6/9 – Day 3: Continued in a new country
The train ride was beautiful. We got to see lots of the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. I worked on the blog for much of the ride and Travis listened to music.
As we approached Paris our train slowed and came to a full stop out in the country. Soon an announcement came over the speaker saying the train station was having electrical problems and we would be delayed 30 minutes while they try and fix it…but, that 30 minutes turned into an hour and a half delay. Luckily no one on the train seemed too bothered and we all just made the most of what we could.
Once we finally arrived at the train station, it was a zoo. Wall-to-wall people. As we moved down the platform we had to weave our way through the massive crowd to get out the door. When we made it through everyone and into the fresh air we decided to walk for a bit and get out of the chaos of the train station.
After a few blocks we decided to call an Uber and get a ride to our hotel since it was about a 4-mile walk and we were already an hour and a half later than expected.
We got an Uber and we were dropped off at our hotel about 20 minutes later.
As we stepped out of the car, we were met with a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower. It stood out above the treetops and buildings. We took a moment to appreciate its beauty and marvel at the fact we were actually in Paris!
After a moment of enjoyment, we headed inside, got checked in, dropped our luggage, and made our way back outside to start exploring the city of love.
Since I had been to Paris before I was familiar with the area and was able to show Travis a few of the places I visited the last time I was here. We walked up closer to the Eiffel Tower and checked out the Seine River and all of the beautiful parks surrounding the area.
As we explored we decided to get some food. We read a few different menus and settled on one that wasn’t too over the top in price. I got a pizza, Travis got a Steak and we shared a bottle of wine and some chocolate moose for dessert. Everything was wonderful! One of my favorite things about Paris and Europe, in general, is how much our door seating is offered. We ate outside for all of our meals and enjoyed a view of the Eiffel Tower for most of those meals.
Once we were extremely stuffed, we slowly made our way back to the hotel room. While we walked we got to see the Eiffel Tower lit up and on the hour the lights would twinkle. It is one of the most magical experiences I have had in my life so far. I am always astonished by its beauty.
By the time we made it back to the hotel room, it was midnight and we were ready to call it a night.
6/10 – Day 4
My first goal this morning was to find a bakery and get some sort of French pastry. Since we had a tour scheduled at 10 AM we wanted to find our meeting point to make sure we weren’t late. We found the meeting spot and luckily we were able to find a bakery very close to it. We walked in and the whole store smelled of sugar and freshly baked pastries. The display cases were filled with some of the most beautiful baked goods I had ever seen. We took a moment to look over all our options and decided to stick with the one I knew how to pronounce ‘Pain Au Chocolat’. (A flakey pastry with chocolate in the middle). We ordered two and they were heaven in a bite…as I am writing this I wish I would have gotten about 20 more and solely lived on them during our time in Paris.
At 10 AM we met up with our tour group and made our way to climb (ride in an elevator) up the Eiffel Tower!
While I could describe the view, I think in this case pictures will do a better job than I ever could…
A few fun facts we learned:
• There are 72 names on the Eiffel Tower honoring scientists, philosophers, etc.
• It was built in 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days
• It cost €7 Million to build (€36 Million today)
• Eiffel earned his money back in 6 months from the day the tower opened.
• The first color of the Eiffel Tower was red
• There are 1600 steps to the second floor. The stairs after that were blocked off because people we getting sick/injured from the intense climb to the top
From the top, we could see many landmarks such as Notre Dame, The Louve, The Arc de Triomphe, Grand Palais, and more.
When we were done in the Eiffel Tower we decided to walk and explore with no real plan in mind. We saw so many beautifully architected buildings, more restaurants and shops and a museum with a lovely garden we took a break at for a while.
After a while, we were both very warm and decided to go back to the hotel for a while to cool off and hydrate.
We both took a short nap, drank a lot of Pedialite, and at about 8 PM were feeling cooled down enough to go out and find some dinner. We wandered in a direction we hadn’t been yet and came across a restaurant with a view of the Eiffel Tower (wonder how many more times I can use the words Eiffel Tower in this blog haha). We got a table and ordered a glass of wine and food. I wasn’t feeling the best since I got overheated during the day and decided to stick with a ham and cheese grilled sandwich (but fancy) and Travis got a chicken thigh with fries.
When we were done eating I was starting to feel a little better since the night was cooling off so we decided to take a stroll through the park and watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle. I will never not be amazed by the beauty of this monument.
After we watched the lights twinkle at 11 we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel.
6/11 – Day 5
Today we had a semi-early wake-up call to make it to the airport. We finished packing up a few of our belongings, called an Uber, and took off. On the way, the Uber driver tried to point out different landmarks and tell us which buildings would host the Olympics next year (2024). We got most of what he was saying but the language barrier was very apparent, so we mostly just nodded and smiled.
We arrived at the airport, got checked in, through security, and passed the time waiting for our plane by people watching.
We boarded the plane and had two different delays since it was a new plane, but after an hour we were finally up in the air and on our way to Geneva, Switzerland.
ROVE 