France- Day 1

Last week still feels like a dream. Walking the streets of Paris and being inspired by the endless amounts of beauty- I already miss it dearly. This was our first time internationally travelling and we learned so much. I wanted to throw together a day by day itinerary of what we did (not just in Paris but around France) so for those who may be visiting can get ideas. 

Before I dive into the streets of Paris, I want to back up and give some insight into our trip. We left on a Friday night and flew through the night to Frankfort, Germany. We had visited our friends in Germany through that following Tuesday. I'll be throwing together a wrap up of Germany if you guys are interested (please let me know below in the comments). That Tuesday evening, we took an hour flight from Frankfort to Paris (CDG). The CDG airport was about a 45-minute drive to Paris (where we had stayed in the 14th endorsement- near the Tour Montparnasse). We found it best to take an Uber ride from the airport after trying to figure out public transportation for almost an hour (not recommended when you're tired and have loads of luggage). 

That evening we didn't go explore the Paris streets but just settled into our hotel. The morning brought all the adventures. We were too intimidated by public transportation so we decided to walk everywhere on our first day. We didn't mind that though because we felt it was the best to take in the new culture and architecture. We ended up doing 33,000 steps on our first day in Paris- woah! 

I wanted to experience a Parisian cafe' for breakfast so we walked until we found one serving breakfast and coffee. We enjoyed our meal while watching the morning traffic speed by. Right around the corner from the cafe was the Luxembourg Gardens. I wish I would have snagged a croissant for the morning stroll through the gardens, regardless, it was amazing. I loved seeing how grand everything was and Taylor enjoyed sneaking up on the wood pigeons through the pathways.

After the Luxembourg gardens, we walked over to the Pantheon in which we circled around and kept walking. We weren't on any type of "mission" to see things- we really just wanted to experience Paris and the culture.

One can't possibly wrap their minds around how these buildings were built back in the day. It's crazy astonishing! We continued onward and made it to the Seine River. I wish we would have stopped in at the Shakespeare and Company book store but we didn't realize we were so close until later.

We walked our way to Notre Dame and took in its beauty. There was construction and work being done from the fire but we were still able to see the incredible masterpiece. We took a riverboat dinner on the second night in Paris and the views of Notre Dame from the river were fabulous too! Such beauty!

After Notre Dame, Taylor wanted to go to the Paris Natural History Museum. We went into the bone/skeleton building and WOW. There are no amount of words to describe that place! They had bones from almost every animal imaginable. Larger animals took up the center isles, while smaller ones lined the cases on the outside. We spent several hours in this museum.

After the museum, we grabbed a bite to eat and kept walking. We crossed the river and walked to the Lourve. Streets had filled with people and beautiful shops were opened by then.

Walking through the tunnels into the center of the Lourve, there was a cellist and violinist playing the most magical classical music which echoed through the tunnel. As we came out of the tunnel, the radiating music and views made it feel like a dream. I envisioned how life was back in the day and felt like I was apart of an Outlander episode. Pure magic.

By this point, our senses were on overload. Everywhere we looked, incredible architecture and history surrounded us. We didn't go into the Louvre this trip but walked around the gardens.

I was so enchanted by the amazing doors at every turn. All so different and beautiful in their own way. All different shades of color, super tall and amazing details.

That evening, we walked 45 minutes to the Eiffel Tower from our hotel. The sun was just setting and it was magical walking upon her. We sat for a while in the lawn and just watched the sunset behind the Eiffel Tower.

 Day 1 in Paris was exhausting but completely in a good way! Be back soon with Day 2!

Hugs, Alyssa