SO, I finally made it to Paris. If you don’t know, I’ve been planning Paris for the last five years. Unfortunately, every time planning commences something horrible happens. Bombings, shootings, guy runs over people with a truck —more shootings. It seems like every time I wanted to travel to Paris, French people die.
Anyway, I stalked the trip board at work for a Paris trip and when I got the email alert, I snagged it up! I forced my mom along and the planning began.
The flight over to France was smooth. Normal work antics.
Since my mom couldn’t ride in our employee shuttle (due to our transport pick up on the tarmac), we took the “Le Bus Direct” from Charles de Gaulle Airport to the Eiffel Tower bus stop which dropped us off 2 mins away from our hotel, also two minutes from the tower.
The bus fare per person is 18 € and the ride takes about 45 mins to a hour and a half depending on traffic. It isn’t the most scenic bus route, but if you’re opting on a cheaper option to get to the city without renting a car or taking Uber, this it it. Another alternative is “Oui Bus”, which is about the same price and the departs out of the same bus terminal.
You can also take the Metro (train) from the airport, but since the nearest stop is a little walk away and we had luggage, I preferred the easiest way.
Our hotel was situated with an immediate view of the Eiffel tower, so we visited it first. My first opinion was : it was incredibly crowded and touristy. It was not entirely what I expected when I thought of the prestigious Eiffel Tower. There are tons of men aggressively trying to get your attention to sell cheap trinkets and souvenirs on the sides of the surrounding streets and areas of the Tower. While I support the hustle, they really took away from the beauty of it all.
I took a couple pictures and went off exploring, as everyone said the Eiffel tower was more beautiful at night.
My mom and I walked around (endlessly) the surrounding streets near the Eiffel Tower and eventually ended up walking towards Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Originally I was heading towards Zara, but the walk was so long, I ended up needing to use the bathroom and that changed our plans drastically.
After using the bathroom in a brassiere for 1€ we decided to get lunch.
We chose the famous Bouillon ChartierBouillon Chartier. We arrived around dining hour and it was extremely busy, as expected. We ordered the daurade royale au four sauce veirge (pollock fillet with creamy sauce) and spaghetti bolognaise (spaghetti bolognese). I would suggest reading up on French cuisine before dining out, as there meals are not as literal as they are here in the US.
The total for our meal was €18.70 plus the cost of drinks. To my surprise, the meals were NOT tastfy at all. With all the hype around this restaurant and French cuisine I was expecting a mind blowing tasting experience, but the food was just BLAH, average at best. I added as much salt and pepper as I could but even then, the food was just not it. It was a huge disappointment.
Also, the portion sizes ARE that small. I ordered a side of steamed veggies after my meal came, but after the food starting settling in my stomach, I realized I was full and forced myself to consume it.
Note to self: Americans really do eat way too much.
(I wasn’t able to capture any photos myself, but these are two images of our same meals from Yelp. Courtesy of Jean Marie P and Demi D.)
We traveled back to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up. From sunset to 1am (2am in the summer) the tower sparkles it’s 20,000 lights on the hour every hour for five minutes . It really was the most beautiful thing ever.
We also got to see an amazing proposal in the gardens of the Eiffel Tower, complete with colored fog and pyrotechnics. Talk about romance. Now my standards bar is : IF YOU’RE NOT PROPOSING TO ME IN FRONT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER, COMPLETE WITH ROSES, FOG, MUSIC, PYROTECHNICS AND A PHOTOGRAPHER, you just ain’t cutting it.
Earlier the next morning, I woke up and decided to take the Metro to the Arch de Triomphe and Louvre museum. I didn’t get to go inside the museum , but I’ve saved that task for my next trip to Paris where I go exploring art and food.
This particular day happened to be some big Adidas sponsored race, so my proposed Metro route back to the hotel got cut off by the hundreds of athletes. I ended up finding my way into the Jardin les Tuileries (Tuileries Garden). The garden was so beautiful and well kept, scattered with sculptures of different works of art, flowers and greenery.
It reminded me of that particular scene in the Disney animated movie ‘Hercules’.
I loved it all. There’s is an abundance of black crows flying around, so if you’re superstitious, good luck on this one .
After walking through the Gardens, I attempted to call an Uber back. Because of the race, traffic was causing Uber’s to cancel. I was running low on time and checked routes back to the hotel. Walking, 30 minutes, the Metro, 22. I got on the train and ultimately got lost after ignoring my intuition to get off at a stop I knew served the route I needed.
After a slight panic attack, I got an Uber back to the hotel with 20 mins to spare. I jumped into my uniform, threw on a basic makeup face and met my crew downstairs for our transport.
I will most definitely do Paris again, next time tackling Versailles and different 5 star rated restaurants around the city. Till then, see ya!
– Choonks❤️