Friday, April 21, 2023
We’re Here!
We landed in Frankfurt and then took two shuttles to our connecting gate for our flight to Paris. The flight felt so long, and it was a race to the next one, but we made it. We left for Paris at 8:30 a.m. Frankfort/Paris time, which is about 2 a.m. EST.
I slept the whole 40min to Paris and we landed ahead of schedule so we had to wait about an hour for the driver to come but thankfully he came early at 11am, then it took about 45min to get to our hotel – Meslay Republique. However, our room wasn’t going to be ready till 1pm, so we dropped off our bags and went for lunch at a little cafe around the corner from the hotel called – La Favourite. The people there were super nice. I wasn’t crazy about the food but I also only had a caesar salad so not much to base it on, and the place was packed so I would say its worth checking out. Then we came back to the hotel for 1pm to freshen up and we are leaving again soon. We’re so tired but going to try and make use of the day:) Also, Happy 19th Birthday to me:)
Day 1 in Paris (17 242 steps)
So first we started walking towards the Notre Dame. We stopped at some souvenir shops on the way and then when we got there we realized it was all blocked off because of the fire, but they put stairs across the way where you could sit to view it better.
Next, we decided to head to the Eiffel Tower. On the way, we stopped at a cafe—La Frigate—and I got a crepe, which was SO good. We then decided to go to the top level of the Eiffel Tower, and the view from up there was amazing! It was 40 – 50 euros total for us both to take the elevator to the top.
After that we got some food outside the Eiffel Tower and sat on a bench in front of a pond. While sitting there a pigeon tried to CHILL ON MY HEAD, so that was fun… Anyway, its now 10:30pm and we have been up for 30 hours straight so we are going to go to bed and rest up for tomorrow:) Bye for now!
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Day 2 (23 528 Steps)
We got off to a late start today, left the hotel at around 1pm. We then took a taxi to the Eiffel Tower, specifically The Trocadéro to take some nice photos. Then we went for breakfast at around 3:30 (so it was more like lunch) at Café Kléber and got crepes, they were small but good. Then we started walking some more and since we didn’t eat much at the first place we decided to stop at another cafe called Le Grand Corona. This was REALLY good, we just had chips and Guac but it was probably the best chips and guac I’ve ever had. However, it was on the pricier side (water was 6 euro). Then we walked down the shopping strip and there was a protest happening outside Louis Vuitton. Before coming we heard there were a lot of protests and garbage on the streets but that protest was the only thing we saw. Then we stopped at another cafe called Pauls and it was pretty good we just grabbed a hot chocolate, coffee and 2 pastries. We didn’t shop much, just looked around. Then at around 8:30-9 we left and walked an hour and a half back to our hotel where we posted some pictures and watched some TV, before going to sleep at a wapping 4AM because our jet lag is SO bad. Till next time, have a good day!
Monday, April 24, 2023
Day 3 (16, 914 Steps)
Today was a walking around/shopping day. It rained and my umbrella broke so I bought a new one and then for breakfast we went for crepes at La Creme de Paris and it was by far the best place we’ve been to for food. The presentation was amazing, the wait for the food was short and it tasted great! Would definitely recommend. Then we went to the mall called Galeries Lafayette where everything is VERY expensive and the only things we bought were a necklace for me that was only 8 euro and my mom got some hair ties and a clip. So not much at all. However, the building is super cool, with so many floors, so it was nice to even just walk around in.
By the time we were done everything it was almost 8pm so we headed to a grocery store to get some food for dinner and headed back to the hotel early for some much needed extra sleep. Oh, and we also saw the office building where Emily in Paris was filmed!
Tuesday, April 25, 2023
FINAL DAY (18 531 Steps)
Today we decided to go to Le Louvre, purely to see the Mona Lisa. So we walked there and waited in line for tickets. It was a really long line but it went by quick. We bee-lined for the Mona Lisa and when we got into the room it was in, we went into a line to take a picture with it. However, the line stopped far before the painting and everyone ended up in a clump of people all pushing their way to get a photo. It was crazy. At one point both of us had people with their elbows touching our heads trying to take a photo above us. Not the best experience. And then the workers were rushing people out so we didn’t even get a photo together in front of it. But I did get a pretty cool BeReal. So I was content. When we left that room we ended up just going to a cafe on the same floor.
After the museum we went and got a baguette and took pictures with it (LOL). Then we went to a tea room, oh and the baguette place was called Paris Baguette, the tea room was called The Tea Caddy really, really cute place. With our tea I had carrot cake and my mom had a scone. Then we went to go see where they shot Gabriels restaurant in Emily in Paris. On the way we stopped at a Portuguese/Brazilian bookstore across from the restaurant and got some Portuguese books for my avó about the Azores. We were going to have dinner at “Gabriels” restaurant but didn’t know you had to have a reservation. So they turned us and a few others away. Some of which were from Florida, we chatted with them for a but before heading to find another place to eat.
We ended up going to eat at a traditional french restaurant (but I can’t remember the name). The appetizer was good but I didn’t love the ‘French Hotdogs’ I had which were a hotdog in a baguette, covered in cheese. I also tried a Parisian Daiquiri, my first legal drink, but didn’t drink much cause it burned going down, kept asking my mom and apparently that’s normal. After dinner we took a cab to the Statute of Liberty (Paris Edition) where we took some pictures and then walked over to see the Eiffel Tower which would light up with twinkling lights at the top of the hour. We didn’t make it all the way there but we still saw it from a distance and got some videos from, it was so beautiful. Then we took a cab back to the hotel and crashed for the night.
FLIGHT BACK HOME
Well an end to another adventure. We are currently on the plane home from Paris. We are about 2h into our 8h flight and just recieved our food. It is 2:50 pm Paris time (found out that is CET?) and we land in Toronto at 3:30pm EST. So till the next adventure, goodbye:)
