris just to see what how much it might cost, not actually planning on going…but I was curious.

Then I saw the prices and they actually were not as expensive as I thought they would be. So I began thinking, “maybe, just maybe I could swing it”.

I mulled it over for a bit, after all I’d only known this guy for a couple months and the bulk of our relationship was through text as he lived in a completely different country than me.

We’d really only been together face to face for 5 days which was when we first met in Cuba.

Again, crazy right?

I know!

But then I started thinking, life is short and so often we stop ourselves from experiencing some great things because we like to plan things out to the letter T or simply because we’re afraid.

So I decided to bring up the idea of me possibly visiting him as nonchalantly as possible, although I was slightly terrified that he would shut me down.

But he actually thought that it was a great idea and I think at the end of the day, might have been more excited than I was. 

So the planning began!

When it came time to buy my flight prices had gone up a little, so Yann suggested maybe flying into another airport closeby.

After a little research I found that it was actually cheaper for me to fly in and out of Amsterdam. 

The city was about a 3 and a half hour drive from where Yann lived, so we decided to add a couple days there to our trip and then we would drive back down to Paris.

Paris, finally!

I cannot even begin to explain my excitement driving into Paris and getting my first glimpses of the Eiffel Tower.

I’m pretty sure there was some squealing involved, and I am not a squealer.

This was the moment I was waiting for my whole life and I was finally here.

As we drove closer, I felt myself becoming more and more excited and when we neared the tower I thought WOW.

I wanted to go there immediately and just take it in but we were already a little behind schedule and had to check into the hotel. So we veered left towards our hotel which luckily for us was not too far away.

I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel and was ecstatic when we got to our room and I saw that we had a view of the Tower.

Again, there might have been a little squealing.

Since it was a little late and we’d driven all the way from Amsterdam with a quick stop at Yann’s house north of Lille to grab his suitcase, we were both pretty tired and decided to settle in for the night.

Since we had a view of the Eiffel tower, I was quite content with this idea.

We sat in the two chairs in front of the window and had some champagne to celebrate my first night in Paris. We also had some red wine with cheese and bread (I felt very French) as we sat and took in the beautiful sights.

Eiffel Tower Day!

In the morning, we headed off to the Eiffel tower which was only about a 15 min walk from our hotel.

As we made our way over, we stopped by the Pont de Bir-Hakeim which is the bridge from the movie Inception.

I’ d completely forgotten that it was located here, I mean how cool is that!

We walked along the bridge taking the same path Mr. Leo took himself, snapped some pictures, and then continued towards the tower.

Arriving at the Eiffel Tower was pretty surreal, I mean standing there beneath it… was I really here!?

I’d never realized just how big and tall and magnificent it was. I was just awestruck by its architecture and by its sheer beauty.

We purchased our tickets, deciding to go the cheaper route climbing the stairs to the top, which wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. It was probably because of all the adrenaline coursing through my veins at the excitement of  being there.

When we got to the top, we were rewarded with breathtaking views of the city.

Being in Paris and being on top of the Eiffel Tower was the first real Pinch me now, is this really real moment.

I was so happy!

We toured the tower taking in the sights from every direction, twice, went a level up and toured some more.

I think I took about 100 pictures up there alone.

It was just amazing.

After a couple hours we took the stairs back down and toured the surrounding grounds, walking along the Champs de Mars and then over to the Palais de chaillot. Then we drove over to Montmartre to visit the district and the Sacre Coeur Basilica.

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Embarrassing story alert.

After touring the church, we started crossing the little road to get better views of the city.

I hadn’t realized that people had cleared the road and I was a few steps behind Yann, almost to the other side when my hand was yanked and I was pulled into a mime show.

I thought “God no!”

I’m supposed to be the one in the crowd watching this happen to the sucker that gets chosen to participate!

But nope, this time I was the sucker.

My heart rate spiked to unknown levels as I looked at the massive crowd staring back at me, cameras out and capturing the moment.

I was the bride and I was marrying this mime. I tried to be a good sport and go along with it but it all got to be a little too much when he came in for THE kiss.

