As we get ready to travel for the holidays… I’ve decided to {finally} post a past vacation…PARIS!!

This city of {love} and {romance} was at the top of my list for as long as I remember and when we booked our flight, I could not believe it was finally happening. The best part? Our 4th wedding anniversary with my lover man would be celebrated in Paris. So this simple girl was pretty darn excited!

We flew into Paris after spending some time in Ukraine and Venice, so we were pretty tired, but giddy to explore the city that is know to be made of pure magic. On our first day there we checked into our hotel and walked to the Musée de Louvre because why not? It was closed that day- but we still managed to take in the sight, snap a few touristy pictures and be tempted by the sight of the Eiffel Tower in the near distance. Without much thought, we walked from the Musée to the Eiffel Tower and even though it was getting dark, and we kept walking further and further from our hotel, we were mesmerized by the tower that I’ve seen in so many romance movies and have dreamed about for so long.

As we turned to walk away, we were stopped in our tracks as the tower began to twinkle and sparkle and turn the atmosphere into a dream. Sigh. What a dream.

The dream of being in Paris, while still a dream, somehow got less *dreamy* as the days went on. Yes, the Eiffel Tower is great! But the constant badgering by people selling little trinkets or bottles of wine got annoying after the first ten minutes. The food? Besides the great pastries and croissants, I wasn’t impressed. Like at all. Maybe it’s because a lot of the restaurants we looked up before the trip and wanted to visit had a sign on their door that stated something like “we are on vacation for the entire month of August.” Well at least they know how to take a vacation- but a whole month? Really? But we did manage to eat and survive (look at me being a complainer…it’s Paris! It should be enough!)

I have a confession to make. I am not a fan of macaroons. Does that make me a bad person? Maybe..

Our favorite thing to do for meals was grab some wine, cheese and fruit from a local grocery store and head over to the Eiffel Tower to enjoy a picnic. A LOT of others had the same idea…so it must be a good one 🙂

So it might sound like I disliked Paris- I actually did like it, but it wasn’t all that it’s made out to be. It’s been over a year since we were there and I do want to go back because I think now that the bubble has been burst, I’ll probably fall in love with it all over again due to the lower expectations.
Some of my favorite things from our trip:
A day trip to Versailles- a must! At first we were going to pay a tour company for the trip because they promised “a guided tour, blah blah blah..” Come to find out, the train ticket was like 7 euros/person and the guided tour was another 20 euros.. For a total of around 30 euros/person… Instead of the 70euros the company wanted. Score! Versailles is everything you think it’ll be but better. I remember sitting in Mr. Arnold’s Global History class and ready all about it, seeing the beautiful pictures and not believing it could actually exist. Well it does and it did not disappoint! We first walked around the gardens and got lost in the green mazes. Eventually we made it into the grand palace and walked around without blinking out eyes and our mouth hanging open. I highly recommend everyone take a trip to Versailles!

Garden for days…

The famous mirror room.. Mirror Mirror on the wall..

Getting lost in the many sculpted shrubs…{more like posing for a picture…}

You can’t see it from this angle, but there was a fan blowing below me giving me wind-blown hair… {no really…}

Another favorite: 

Just strolling through the streets and seeing where the city takes you. We ended up on the “love lock” bridge and {locked} our love (fun fact: many Parisians aren’t fans of this…)

We bought the dandy little lock from a man on the bridge for like $4.

Next we strolled over to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is very majestic and beautiful and overwhelming all at once! We didn’t go inside (we do not have patience for lines and trust me…lines were everywhere).

Once we got our fill of this beauty, we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe for a looksy…

It was nice to just stroll, relax, look, and stroll some more.

Next time we go to Paris, we are going to find a great little flat on Airbnb and simply take in the city day by day instead of feeling pressured to see a bunch of touristy things.

A tip: do not wait in line at the Louvre. Do. Not. – instead, go to the underground mall and enter the museum through the mall entrance. We went in without a line- meanwhile the main entrance line had no end in sight!

See that line? Yeah. Don’t get into it. Don’t.

The world famous Mona Lisa. Fun fact: The painting is much much smaller in real life than you’d imagine. Like, it’s small. But still so magnificent.

Another fun fact: Prepare to be squashed, pushed, kicked and possibly punched while trying to get to the point of seeing Mona Lisa in your viewpoint. People are r.u.d.e. and pushy and r.u.d.e…not sure if I mentioned rude.

All in love, Paris was lovely and wonderful…just not the love of my life. I’ll go back one day, but I’m not necessarily dreaming about it anymore.