Weekend in Paris, France

Paris holds the key to her heart. Paris is always a good idea. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

Paris is a beautiful, eclectic, fashionable, dirty city full of good food and people who are not afraid to let you know that they’re better than you. Busy and bustling and full of promise.

I’ve been to Paris twice in my life. The first time as part of a family trip that included Austria, Italy, and France. My parents, my sisters, and I stayed in an apartment back when Airbnb was still new and exciting. With my family, we visited the Louvre, the Orsay, the eiffel tower, Shakespeare's Bookstore, the Notre Dame, and basically everywhere that you can think of when you imagine Paris.

On this trip, we didn’t have cell phones or a way to contact one another. There was a day when we were riding a local bus and I got off a stop early on our journey to the eiffel tower. Oops. Using the eiffel tower, I ran along the rest of the route and luckily found my family. My family still tease me about this fifteen years later.

My second time in Paris happened in 2018 and was basically a giant accident. I ended up in Paris after making a mistake booking my ticket home from Amsterdam back to Spain where I was living at the time. I mixed up the month and day and was stranded in Amsterdam. I decided to take an overnight bus and visit Paris where there was a more affordable ticket to Santiago de Compostela in a few days. I booked a loud party hostel because it was cheap. I arrived in Paris at 5am and walked around the city until that afternoon when I was able to check into my room.

I walked all over the city. Exhausted, but excited to be there. I stumbled upon a cute used book store / cafe and spent some time resting there - Merci was the name. It was very cute.

I had lunch at Le Bastringue brasserie and bar. It reminded me a lot of the movie Amelie and made for a tasty meal.

I also wandered around Rue Cremieux which was a pretty street that was popular for instagram photos. At this time, I was very into my instagram and wanted lots and lots of pretty pictures of myself. I took a bunch of photos on a timer. None of them turned out, but it is a very pretty street.

Another popular location to visit is Basilique du Sacré Coeur. It is atop a very well visited hill full of tourist shops and folks who slap a bracelet on your wrist and then demand payment. Watch out for this.

My second day, I woke up early to visit Versailles. It was winter when I visited so the gardens were mostly barren. As you can see from the photos, it was overcast and rainy and cold during my trip.

As you can also see, I’m tired from not sleeping well in the party hostel or the bus. This trip was a happy little accident and lots of fun. But also training. I made friends with a handful of folks also staying there. We all added each other on social media and I occasionally see their posts. Brief glimpses into the lives of people who are basically strangers.

When I think back on Paris, the happiest memories are walking around the eiffel tower and seeing it lit up at night. It has a magical draw to it that is hard to explain unless you’ve felt the dirty, stinky, magic of this city. 

Now that I’m married and settled into my 30s, I dream of coming back to this city. Experiencing art and food and culture with my partner. Staying in places that aren’t a dorm room full of bachelor parties and YOUTHs. 

Third time's the charm, right?