I didn’t know if he was actually going to land his lips on mine but I really didn’t want to find out. So I ducked, grabbed my hand back and booked it outta there.

I found Yann in the crowd and saw that he also had his phone out trying to capture the moment.

He was supposed to save me not film me!

He’d thought that it was hilarious, which it was, but it wasn’t until after my heart rate came back to almost normal levels, that I could appreciate the humor in the whole situation.

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We ended the night with a delicious dinner at a restaurant called the Cadet De Gasogne and followed it by some wine drinking at the Champs du Mars watching the beautiful lights take over Eiffel tower.

Les Jardins et le Château de Versailles.

The next day we woke bright and early (ish) and headed over to the Château de Versailles.

It was a beautiful day to walk around the gardens.

I didn’t realize just how big the gardens were, and we didn’t even see half of it.

We walked around for a bit and then settled down beside the water, took our shoes off, and watched the people out on the water rowing around in boats.

Yann decided to bring some wine in with us, which really isn’t allowed, but we had a very nice gentleman at the security who let us through with it.

And I gotta say, I wasn’t sure at first, trying to break the rules and everything but I was totally happy after because…well hello, sipping wine by the water inside the gardens of Versailles, nuff said.

After watching people row around for a bit, we decided to try our hand at it because it looked like a lot of fun.

And it was!

We were out on the water for about 45 mins and I just have to say that I was better at rowing than Yann was, although he begs to differ.

We grabbed a bite to eat from one of the food stands nearby and then went inside to tour the Castle.

Touring the Louvre

It was very cool visiting this amazingly large building that is The Louvre. I never realized how big it was.

When we arrived in the room where the Mona Lisa is kept, we were met with a very very very large crowd.

We all sort of shuffled along getting closer and closer to the painting and then took turns taking pictures with it.

The painting is actually a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

We toured the Louvre for at least 7 hours and we only saw a fraction of the museum.

As I’m not a huge fan of walking around museums for hours on end, I was a little cranky towards the end.

More hangry than anything as we hadn’t eaten since we got there in the morning and I’m used to eating pretty much all day long.

I’m a hungry soul.

Don’t get me wrong, I like history and it was very cool walking around the museum but it was just a little too long for me.

I had to nudge Yann out the doors as he loves this stuff. Needless to say I was super happy when we left and got food into our bellies.

A Night on the Town

In the evening, we went on a boat tour which was really cool because we got to see the city from a different perspective.

I think I preferred the night tour in Amsterdam though as it had a little more of a magical and intimate feeling about it, whereas this one was a lot bigger with a lot more people.

I still really enjoyed this one though, especially with the awesome views of the light up Eiffel Tower. (I think I’m obsessed)

Last day in Paris.

Our last day, we took a leisurely walk down the Champs Elysèes,  checking out the different stores along the way.

We walked around the Arc de Triomphe and also decided to ride the Ferris wheel. A whim of a decision I pretty much regretted doing as soon as it started moving.

I felt my stomach lurch as we rose higher and higher so I handed my camera to Yann so that he could take pictures and closed my eyes.

I didn’t want to miss the views that I knew would be pretty awesome but I just needed to focus on my breathing and on calming myself down.

This is pretty much where I learned that I am indeed actually afraid of heights.

Yann of course took this opportunity to poke a bit of fun at me and stood up and walked from side to side moving the car ever so slightly. He wasn’t fazed at all.

I had to yell at him to sit down and stop freaking me out. I did however get my eyes open…eventually and was able to take in the views.

I am glad I had this experience but it’s probably not something I will do again.

Before we left Paris for Lille, we grabbed a bite to eat at the Cafe Liqueurs Aperitifs de Marque and I popped my Fois Gras cherry…and I gotta say, not a huge fan.

Paris was amazing and it totally did not disappoint.

It was everything I wanted it to be and more and I can’t wait to visit it again and again and again! Till next time Paris, a bientot!

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If you don’t go after what you want, you’ll never have it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. If you don’t step forward, you’re always in the same place. 

-Nora Roberts

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