We kicked off our journey to Paris with a fairly short travel day. We took the train that lasted about four hours from Amsterdam to Paris, traveling through Rotterdam on the way.
(Check out my map of Paris and all the places I visited here!)
Exploring the city on our first night
Once we arrived in our hostel (Generator Hostel Paris, located in the Grange aux Belles area), we ate next door. Our server was young and corrected our poor pronunciation of ‘merci’ and ‘bonjour’ – and thankfully, he was nice enough to just tell us not to bother! I made the mistake of getting a cheese omelette that was runny and somewhat undercooked – I think most are cooked that way in France? I was thankful I traveled with ginger root capsules to ease my stomach!
The hostel was certainly nice, but the group rooms had packed bunk beds with little room for our suitcases. We were on the seventh floor and got lucky because some of my friends on the first floor could hardly sleep at night due to the super loud club in the basement! The rooftop was amazing though and had incredible views.
After eating, we took a walking tour by the area around Notre Dame. The cathedral had only caught fire a few months before in April. It was so sad to not see it in its full beauty and you could still see the charred remnants up top. We walked around the Latin Quarter as well and all the restaurants and little shops were so picturesque as you would expect! If I had known it was there, I definitely would have visited the Shakespeare & Company bookstore. Before we left for the rest of the night, our tour director (shoutout Kyri!!) got us all berets!
Women’s World Cup
That night, a group of us went to the Women’s World Cup! I was so excited to be able to see a world cup game while we were in Paris and made it a priority to get a group together. We saw the South Africa v. China game at Parc des Princes (where Paris Saint-Germain plays), right by the famous Stade Roland Garros where the French Open is played. We got there an hour and a half early, in what felt like the suburbs of Paris. It was much calmer in the area and a very easy metro ride over.
There were only 20,000 people at the match and we just missed the US playing in Paris by two days (ugh!). The atmosphere was so cool with the Chinese fans in full force. I almost didn’t get through with my camera and I KNEW I was pushing it with my lens but didn’t want to just not bring my camera. It was passed around by three different people all speaking very rapid French (that I obviously couldn’t understand) until I finally got in ten minutes later. We left early to beat the crowds and navigated a very busy subway on the way back.
Visiting all the touristy spots
The next day, we had a 3-hour guided bus tour. I think this was the day that the exhaustion hit for everyone because we were all half-asleep! Our tour guide was very animated and a little crazy. Someone asked if the French actually hate Americans and he said “no madame, the French spend too much time hating the Brits. We don’t have time to hate you, get over yourself.” Haha! We stopped by Les Invalides, where Napoleon is buried along with other French leaders. Les Invalides hosted Chanel in July for Paris Fashion Week and several other big brands hosted their shows at other iconic landmarks – like Yves St. Laurent at the Eiffel Tower last September. We then went to the Arc du Triomphe, then ended the tour at the Eiffel Tower. It really was truly impressive to see once we were up close!
I had planned to visit Monet’s Gardens in Giverny with my friends but we didn’t realize that the trip would have been an extra 10 euro for an external train ride outside of Paris (not just on the metro). Then since we didn’t have a plan, we ended up wandering around to get crepes and then sit out on the steps of the Musee d’Orsay by the Seine. It was the first sunny day the whole trip and improved our moods tenfold.
While we were walking toward the famous ‘love lock’ bridge on the Seine, we almost got pickpocketed! Two women came up to our group of four, with clipboards that said “International Homeless Association” at the top and asked us to sign their petition. It asked for a zipcode, name, email and phone number and some of us started signing until this man came over and yelled “pickpocketers, don’t do it!” and took the clipboards from the ladies and ripped up the papers. They were very nice to us initially then quickly became angry when the man intervened and helped us. Thankfully nothing was taken, but we then became way more aware of our belongings throughout the rest of the trip.
We took the metro to Musee d’la Orangerie, which houses the two 360-degree rooms of Monet’s water lilies, along with a Franz Marc exhibit with Kandinsky and other similar artists. Not going to lie, I teared up a little seeing some of the work. My grandmother, who passed away in my junior year of college, was an artist and I wish she could have been there with me to see all the beautiful works of art.
After the Musee d’la Orangerie, we sat in the gardens outside the Louvre. It was so peaceful – but at this point, we had all eaten nothing but crepes (and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast because it was so hard to find something I could easily eat with my allergy) and it was late afternoon. Once it hit 6pm, we were able to go in the Louvre for free (Fridays for 18 to 25-year-olds are free!) and wandered around inside for an hour. We headed straight to the Mona Lisa…and I have never been more underwhelmed. What a joke of a painting! I know this will sound so unappreciative but I studied art history through some of college and the Mona Lisa was never one of my favorite works. It was cool to wander through the other galleries though and see paintings on paintings, gigantic and stacked up the wall.
After, we booked it for a grocery store and found a Monoprix. We had definitely wandered into an area with all locals that knew exactly what they were doing and had no business staying out of our way. We got some meat, cheese, bread and fruit and took it to the Eiffel Tower to watch the sunset. The Eiffel Tower sparkles every night at dusk, for 5 minutes on the hour. There was a very audible “wow!” from the crowd when it began to sparkle. It was really pretty and of course, I loved the challenge of shooting it. (Use a lower shutter speed to capture the lights as your eye sees it.)
Sacre Couer and Montmartre
The next morning, we got up early and went to Sacre Couer and Montmartre. The view from up top of the city was absolutely gorgeous – it made me glad I didn’t pay to go up in the Eiffel Tower! The church was very pretty and had some gorgeous stained glass. Montmartre was so charming! It was what I had imagined Paris to be like. There were so many artists set up in that area, all selling the same style of portrait or Eiffel Tower paintings.
Ali Labelle, Ban.do’s creative director, had just posted about a man named Bernard that did her portrait in Paris. That was all the details though – but I was so lucky and found him! His work is so unique and now I have a beautiful keepsake from my trip. I believe the portrait only cost 30 or 40 euro, which I thought was incredibly fair for his work. I also didn’t do a lot of shopping for souvenirs throughout the trip in general, so I chose my souvenirs very carefully. Being in that area definitely redeemed the trip for me. After, we stopped by the Luxembourg Gardens as a perfect end to the trip.
Thoughts on Paris
Paris was my least favorite city that I visited overall. Maybe it was because I did all the touristy things and didn’t explore the other parts of Paris much, maybe it was because I was so overwhelmed by the language or both? I was only able to pick up ‘bonjour,’ ‘merci’ and ‘oui’ – but I’m sure I still butchered those!
Everyone’s style in Paris was so beautiful and I wanted to copy it all. So many loose blazers, tweed, silk tanks – outfits that could have come straight off the runway. There was a ton of great design and type inspiration as well.
I definitely want to go back now that I’ve done most of the touristy spots and visit the ‘real’ Paris!
xo, Hannah