Paris Travel Diary

If you missed the first part of the little European getaway I took with my mom last month — make sure to check out my London Travel Diary! The month of November has been absolutely chaotic here at OSG — but I’m so excited to share some snapshots of Paris! After 5 full days in London doing all. the. touristy. things we could get our hands on, we were ready for a little R&R — so we hopped on the Eurostar and took a 2 hour direct train into Paris. It was definitely an easy ride (and in my opinion, a lot easier to navigate than the trains in Italy). We arrived to MORE sunshine — we must have had freak weather the entire time we were away, and it was around 70-75 degrees the entire 4 days we were in France!

WHAT WE DID

Jardin de Tuilleries.  I had mentioned this on my London post — as happy I was to be in Europe, I was secretly sad to be missing October in Connecticut. Hear me out. We have such crazy weather here in the Northeast — hot, muggy summers and freezing cold, snowy winters… October is usually my favorite month and one of the most mild months of the year. We also get to look at some beautiful foliage and I was so sad to be missing it! Once we got into Paris and realized our hotel was right across from the famous Jardin de Tuilleries, I forgot all about fall back home. The Jardin de Tuilleries is a gorgeous tree-lined park with an old vintage carousel and the most picturesque walkways.

Charles Garnier Opera House.  One of the most elaborate places I’ve ever stepped foot in, this is the famous opera house that the story of Phantom of the Opera takes place in. We paid for the audio tour and wandered around learning all about the history of it being built (so. much. gold.) and all of the infamous Parisians that used to attend!

Wandered around the neighborhood of Saint Germaine.  Everyone always just tells you to get lost in the streets of certain cities — something I love doing. I love setting out with absolutely zero agenda and seeing where you end up. We took an uber to Saint Germaine and wandered around shopping, eating at cafes, and just getting more acquainted with the slow pace of Paris.

Bateaux Mouches Dinner Boat.  This had been on our list to do and we waited until our second to last night. We took an early sail down the Seine River (so we could see the Eiffle Tower light up) and get some photos in the light. Our meal was delicious and it was such a relaxing hour and a half! We saw so many people on the sides of the river just hanging out — drinking wine and picnicking with a view!

Watched the Eiffel Tower Lights.  We luckily got to do this right from our hotel room (our travel agent Lorraine is the freaking best). If you don’t have a view of the Eiffel Tower from wherever you’re staying, get out into the streets and find a spot to stand for a few to catch the show at night. The Eiffel Tower lights up at the top of each hour from sundown to about 1am for 5 minutes, and it’s magical! We felt so lucky we got to watch it a few times each night!

Lourve Highlights Tour. I must have misjudged what being one of the biggest museums really looks like, because when we walked up to the Lourve… I was in shell shocked.  It’s MASSIVE, and I was thankful that we took advice and did the “highlights tour” — we probably would have been lost in there otherwise.  On our two hour tour, we got to see  paintings by Da Vinci, get a little history of the Lourve and what it started out as, and of course, the Mona Lisa.

WHERE WE STAYED

We stayed at The Westin Vendome, which is right across the street from the Jardin de Tuilleries and diagonal from the Lourve.  It’s a pretty great location — as we were able to walk to a bunch of the attractions we wanted to visit, but it is in the middle of a major “high end” shopping district, so the shops and restaurants were pretty pricey right around us.  Luckily, we did a TON of walking, and were able to Uber around without any headache.  As I had mentioned above, we had a beautiful view of the Eiffel Tower right from our room and were able to take in the gorgeous foliage of the Jardin de Tuilleries!  If I’m lucky enough to go back (bringing Raj is now on my list), I would probably prefer to stay in a more quaint neighborhood next time… but this was perfect for us!

WHERE WE ATE

Dominico’s Restaurant.  We ate here the first night after a long travel day arriving in Paris.  We were looking for something local (that we could easily walk to) and found this place just a few blocks from our hotel.  Compared to London, the prices were refreshing and a glass of wine was only €5!

Angelina’s Tea House.  Also right around the corner from where we stayed, we ended up here for an early breakfast and ended up oggling the pastries and desserts as we left!

Café de Flore.  We stopped into this famous corner cafe the day we walked around Saint Germain.  It was one of my favorite places of our trip and was so fun to sit and relax with a glass of wine and people watch.

Buddha Bar.  We didn’t hit much nightlife on our trip but it was fun to do a couple of dinners on the late side and loved this spot.  It was walkable from our hotel and absolutely gorgeous (I felt like we were in Vegas).

Iovine Arte Della Pizza.  I was CRAVING pizza (and/or probably carbs) so I went on a search for the best pizza in the city.  This place was UNREAL and such a little find.  We ended up ordering the most gorgeous cheese board and burrata platter after seeing someone else in the restaurant with it and I quickly forgot about my pizza need.  A must-try if you’re in Paris!

L’Impérial Rivoli.  A delicious little French spot we ducked into our last night of our trip.  It was super cozy and casual and the food and service was amazing!  I’m also pretty positive I’ve never had a better french onion soup in my life.

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