My Trip To Paris, France

I think it’s about time I break my silence about Paris. I keep getting asked about my trip and if I am planning on sharing pictures (which I did little of on Facebook). The truth is I felt there were other things I could be doing besides blogging about my trip to Paris (like editing weddings and portraits I needed to be catching up on). I am honestly thrilled to be able to share my trip to Paris with you all! It was the best trip of my life and I so badly want to go back. It was so special to me and is so dear to my heart.

One of my favorite things about Paris was not just seeing the Eiffel Tower or the other amazing historical sights, but it was seeing and meeting my family who I had never met before. Its a strange thing to meet family from across the world to only find out you are so much alike. I love the bond I have with my family there. They are truly some of my most favorite people in the entire world. My cousin Julien (I’ll post a picture below), is such a fun, loving and amazing person. I mean amazing! There is no doubt in my mind that we are family! Carole, Juliens older sister who is also my age, could literally be my sister. The minute I met her I felt like we had known each other our entire lives. It was such an incredible experience. I was able to meet Carole’s fiancé Raphael and even had the privilege of taking their engagement pictures (I will post those after they share the photos with the family first). Raph is one of the funniest, nicest people and I am thrilled he will be joining our family! Those 3 people were truly what made my trip to Paris amazing. Truly amazing. I can’t wait for them to come visit me here in Seattle, but I will definitely be back to visit them. Family is the most important thing in this life and it couldn’t be more clearer to me now, especially after meeting them.

Now on to the tour of Paris.

When we flew in, I remember thinking that it reminded me of LA with all the smog. It was sunny but foggy and a bit cold. Julien took us to a local restaurant “Le Wilson” near the Eiffel Tower and where we were staying in Trocadero. It was so delicious (we had the duck)! Then again, nothing I ate in Paris was gross. Everything I ate there was incredible. Just their pastries alone were amazing! My favorite place that we ate had to be Angelina’s! OMG, their food was amazing! I had this appetizer that was crab, green apple and avocado. The way that they deliver your food to you is what makes it so special though. Everything there is so clean and in a perfect proportion. You can’t really overeat there because everything is perfectly sized, unless maybe you order two of everything. I loved listening to everyone’s French there. Some of my other favorite sounds and smells of Paris were the cars honking, lots of police and ambulance sirens (they don’t sound like the ones in America) and the smell of cigarette smoke. I wouldn’t trade any of that, even if I don’t normally like the smell of smoke. I only wish I could snap my fingers and be there again. I have been lucky enough to have dreams about Paris though! That’s close enough, right? Oh, I forget to mention that the crepes there are to die for! I had one every single day!

I loved all the arches, the doorways, the worn down steps (you’ll see in some of the pictures I took). I noticed that everything in Paris is in a circle (even their staircases) and they have a ton of roundabouts in the city. The roundabouts are hilarious too, because there are no lanes and it becomes pure chaos! It would be extremely nerve racking driving in it, but it’s pretty funny to watch. Since parking is so scarce there, everyone rode little motorcycles or mopeds. Some got super fancy too!

I loved seeing all the French dogs there. When we went to the Louvre, I loved seeing all the old paintings with dogs. It made me so happy to see that people had pets way back then. My heart was so happy.

Some advice for people going to Paris.

The first day I recommend going on the bus tour around the city. This will show you all the places you may want to stop and get off. We spent 9 days there, so we took the bus to see the places we wanted to go back to and spend more time at. Its also very educational. I recommend spending all day at the Louvre. Francys, Rob and my husband and I only got through half of the place and spend half of the day there. You definitely need a whole day to go. Also, a must is going to the top of the Eiffel Tower, walking up to the top of Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame. You will not regret it! The view is unbelievable. Take the metro and just walk around the streets of Paris. The buildings and architecture are incredible. I am thinking of making a book of all the doors of Paris. I think I will need to go back to get more before I make it, though.

Don’t rent a car. Parking in horrendous and you can easily get around by taking the metro and walking. Bring comfortable shoes and make sure that anything you plan on carrying has a zipper and doesn’t leave your site. And don’t go to Paris with a budget for food. I’m being serious.

On to pictures. I took over 1,000 pictures, so these are just some of my favorite ones. I apologize for how many there are. Hopefully you’ll enjoy yourself, though!

These views are from the top of the Arc De Triomphe.

This was the view from our porch that we were staying in.

The flame here is above where Princess Diana died. They made it into a memorial for her. It is a replica of the flame that the Statue of Liberty is holding.