Paris, oh Paris…
Could such romance exist in one city? Speaking from my experience visiting the beautiful city a few weeks ago, I can honestly say, Paris is undeniably the place to fall in love…
The architecture was meant for gazing, the food was meant for pleasure, the beautiful bridges like Pont Alexandre III were made for long walks, and like almost everything else in Paris, it was simply made to be enjoyed with your partner… and if you weren’t in love before arriving to Paris, then you will be.
My boyfriend and I landed in CDG and went straight to our Airbnb in Montmartre after that long flight. We chose this area because the apartments were a bit more spacious but mostly more affordable. Our apartment was located right next to the train, so it was easy get here and there. It also had a chic, vintage elevator (which was one of my favorite parts), lots of natural lighting, beautiful fixtures, and a comfy bed. It was perfect for us!
On the first night we went for dinner to a local restaurant where we clearly were the only non-french people there, so of course only French menus… luckily, our waiter was so incredibly nice, he sat down with us at our table and recommended his favorite dishes in the small English he knew. We picked up on a few things he was saying, but quite honestly, we mostly winged it...
When the dishes came, we were shocked at the huge plates, the beautiful presentation and the hypnotizing aroma. Thanks to Monsieur waiter, we had the best dinner we’ve had in years.
On our first day, we visited a few museums, some of them were:
Musee Bourdelle
Musee National Gustave Moreau
Along with some Parisian sight-seeing:
Montmartre
Sacre-Coeur
Champs-Élysées
Notre-Dameand
last but not least, the Eiffel Tower
and many many many coffee shops. After being a tourist for an entire day, and considering how our feet were killing us, we decided to go back to our charming apartment in the evening, order in and drink wine. Which turned out to be a very romantic night after all.
On our second day in Paris, we woke up early and visited the Louvre, which can easily take up one entire morning because there is SO SO SO much to see. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about. And seductive as she can be, Mona Lisa isn’t the only start here. The museum is equally beautiful inside and out - we spent most of our time walking around the gardens and taking pictures in it.
Another thing that took up the majority of our day were the riots going on in Paris which messed up our entire schedule being that trains were not running and streets were closed up. Luckily, Harold had an exciting lunch planned out that didn’t include traffic…
Once we left the museum, he said we had to get to my surprise quickly and suggested riding a Lime. What is a Lime, you may ask? It’s an electric scooter that you can ride everywhere in Paris. Kind of like riding Citi Bikes, but less effort and way more fun! And we did, we rode them all the way down from Louvre, pass Pont Alexandre III, to the end of the river in 10-15 minutes and from there we walked together over to my “surprise”, which was a romantic, 4 course lunch on a boat.
We had a glass of champaign, two bottles of wine, a delicious meal, and a fantastic time, and if the memory serves me well, this is where I fell in love once again. We left the boat loving the experience and fascinated by how affordable it was for all the food and drinks we had. It was amazing and I totally recommend it.
The next day, we decided to hit the road and do something different and exciting. So we rented a car and drove two hours east of Paris, to the coast of France, and arrived to Étretat. All I can say from this road trip is WOW. The landscapes were straight out of a movie, the charming houses, furriest cows and horses, all took my breath away. It felt like a scene from a fairy tale, and I was the princess, of course.
We also hiked to the top of this view, which is not as steep as it looks. If I’m being honest, I’m a complete rookie when it comes to hikes. Once I did one in my Tory Burch sandals, not knowing any better; but this time I came a bit more prepared wearing booties ;) Much better!
We also walked around the village and had a really nice meal there. We would’ve loved to stay and explore more but unfortunately we did not come prepared as we had left our luggage at our Airbnb, but it was most definitely a magical day.
On our last day of our trip to Paris, we went sight seeing all over Paris again to take it all in one last time. So we spent the entire time riding our scooters, stopping for pictures, coffee and escargots, and lastly brunch.
I had made a reservation weeks ago at Pink Mamma and we couldn’t had been any more excited because we had read all the reviews and seen all the pictures on Instagram. I ordered a pasta while Harold ordered a large plate of meat (for two ppl) and wine. We can safely say, Paris is where we became foodies!
Every single dish we tried, even the escargots, was so delicious, properly presented and also brought very quickly to the table to my surprise. Another great restaurant we tried (which is where we stopped for escargots) was Le Brebant. Another great place for an Instagram banger as the restaurant is so beautifully decorated and lighted.
After our magnificent brunch, we paid the Palace of Versailles a visit, of course we couldn’t leave the city without a stroll through the gardens and golden rooms. We loved the palace, however, we did not love the amount of tourists - which was probably a mistake on our end for leaving it for the last minute. We still had a lovely time tho, because after that we had dinner and went to bed early.
To sum it all up, our experience in Paris was mind blowing and simply made our relationship stronger and open to try different things. We also became even more passionate about a country’s culture and language. Finally, Paris stole our heart and we are coming back for more for sure.
