Wanderlissa

PARIS, every girls dream city to visit! It’s full of so much history, art and architecture. Once you start exploring deep into the city, you realize that every street you turn down is absolutely beautiful! You can get lost walking around for ages just taking every little detail in. Paris was one of our stops on our Euro trip, so we were there for a quick 3 days. I’ll share with you everything we crammed into our short but fun stay in Paris.

Hop-on Hop-off Bus:We took advantage of the hop-on hop-off bus tour and I think it was definitely worth it. It ran about $50USD for a 3day pass. You can download the app for the hop-on hop-off bus routes and stop locations. This makes it easier to navigate around the city. The nice thing about this bus is that you can stay on it and just view the city from the open upper deck or you can get off at each stop. They have a lot of different routes through out the city so you can get around pretty quick. The Seine-River boat tour was a part of this as well!

The Catacombs:The Catacombs are a must! For those of you who don’t know what that is, I’ll explain. The catacombs are a maze of underground tunnels with some parts used as a ‘cemetery’ that holds the bones of more than six million people!The reason this exists is because the cities’ cemeteries, above ground, were becoming overpopulated in the 1780’s. Moving the remains underground was there way of trying to eliminate this issue. I know it sounds gruesome, but I promise the way the bones are displayed are tasteful and an art form in a way. I honestly could have stayed down there for hours exploring. A lot of the tunnels are not even open to the public so when you go on a tour you are only getting a small glimpse of the underground world of Paris. Try to get a historical guided tour. We learned so much history of Paris’s underground world. There’s way more about those tunnels then you think.

The Eiffel Tower: The Eiffel is one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the world. When you make the trip to the Eiffel, it definitely does NOT disappoint. I couldn’t get enough of this beauty. The views from far away and up-close are all breathtaking and great photo opportunities. My husband actually surprised me with a 4-course French dinner inside the Eiffel’s restaurant, called the 58 Tour Eiffel. Besides being packed like sardines into an over-sized elevator, we were rewarded with a great view from the 1st level of the tower. The 1st level of the Eiffel is pretty touristy and has a glass floor in the middle, which was pretty cool and a little frightening. There is also a Champagne bar at the top of the tower, which we didn’t make it to, but I think it’s definitely worth checking out!

Make sure you visit or get a view of the Eiffel in both the daytime and nighttime! The Eiffel glimmers with lights every hour, on the hour for 5 minutes at night and it’s AMAZING!

Galeries Lafayette: The most beautiful shopping mall I’ve seen to date. There are several levels you can explore full of beautiful designer collections, all under the historical Art Nouveau steel and glass dome ceilings. I could have spent all day there, but my husband had to drag me out so we could see the rest of Paris.

Where to eat/drink

• Les Ombres: Great for dinner. Great view of the Eiffel Tower. Excellent service and friendly staff. Outdoor seating in the warmer seasons.
• La Crêperie Traditionnelle: Amazing Fresh Crepes. Not the friendliest staff, but worth it for the crepes. It’s run by a mother and son.
• Le Temps des Cerises: Great for dinner. Cute and Charming. Off the beaten path but worth the trip.
• 58 Tour Eiffel: French cuisine on the 1st floor of the Eiffel with great views of the city and the beautiful Champ de Mars park.
• L’Experimental Cocktail Club: Cute speakeasy with delicious cocktails.

Tours

• Catacombs Tour: We bought our “skip the line” guided tour off Viator and didn’t have to wait in the long line. The tour guide we had was very knowledgeable and friendly! $80USD
• Hop on hop off Bus – About $50USD

Facts

• The French were nice to us Americans for the most part.
• There is Uber in Paris!
• The cost for things were pretty close to NYC.
• The sun sets late in April, around 9pm.
• Paris is the city of LOVE.
• There are underground tunnels throughout all of Paris.