Bonjour Paris
Recently I was lucky enough to be able to travel to Europe with my family. We went to Paris, Luxembourg and Barcelona. I am going to do a blog post on each country starting with Paris!
Now, if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know I was uber sick in Paris with fever, sore throat, the whole enchilada. The times I wasn’t sleeping it off in the hotel while everyone else was exploring, I took a lot of Emergen-C. In the two days we had in Paris, I managed to get out 3 times - worth it because Paris is such a beautiful city. Since it was my first time there I am not honestly sure what I expected, but it did exceed expectations.
Day 1: We got to the airport around 8am and took the Rossy Bus to the Opera House which was a short distance from our hotel. Once we got there around 1030am we were very lucky our hotel room was ready because otherwise I don’t know if I would have made it (you don’t know what my level of sick was - this is not sarcasm). After I took a 5 hour nap while my mom & sis explored the city, I made it out to get some Starbucks tea and check out the Opera House which we planned to tour but it closed right when we got there (it was a religious holiday). Instead we watched some dancers, took some pics and grabbed dinner close to our hotel before going back to sleep.
Day 2: Way more interesting than day 1 because we started out with a guided scooter ride through Paris to see the sights. You bet I rallied for this cause I was not planning on missing a Vespa trip around Paris. Our guide met us at our hotel with the scooters ready to roll and that we did. We started driving through Montmartre to see the Sacré-Coeur (very “young” church to Paris - 130 years old) which had amazing views overlooking the city then drove through different districts again stopping at Place Vendôme ( a square primarily with jewelry stores with a column in the center created under Napoleon made of his enemies’ cannons). We also went to Place de la Concorde, Les Invalides (Napoleon’s tomb originally built as a retirement home for veterans), to get amazing pastries, and past the Eiffel Tower before stopping at an amazing spot to eat our pastries overlooking the river and Eiffel Tower. Lastly we went past the President’s House and the Arc De Triomphe then ended back at our hotel.
The whole tour took a little over three hours and was an amazing experience. Especially since our days in Paris were very limited, I know I would have maybe only seen 2 things on that list otherwise. We went through Ride’N’Smile with Tom who was the best guide possible! He kept an eye on us as well as the traffic, was incredibly knowledgable about the city, the sites and any questions we had. He also put together a great tour that was beyond what I imagined. I highly recommend doing this if you have experience on scooters and are ever in Paris.
Once scootering was over I rested at our hotel while my mom and sister did a walking tour of Montmartre. Later we took the metro to the Latin District where we had a amazing Italian dinner at a restaurant called Racina. Then we walked around the Pantheon, through the Luxembourg Gardens and down to the river for the Seine River Ride. With a 945pm time slot, we went past the Eiffel Tower right as the lights began to twinkle.
Being sick put a damper on the trip, but it was still an amazing time! Next stop... Luxembourg!
