Who doesn’t want to go to Paris? Paris, The “City of Love” is always depicted as a romantic city, full of charm, history, delicious food, beautiful art, fashion, and beautiful people. By those standards, it seems like the perfect city. However, there is certainly another side to Paris that isn’t as talked about. Don’t worry, I am not going to badmouth Paris by any means. It is important to approach Paris and surrounding areas realistically though.

JD and I went to Paris after London. We decided to take the train to go through the Chunnel. It was a fast and smooth ride from London and the Chunnel was pretty cool but overall it felt like it went really fast. We got into Paris and laughed at the loosely translated English signs from French at the train station. We gave our cab driver the address of our hotel and he eventually figured out where it was. We had booked our hotel close to the airport since we were flying out kind of early when we did fly out. We were planning a few days in Paris and Versailles though, and meeting up with some friends to get the “home” tour.

Our first meal was at the hotel restaurant. It was a bit fancy but we were just looking for some lunch before venturing into the city to explore. The food was delicious so that checked out. They had peanut butter crème brûlée on the menu. I love crème brûlée, so of course I had to try it. To this day, I have not had crème brûlée that has come close to how good that was. We eventually made it in to town but started really realizing how far away we actually were from the city.

We met our friends for dinner at a crêpe restaurant. It was really good. After dinner we walked around a little bit and they gave us instructions for the best way to get back and tips for how to use the metro. We all thought we were on the same page as we parted that night. We bought passes and began our journey back to our hotel. Somewhere along the way, we missed our transfer on the train. It had already been getting late after we had met our friends and hung out a little while. The train was becoming more and more empty as we rode right along. Then the train came to a complete stop and said that would be the final stop. We thought we misheard. We were the last ones on the train by this time. It was also now midnight. The train station was closing. We had no idea where we were. We both tried to keep the panic from setting in with no one around and nothing but dark neighborhoods in the distance. We caught a couple of young people at the desk as they were closing. Not being fluent enough in French to explain the dilemma, we tried to communicate as best we could. They called the security guard over who spoke English. He said he would call us a cab to take us back to our hotel once he understood what was going on. This young man was very pleasant. He stood outside with us in the chilly air, talking to us until our cab showed up. We could not thank him enough. We got in the cab (a Mercedes), and the meter was already going. It was already 50 euros. We had no idea how far away we were at this point but knew we had to just bite the bullet and pay to get home. The driver was really quiet. He went from highway to highway and we just sat there wondering how we got so far away. Finally after 1 am, we arrived back at our hotel. Over an hour, and 150 euros later, we were there and we knew we would have to really study the train routes this time. We crawled into bed hoping everything would go smoother tomorrow.

The next day started off very promising. The sun was out. The sky was bright. It was warming up in the spring air. We had learned a valuable lesson the night before. We looked up the maps at the hotel while we had WiFi before venturing out. We marked all of the places we wanted to hit before meeting up with our friends later that day. The first stop would be a crêpe stand (because duh). It was over by Centre Pompidou. We did find it pretty easily and the crêpes were well worth the stop, and the perfect start to the day. I know Centre Pompidou is a bit controversial and believed to be an eyesore by many Parisians. There was also a Starbucks right there and we had to give it a try. It was good.

We began our trek around the city. We made our way to all of the sites. We walked around the Louvre, Champs-Élysée, Notre Dame, and all around the Seine river. At the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, we had money taken right out of our hands by some girls we believed to be teenagers. There are many scams in Paris to watch out for but a lot of them happen right at the base of the Eiffel Tower. Be warned! The lines to the Eiffel Tower do get very long, early on. Book your tickets early, and get there early. The surrounding area is very cool. Lots to do, pretty gardens, and lots of photo opportunities.

Once we made it to the Arc de Triomphe, they were just closing it for a ceremony. We did not get to climb it. We were both very disappointed by that. We had been watching while we planned this trip and didn’t ever see any notification that it would be closed. Oh well. We moved on.

We walked around the city the rest of the day and looked at as much as possible. After being out and about all day, I had to use the restroom. This was the first time I learned about having to pay to use the restrooms in Europe. The entire time we were walking around, we were in a cloud of cigarette smoke. Smoking is still very common there. That is mostly just a precaution if you have breathing problems. It can certainly be heavy throughout the city. This did not help once I started getting dehydrated, and exhaustion was kicking in from our European whirlwind the entire trip. So by the evening I had a pretty serious migraine coming on.

