PARIS

Bonjour!

This weekend we fell in love with the city of love! From spending Valentine's Day in Paris to spending time with our friend Anna, we had a wonderful weekend that we never wanted to end!

Friday morning was the earliest start so far, with our flight leaving at 6 am. However, we've gotten pretty comfortable with the Barcelona airport and decided to get there 45 minutes before our flight took off. After making it through security in 4 minutes, we boarded our flight and arrived in Paris ready for a fun Valentine's Day. We bought our Metro tickets to get into the city and attempted to jump on the tram last minute. Unfortunately, Katie only made it halfway through the door before it slammed in her face, but no need to worry because she new exactly where we were going. After an eventful arrival in Paris, we meet Anna at the train station and got to see her adorable apartment. Anna took us to breakfast at Angelina's, and we tried their famous hot chocolate and, of course, croissants. From there, we went to The Louvre and saw the underwhelming Mona Lisa. Seriously, the thing is about 3 feet tall and across from a painting the size of a football field.
We also wandered The Louvre and passed more unclothed sculptures than we care to remember. In honor of Valentine's Day, our next stop was the Love Lock Bridge over the Seine River. We bought a lock, wrote our names on it, locked it to the bridge and tossed our key in the river! Then, we went to Notre Dame and saw the breathtaking stained glass and the creepy gargoyles surrounding the edge of the roof. We ended our 'tour' with Anna by going to the famous bookstore Shakespeare & Co. and trying homemade ice cream at one of Anna's favorite spots. Then, the three of us headed back along the Seine River toward the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe.
On our walk down Champs-Élysées, we stopped at the famous Ladurée Café for our first macaroons. We finished our walk down the street to Arc de Triomphe and then headed to the Eiffel Tower to make it for the sunset. After we saw the tower twinkle for the first time, we decided it was long past time for dinner. We started our trek across Paris in search for a reasonably priced restaurant. It's much harder than you think, and keep in mind, it's Valentine's Day. Haha. About an hour later, we found a cute pizzeria. Thrilled with our find, we each ordered and completed our own pizzas, which were bigger than our heads. We went back to Anna's exhausted and ready for bed.

Saturday was another early morning with an 8:30 tour of Versailles Palace. We were able to see the rooms with a guided audio tour and are all obsessed with the famous Hall of Mirrors. Sadly, it was a chilly day, and the gardens are not currently in bloom, so that part was kind of a disappointment. Once we arrived back in Paris, we got another hot chocolate from Angelina's and started making our way toward the Marais (neighborhood in Paris). In the Marais, we found many cute local shops and saw picturesque streets of Paris. We stumbled upon falafels and had them for lunch along with the famous French baguette. On our way to the Eiffel Tower, it started pouring down rain, so we stopped at a cute local tea café. The rain finally stopped but left behind freezing cold temperatures. While standing in line for the Eiffel Tower, it's a
miracle we didn't freeze to death. We also had to watch the couple in front of us kiss the entire hour and a half long wait to buy our tickets. However, we finally got to the top, and the views made the wait all worth it. As we got to the top of the stairs, we heard the wind howling and soon found out that if the railing wouldn't have been so high, we would have blown right off the top! We descended to the first level just in time to see the tower twinkle right at 9:00 pm. This was followed by a long awaited dinner at a gem of a restaurant. We had yummy Caprese sandwiches and french fries because when in France, right?

Sunday was spent exploring the city with Anna, and we started the day at the top of the Arc de Triomphe (after climbing so many stairs). It was fun to see Paris from a different perspective before we started our journey to the Sacré-Cœur.


On the way, we stopped at Anna's favorite macaroon shop called Pierre Hermé and definitely agree that they're the best! Sorry Ladurée. Just after this, we passed the original Chanel store, Coco Chanel's apartment and the beautiful Paris Opera House. Finally, we arrived to the Montmartre neighborhood and started up the hill to the Sacré-Cœur, where we got to tour the breathtaking church. Since Sunday was such a sunny day, all of the Parisians were out enjoying the nice weather. This made for a fun atmosphere with live music on the steps leading up to the church. We ate lunch at the top of the hill in a
plaza where local artists showcase their work. Then, we slowly made our way across the city to the Eiffel Tower for one last daytime view. For dinner, Anna took us to a local Crêperie to try savory and dessert crêpes. They were so yummy and a perfect final meal in our favorite city! Our final stop before heading to the airport was the much anticipated river cruise. However, due to the high waters of the Seine River, the times of the cruises were changed, and we had to choose if we wanted to have a relaxed or rushed trip to the airport. Naturally, we chose the rushed trip and gave ourselves 1 hour and 40 minutes from the time we exited the boat to take off. We got to see all the famous sights of Paris from the Seine River at night and enjoyed soaking up our final moments. Once the boat docked, we took of running for the metro station. Literally, we were those people running through Paris with our stuffed backpacks on and flight to catch. We made it to the airport just in time to walk straight on the plane and had a safe journey home!

Here's the link to the best video yet! http://youtu.be/9yBgKfXH0hw

XOXO,
B, K & M