It's a Long Story: Sweet Paris

The week before last I took a 4 day trip to Paris. I had mixed feelings about Paris before my visit; some people said it was incredible, some said to skip it. I felt like there were no real in-betweens on how people views Paris, they either loved it or hated it. No matter what people told me, though, I knew I had to go. How could I be living in London and not pop over to Paris on a quick 45 minute flight?

That being said, I had very low expectations of Paris. After Dublin, I certainly didn't want to give my hopes up and end up leaving disappointed with what I saw. After hopping on my early morning flight at Heathrow, I made sure to remind myself that Paris could potentially not be as lovely as I was hoping it would be.

I continued these thoughts as I sat on a train from Charles de Gaulle into central Paris. However, as soon as I emerged from the steps of the Metro in the middle of Paris, my breath was taken away. I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped as I had to stand there for a minute to soak up the beauty of what I was seeing. Paris was all I hoped it would be and more.

I spent my time in Paris with one of my closest friends, J, who had spent the prior weekend with me in London. She was in Paris to take a class for her spring break so we spent the mornings and evenings together, but I had the afternoons free to explore on my own. In the evenings, we met up with J's roommate K, who is studying in Paris. It was so great to explore Paris with a new friend!

In the evenings we did some things that I love most about my trip. We explored the Catacombs, a massive maze of underground tunnels where skeletons of Plague victims were placed after being moved from their graves during the expansion of Paris in the 1700s. It was very eery and took over an hour to make it through the entire Catacombs. We also visited some of the Expat writers favorite hang outs during their time in Paris in the 1920s. Having just read books on the Fitzgeralds and the Hemingways a few months ago, it was so incredible to actually see the places I had read about where legendaries like Gertrude Stein, James Joyce, Zelda and F.Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway spent their time when they lived in Paris. We had dinner at Les Deux Magots, a place where the Fitzgeralds and Ernest Hemingway famously and frequently got drunk on absinthe. After dinner we headed over to the Shakespeare and Company Bookshop, a place where the Expat writers gathered to discuss their works and to write some of pieces.

We also indulged in lots of champagne and macaroons. One night we went to the original Laudree, which opened in the 1800s. Not only were the macaroons incredible, but the building was breathtaking. Everything was exquisite and straight out of 19th century Paris. On my last night in Paris we went down to the Eiffel Tower to watch it sparkle at midnight and popped some bubbly and ate more Laudree.

While I was able to see some amazing sites on my trip like the Eiffel Tower, the Musee d'Orsay, and Versailles, I spent the majority of my time in Paris just soaking up the culture. I so enjoyed being able to leisurely wonder around the markets and cheese shops, stopping in to little coffee shops for a creme brûlée caffeine fix and restaurants to enjoy wine and bread.

This trip for me felt like a vacation during the week and I most enjoyed being able to spend time with someone who means so much to me.