We met our friends again, and they gave us a private tour before dinner that night and then they recommended this Italian place. The guy was from Italy and only spoke French and Italian. I was glad we had our fluent speakers with us. I had started to feel awful by this point. I couldn’t focus on the menu and I was starting to have a hard time keeping my head up. Once the food came, I had lost my appetite almost fully and this concerned the owner. He thought something was wrong with his food. Our friends nicely explained to him that I had a really bad headache and wasn’t feeling well. He showed concern, and then disappeared for a minute, and when he came back he gave me a pill. Normally I would not suggest taking anything in a foreign country, from someone you do not know, but I was desperate. I took whatever it was he gave me. He then brought out limoncello shots for the table, just like the hospitable Italian that he was. Not being one to live dangerously (all that often) since I had just taken an unknown drug, I took a sip, and passed mine on to JD. Definitely not a weak drink. By the end of dinner, I was back to holding my head up and my vision wasn’t as blurred. I was able to almost engage in conversation again too. We thanked him for his amazing service, and all headed back out to the evening.

I wasn’t completely better yet and we decided not to make it a super late night that night. We boarded the train back to our hotel. We did not have any problems that night with the train. We got off at the correct exit which happened to let us out right by the airport as a plane was taxiing across this bridge in front of us. It wasn’t far from there to our hotel and the hotel had shuttles pick us up. I may have felt better as we turned in that night, but my body was telling me it was time to rest and hydrate. The next day we were to venture out to Versailles and then come back to have a dinner at our friends’ house that they were preparing for us before we left the following day to head back home. I slept really well that night.

Our last full day in France started out well. I was rested, feeling better, and I was so excited to head out to Château de Versailles. I was excited to see where Marie Antoinette lived and hopefully learn even more about her. We got into Versailles and the entire feeling was different. It was more upscale than places we had been thus far on the trip. We got some attitude from the people working at the train station before we headed out to the palace. As we walked the clean streets, it was hard not to appreciate the entire walk to the palace.

Upon arrival of the Château, you are almost instantly awestruck by the size of the place, as well as the details, and the extravagance of it all. One of the first things to catch your eye is the all-gold gate, and the gold trimmed roof. Of course, the line to get in wraps almost the entire entrance, even early in the day. As you’re standing there waiting, you have plenty of time to take it all in. However, they do keep the line moving pretty well. While we were waiting, we made friends with the couple in front of us. They were from California and both doctors. We talked to them almost our entire wait about their vacation, and our vacation, and things back home, and whatever else came up.

Once we finished our tour, we explored a little on our own and had lunch there, which was just a sandwich and I got flan because I was impressed flan was an option in France. I wanted to spend more time in the gardens but that was definitely extra and by that point we had yet to assess the full damage of our entire trip. We made our way out of Versailles and back to the train station.

We met our friends at their house and they gave us a tour of the little town they lived in just outside of Paris. There is an old palace there that had been a “hunting lodge” for King Louis VII, known as Château de Vincennes. Now it is just mostly open grounds for the public. We walked around that without going inside and around their area for a bit before returning to their house to enjoy a delicious dinner they prepared for us. At the end of the night we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the hotel for the last time.

After our trip to Paris, there are so many things I wish we had time to have been able to do, or done differently, Here are a few:

The Catacombs
More time at the Louvre (plan at least a full day there)
Moulin Rouge
the Vampire Museum
Pére Lachaise Cemetery
Panthéon
Seine River Cruise for dinner
and much, much more

Fun Facts:

Photographing the Eiffel Tower at night is illegal under Copyright laws because of the lights
I.M. Pei, the architect of the pyramid in front of the Louvre, was also connected to Denver’s 16th Street Mall. Sadly he passed away in May of 2019 at 102 years old.
The pyramid in front of the Louvre was controversial and believed by some to be an eyesore much like Centre Pompidou’s exoskeleton-esque design
There is no actual record of Marie Antoinette saying “Let them eat cake.”

Packing List: Type E power adapter, appropriate clothing for time of year because it can be warm or cold, comfortable walking shoes, camera and accessories, a map for when you’re walking around, € Euros, Paris Pass

Do: Stay closer to landmarks rather than the airport, bring a lock for your stuff for your hotel rooms, say “Bonjour” with a smile - even if people don’t seem to appreciate it, study train routes and get the appropriate pass- sometimes getting a train pass for a week or month is cheaper than paying as you go, have change when you need to use a public restroom, make your way all around Paris and surrounding cities, buy food souvenirs from markets rather than souvenir shops, plan your visits ahead of time and get places early, plan at the very least one day at the Louvre but more if you can help it, watch your step - especially when crossing streets, learn basic French before going

Don’t: Let your guard down at any time, get caught photographing the Eiffel Tower at night, litter