How To Do Paris, France in 2 Days

After three years of high school French class and being a part of the French Honors Society, I had a dream of going to France and experiencing the culture I had learned about. When I was studying abroad, my roommates and I planned to do Paris as one of the last trips we would take. Of course, that backfired and ended up being one of the first trips canceled. As you can imagine, I was very excited to finally be making the trip.

DAY 4: JULY 4- TRAVEL TO PARIS, FRANCE

Traveling From Lisbon to Paris

Our flight was at 6 am so we had to get up to go to the airport at 3am. We scheduled Ubers the night before and made our way to the airport. We made it through security fine, thankfully. Our gate wasn’t posted yet so we sat in a food court trying to be as comfortable as possible in a plastic chair at a table at four in the morning. Emma put two chairs together and laid down because she wasn’t feeling well and fell asleep. We didn’t get our gate information until 6am so our flight was delayed. It ended up being delayed two hours but we were already lined up, getting ready to board so we painfully stood there waiting. While standing there, a man was freaking us out. He was swatting the air, mumbling words and had absolutely nothing with him boarding the plane. It was very strange. They ended up taking our bags to check them at the gate because the flight was full. The flight was smooth but leaving the airport and getting to the airbnb was rough. It was an hour drive in an Uber and I started to feel car sick. I tried not to think about it by looking at the city outside the window. I don’t usually get car sick but I was riding backwards and had close to no sleep. We made it to our cute little airbnb to drop off our bags and were greeted by a black and orange speckled cat and our airbnb host. It was too early to fully settle in but we got to meet the host who was so sweet.

*Note: Bring a neck pillow in case you are in situations like this

Exploring Paris

Once our bags were settled, we got food at Dunkerque. I had ratatouille and shared anna’s avocado toast. I discovered I really like ratatouille that day! We then walked to get chocolate croissants because why not. Then Haley, Anna and I separated from Juan and Emma and went to the Lourve to see the Mona Lisa while they went to look at expensive stores for Emma’s potential bag. It was EXTREMELY crowded at the Louvre. It was very hard to see the Mona Lisa up close because of how many people were there, plus the painting and room was small and it was hot. The tickets were seventeen euros which Emma said were over double what she paid in the off season but it was still cool to see.

*Note: If you want to do touristy things, try to plan a trip in the off-season to avoid over pricing and large crowds.

Evening in Paris, France

After the Louvre, we walked thirty minutes back to our airbnb and got to see more of the city. We rested back at the Airbnb and then walked to our dinner reservation at the infamous Pink Mamma. It was so cute with so many floors. I got a veggie cavatelli and Emma got a pesto dish that we shared. We also got fun drinks, such as their signature cocktail called Big Mama. After, we walked to see the Moulin Rouge and stopped at a gift shop to get pins. We Ubered to the Eiffel Tower just in time for the sunset. When we got there, a man was playing guitar and singing “Location” by Khalid. It was an absolutely perfect entrance to an even more beautiful sight in person than i imagined. We got crepes at a stand nearby and sat in the grass watching the sun set and music play. We were hoping that it would get dark enough by ten o’clock to see it sparkle but the sun set late there so it wasn’t dark enough and wouldn’t happen until eleven. It was cooling down and breezy and we didn’t dress appropriately. We were cold and tired and decided to leave and go back the next night to see it sparkle.

*Note: The city is big with limited public transportation so we did a lot of Ubering from place to place. Something to consider when thinking about budget.

DAY 5: JULY 5- FULL DAY IN PARIS

Morning In Paris

We woke up around ten and got ready for the day. Emma slept in more because she hadn’t been feeling well. Juan, Anna, Haley and I walked to breakfast. On our way there, we passed the Sacré-Cœur Basilica. It was up on a hill that overlooked the city so there were a lot of steps. It was super pretty. We ate the Hardware Society and sat outside. We were laughing because Haley said hello really loud as the guy was turning the corner, kind of scaring him and it just screamed American. It doesn’t sound funny but it was. I got a cappuccino and baked egg. When I decided on what dish to get, it sounded really good but it had chorizo in it and I am vegetarian. I was hesitant to ask for it without it because I hate modifying a restaurants dish. However, I did anyway and of course it was the only dish in fourteen years that he has never changed and made me embarrassed for asking so I just got it with chorizo. It was delicious and I ate one piece of chorizo to try it and picked around the rest. Nothing against it, just wasn’t for me.

*Note: Don’t ask to modify your meals, order how they make it.

Doing It All In One Afternoon

Juan left to get a tattoo and Haley, Anna and I went back to the Eiffel Tower and found a spot across the street by a carousel to take pictures. Emma met us there, she was feeling better thankfully. We grabbed crepes and walked to the Arc de Triomphe. That was cool to see. Emma was still on the hunt for a new purse so we walked down Avenue des Champs Elysees and stopped at Laudree for macarons. There was a long line and a bunch of flavors that were hard to choose from but definitely worth it. We tried going to the stranger things store but there was too long of a line. From there, we Ubered to Notre Dame. We looked at it, took pictures and then left to go back to our apartment. There was a lot of construction going on because of the fire and we couldn’t go inside, sadly.

Paris At Night

As we were deciding where to go for dinner, Anna had been messaging people on facebook for Harry Styles tickets since he was performing in Paris that night. She said one woman sounded legit and that she was a “god fearing woman” and would never scam us so we thought we had a potential opportunity. We called Maggie, Emma’s sister, in the US to use her PayPal account because that’s what the woman requested and none of us had one to pay her. She also requested we pay through Friends and Family versus Goods and Services which was sketchy but we did anyway. We got ready to go, went on our way to the concert to find out it was in fact a scam. The woman said the payment didn’t go through and wouldn’t send us the tickets until we paid again and wouldn’t confirm that she actually had tickets…whomp. Luckily, it was only $20 each but still, it would’ve been dope to have gone.

*Note: Don’t try to buy Harry Styles tickets the day of from Facebook.

We gave up and went out to dinner instead at Le Progrès. The dish I got was not what I expected at all but it was still decent. It was tomatoes, zucchini, arugula pie with a side of french fries. Emma got crème brûlée for dessert. We walked back to our apartment to put on warm clothes because it was chilly when the sun went down and walked to the Moulin Rouge to see it in the dark. For the third time, we went to the Eiffel Tower to get crepes and watch it twinkle. We made it there just in time…we were literally running with our crepes so we didn’t miss it. It was so beautiful, magical and definitely worth the wait. I loved my time in Paris and would definitely go back.