Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Best of Paris, France





Paris was lovely. I was freezing, but it was lovely. I came to realize that I had never been in cold weather for as long as I had been. Between London, Dublin, Cardiff and now super cold Paris, my body was wondering where Southern California had gone. We we’re only in Paris for a few days (because it would be a crime to pass Paris on our way to Spain without stopping for a bit. & it’s likely that we’ll return later in the trip.) 

I studied the French New Wave (a French film movement) in college so I really wanted to see the beauty of Paris. And Paris IS beautiful. Unfortunately, for us we did experience unkind treatment from some Parisians. For us, the language barrier did prove to be difficult. But we did have a great time nonetheless. 

As we traveled to Bordeaux we were told that it’s more Parisians that want travelers to speak French, not necessarily the French want you to speak French. We experienced much more kindness in Bordeaux & the language barrier was less of an issue. (I would love to create a post about our time in Bordeaux but I actually became ill from how cold I was in Paris. I was shivering in Paris, so I was sick in Bordeaux. :( But here are the photos I posted on Instagram from Bordeaux. Here & here.)

Although we did enjoy the city of love!

Where We Stayed:
We’ve been enjoying our accommodations with Airbnb. We stayed here while in Paris and found it to be a great central location, & a great space to sleep, cook & hang out. We could even see the Eiffel Tower from our window! (See here!) 

What We Did:
We bought a ticket for the Paris Bus Tour that traveled around Paris so we can see all of the sights. Paris is truly a beautiful well planned out city. The monuments were specifically placed so you can see them from far distances throughout the city. Another fascinating fact is street leading to the Palais Garnier (the opera house that inspired The Phantom of the Opera novel) purposely has no trees so you can see it’s beauty from far away. No trees block the view!) It’s really worth it to go on the bus tour so you can see all of the monuments in a few hours & get some fun facts while you’re at it! 

Where We Ate:
We honestly ate in a lot. We frequented all the different markets in Paris to gather supplies for dinners in. There were a lot of baguettes, fruit & pasta with vegetables. We did go to a vegetarian restaurant called La Verrière. It was buffet style with plenty of vegan options. (You load up one plate with what you want. We were confused on if we could go back for seconds.) There was a language barrier with the gentleman pointing out the vegan options to me. He pointed to a grain based salad and said it had tofu. Turned it out it was cheese. I found out pretty quickly it wasn’t tofu. I’m not going to beat myself up over these vegan fails. They’re bound to happen. If we return to Paris I really want to try Hank Vegan Burger

So that was our experience in Paris. Have you been to Paris before? What did you like?

By the way, we we're in Paris on March 19th - 22nd. I'm a little behind on posting our whereabouts. If you're interested in more up to date posts, feel free to follow me on Instagram! (@city_loveee)

- Christina

12 comments:

  1. I really, really want to visit Paris someday.... even if Parisians are known to be rude to tourists. I think I would eat all carbs though my entire stay... I mean mmmmm, that bread. http://aroseisinbloom.blogspot.com

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  2. Your photos are so good! I'm sorry it was so freakin' cold for you and that you bumped into some not-so-friendly people :/ The first time I went to Paris, I met a lot of not-so-nice people, but when I went a few months ago I thought it must have been a thing of the past because people were SO freakin' nice and I fell in love with Paris and didn't want to leave, haha! Hank Vegan Burger was good! I loved, loved, loved Brasserie Lola. The food was some of the best food I've EVER had and the staff were some of the nicest people ever! All vegan! I also looooved Gentle Gourmet (also 100% vegan). My vegetarian brother went with me to all the places and we were blown away with the amazing food and super nice staff everywhere. If you get to go again, I highly recommend checking out those places! I think splurging a little and going out of our way to go to those vegan restaurants is what made our trip amazing :)

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  3. Haha the bread photo cracked me up. You look so happy! I'm sorry to hear you were sick and freezing. And definitely don't beat yourself up over vegan fails! It's hard enough in the US sometimes, let alone another country in another language! I'm loving your updates.

    Randi with an i

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  4. Christina your photos of Paris are amazing!!! I was in such a whirlwind I never took the time to take such special snaps!!! Yours make me want to go straight back there <3
    We have a French intern at work at the moment and she's just got the most gorgeous accent.
    Beautiful country x

    www.bohemianmuses.blogspot.com

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  5. Rica Marion DayagMay 3, 2015 at 6:09 AM

    I am now inspired to go to paris after I read your post! ilove your blog

    Let's follow each other

    xoxo,
    http://www.ricadayag.blogspot.com/

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  6. your outfit is so cute... oh paris... we were there in a time before kids.. looks like you are having a wonderful time

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  7. Your pics are so good! The baguettes! The statues at Notre Dame... So glad you enjoyed the trip!

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  8. hey! i was in paris yesterday!! small world!

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  9. Paris is definitely worth visiting even if they can be rude. We found some nice people, too. It was just difficult for us when we arrived because no one in the train station wanted to help us. They would just say things like, we don't speak English. It became pretty stressful off the back :( But ya we were just walking down the street eating a baguette. :) Definitely eat the bread! (and if it doesn't have oven marks on the bottom, it's fresh!)

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  10. That is so great to hear! I've noticed going to a city the second time makes it so much easier. We've been to Rome and Athens twice to fly out from there & I was impressed with ourselves! ;) (knowing the metro and city really helps!) We definitely need to return to Paris because we weren't there for very long. We still have so much to see & so many more restaurants to visit!

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  11. That extra boost in confidence makes aaallll the difference, for sure! I hope you're able to go to Paris again and that your next visit will be loads better!

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  12. LOL Saint Denis is awesome!! Which side was he on? I must look for him if I get to go to the Notre Dame again!

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