April in Paris

I know exactly what your thinking and yes that is a famous Jazz song, and yes it has been awhile since my last post about travel. Well in all honesty It's May 17th, and I am just updating the blog from the last 6 months so yeah it's been awhile but anyway here is all about my spring break.

When the idea of spring break came up, I again decided to travel with my friend Lindsay, and Thelma who I traveled with last spring break on the cruise. We were thinking of where to go, and wanted to go somewhere that Lindsay's husband had no interest in going and a place none of us had been. After going back and forth we settled on Paris. I know that most people think that Paris is over hyped, but it was a city I wanted to visit.  Lindsay was traveling the week before with her husband, and none of us wanted to spend a lot of money so we decided on a short trip of 4 days and 3 nights. We booked a flight that was overnight so we arrived in Paris in the morning and we could just check in and go. After booking our trip we actually found out a bunch of other people were going to Paris for spring break. Thankfully we had no major hiccups on our travels to Paris, I even booked a private van to pick us up at the airport and he was there waiting with sign with my name on it..... I'm famous!!!

We arrived at a small hotel that I found, and ended up being an amazing deal it was $100 a night for the center of Paris and we were like 15 minutes from everything. Our room was small but very nicely decorated and updated and we were on a quiet street 5 minutes from the subway.

The first thing we did was pickup our Paris Passes, which are passes that get us into most museums, attractions and travel on the subway. We almost had a diaster, because it was a saturday and Easter weekend the shop where we pick up our passes closed at 1pm and we arrived at 1:03pm. The woman came to the door (her mistake) and told us they were closed. We pleaded with her that we were only there for 4 days and our flight was late arriving and thankfully she let us in. I was so grateful because they were closed the next 2 days. With passes in hand we grabbed a quick lunch and headed off to explore a bit. First on the schedule was the Eifel Tower. It was a cloudy day but we arrived and stepping off the subway and rounding the corner to see it was breathtaking. It was so amazing and so cool to finally see it in person.

That same day we did a bit more walking and visit Napolean's Tomb, which is kept in the Hospital invalides. We also visited the Rodden Museum, which houses the famous statue "The Thinker". We then when back to the hotel to relax before heading out to a lovely dinner.

Napolean's Tomb

Thinking about the Thinker; I'm sure no one has ever done this before....lol

The following day was Easter Sunday and we were meeting up with our friend Laurie who took a day trip from Brussels. The morning we met Laurie we decided to go to the Eifel Tower and go up it, while we waited for Laurie to arrive. It was so cold and windy, especially at the top.

The 2nd level of the Eifel Tower

The very top of the Eifel Tower

After we met up with our friend Laurie and since she did not have the Paris pass like us we decided to do the hop on hop off bus so we could see many different things, and go into the free places. We went by, Louvre, Notre Dame, National Assembly, Picaso Museum, Arc di Triumph, and I'm sure a few others. I also tried a really delicious sandwich called a Croc Monsieur, which is a ham and cheese sandwich then covered in cheese and baked.

After returning Laurie to our other friend Jenn, and getting them to their train we made our way back to the hotel to chill and then to go to dinner. The following day Monday we decided to go to the Louvre museum, we had a fast entry pass but we knew it would still be packed so we got there about 90 minutes before it opened. As soon as the museum opened people flooded and in and went straight for the Mona Lisa including us. Thankfully there was only a small group of people and we only waited maybe 5 minutes. I thought it was beautiful and I knew it was small but it was a bit underwhelming....lol. We spent the next 3 hours wandering around the Louvre looking at different galleries. It was so overwhelming because as everyone will tell you it's massive, truly massive.

Yeah that's me just chilling outside the Louvre Museum. After the Louvre we took a short ride to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We waited like 10 minutes to get in and wow it was incredible the stain glass was stunning and awe inspiring. We then took a small adventure to find the most incredible macaroon place in all of paris. After we decided to go see the Arc di Trumph and have a beautful dinner on our last night in Paris. Being that this was our last night in Paris we decided to do our river cruise at night to see the lights of Paris, it was so incredible. As soon as we got onto the boat the Eifel tower glittered and shimmered and it was so amazing. We cruised down The Seine for about an hour and it was the perfect ending to the day, and our last night in Paris

So our final day in Paris was packed because we had booked a 9pm flight home so we could spend the day in Paris. I had decided many months before that I wanted to get another tattoo and at first I had resigned to wait until I came home this summer, but then I had a thought. Why not try and get my tattoo in Paris. I know it seems a bit nuts but I thought it would be a cool experience and story to go with my tattoo. So I looked around and searched and found a guy who was available and booked it. We communicated back and forth and settled on a design and price. Tuesday Morning the day we left was the only day he had available. I met the guy we discussed design and went for it. It hurt quite a bit as it's on my wrist, but he was awesome and the tattoo came out way better then I expected. I absolutely love it.

The finished product

A few days later after it started to heal.

We also planned a full day and took a train ride to Versailles where we visited the palace. There was so much gold everywhere it was crazy. The one not great thing was how packed and busy it was. There was so many people inside the palace that it was hard to move around and it was so hot, and just miserable. It was beautiful just too many people. 

 

We quickly raced back to the train station to catch our train back to Paris, and to our hotel where we hopped into a cab and took the ride back to the airport. Thankfully the check in process was super easy and our overnight flight was nice and empty. We got back the next morning and had 3 days to chill, relax and settle back in before school Started.

It was a whirlwind of a trip and I really loved Paris. Stay tuned for the next update!!