2/20/2022 0 Comments France!Bonjour les amis!
This weekend I went to Paris, France for the first time and it was so amazing I thought it deserved its very own post! So far this semester I have been on quite a few weekend trips to places like Rome, Florence and Naples. I've loved every trip we've done, however traveling to Paris has been my favorite so far. This is the first time since I've been abroad that I've left Italy, and naturally we took a plane to get there. The traveling was rough, if I'm being completely honest. We got to the airport early in case security was long and ended up sitting at our gate for three hours before we boarder our flight. After that we spent two hours in the air and one more in an Uber from the airport. All of this was worth it, however, when we stepped out of the Uber onto the streets of Paris! We stayed in a hostel for this trip, which was fun since it was my first time doing so. Definitely do your research if you decide to stay in hostels while abroad, as some of them can be dangerous. Ours, however, was honestly more like a hotel. It's called Generator Paris and is located right in the city. The rooms were clean and felt very safe and the staff was excellent! It was about a thirty minute walk from the Louvre which was perfect because we got to see the city on the walk there. For dinner on our first night in Paris we met up with some French students that we met on our trip to Rome. They showed us an amazing 4 Star restaurant called Bouillon Chartier. The food was great and it wasn't too expensive either. The line to get in was somewhat long, but the food was well worth the wait. Plus they sell dollar glasses of sangria in line. One of the big things I wanted to do while in France was try Escargot (yes, snails!). I honestly didn't expect to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It sort of tastes like clams and this restaurant served it with a wonderful pesto sauce. We ate late in an effort to embrace French culture and I was shocked to see how many people were still in the restaurant at 12:30 AM! After dinner we went across the street to get sorbet. I got the passion fruit and it was amazing. Then we went back to our hostel since we had to get up early the next morning for the Louvre. The Louvre (free for students!) was quite possibly my favorite art gallery I've been to in Europe. Not only is the inside filled with beautiful pieces of art, but the outside is picture perfect as well. I would recommend getting there as early as possible. We went when it opened at 9 AM and there was almost no wait to get in. When we left at 11 AM the line was insane! We spent about two hours inside and saw two of the floors. My favorite pieces were the fully furnished antique rooms. They were carpeted in red and held furniture, paintings, and antiques such as pocket watches. We also saw the statue garden and a wide variety of jewels. The Mona Lisa is also housed in the Louvre and we had to see her of course! The line to take a picture in front of the painting was much longer than we expected so we took some from further away. It was really cool, and honestly the painting was larger than I expected because I always hear people talk about how tiny it is in person. After the Louvre we sat by a fountain for a little while, went shopping and got a crepe for lunch. I definitely recommend the crepe stands around Paris. In my opinion they're better than the cafes! Once we were done eating we all got berets and headed to the Eiffel Tower! There was a transportation strike in Paris this weekend (something that you should watch out for while traveling in Europe!) so we had to make the 45 minute walk, but it was so nice out that it was completely doable! We even bought some flowers to take pictures with on the way. Once we got to the Eiffel Tower we took pictures and enjoyed the view for a while before it got dark. Once the sun went down we saw the tower sparkle! It only does this once every hour for five minutes so you have to time your visit correctly if you want to see it. After we saw it sparkle we took the elevator up to the second landing. We wanted to go all the way to the top but they closed that level since it was so windy. The view from the top was phenomenal. I had no idea how big the city was until I saw it from up there. We ate dinner at a Romanian restaurant and I got stuffed peppers. They served them with sour cream which was really cool since I've never had them that way before. Definitely a new favorite! We then went to a bar called Bisou. We had heard about this bar from a friend and decided we HAD to go! They ask you to describe your perfect drink and then they make you something totally unique and just to your taste. Both of my drinks were like nothing I've ever had at a bar before. They were amazing and one was even sparkly! This is definitely a must-have experience if you visit France! We flew home the next day and I miss it already, although I am happy to be back in Italy. I speak the language here far better than French and Sorrento is sort of starting to feel like home. Next time I go to Paris I think I would make a whole week out of it and dedicate a whole day each to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower. I'd love to see the floors in the Louvre that I missed and really take my time walking through it. I'd also like to have a picnic in the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower. I truly think I could spend all day just looking at it. I hope you enjoyed hearing about my weekend trip to Paris! If you've been or are planning to go drop a comment below! Au revoir for now!
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