Arrival in Paris!
Bonjour!
We arrived in Paris around 8 a.m. on Friday after our flight through Washington DC. Neither of us got the best night’s sleep, but we were both excited for the first day of adventures. After catching the train from the airport, we walked over to our hotel in the Latin Quarter. The receptionist was flustered when we arrived (there were a few different groups arriving around the same time period, and when we asked if there was a space to freshen up after the long night of travel, we were reminded the rooms would not be ready until 3 and told that they only had a small bathroom). After a speedy outfit change and tooth brushing, we headed out for the morning.
We made our first stop at Notre Dame to check out the outside briefly (super cool!), then headed over to Le Marais for a quick coffee at the Peloton Café. This spot was cute and made a great flat white!
Next, we caught the metro over to the Arc de Triomphe for our first monument! We admired the Arc from the Champs-Élysées before catching the pedestrian underpass to buy our tickets. We climbed the 284 stairs to the top, pausing at the gift shop along the way, then walking around the top admiring the view. It was impressive how big the city spans, and we had a perfectly clear morning to see it all! I was particularly impressed with how tall the Eiffel Tower looked compared to everything else around us. The business district (La Défense) also looked pretty nice. We also could see all the way up to Sacre Couer! It was a great first stop to get our bearings of the city!
Once we were finished eating, we continued down the Champs-Élysées, passing by important spots like the Grand Palais, Petit Palais, Galeries Lafayette, and Place de Concorde (with an Egyptian obelisk older than Paris and where Marie Antoinette was publicly executed along with thousands of others). We made it all the way to L’Orangerie, the museum famous for Monet masterpieces, and considered going in— but hadn’t appropriately planned ahead and didn’t feel like waiting in a long line. We looked into tickets and discovered Sunday was free museum day, so purchased some for Sunday instead!
At this point, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel since it was almost 3 p.m. and we were ready for a break. Thankfully, our room was ready! We took the opportunity to rest a bit, unpack, and pick out our evening plans and dinner spot.
Around 5, we headed back out for a Seine River Cruise with Vedettes du Pont Neuf, a tour company that offers 1-hour guided tours along the river. Our tour departed at 5:45, and the guide’s name was Alice. The tour started by Notre Dame and first went around the two Iles of Paris (Île de la Cite and Île St. Louis). We had a fabulous view of Notre Dame as we left! Île St. Louis has recently become more popular with the rise of Emily in Paris, and also has one of the most expensive hotels in the city. After the Iles, we then cruised along the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower. Along the way, Alice shared fun anecdotes about each of the bridges (including the Pont Alexandre which was a collaboration with Alexander the Great, a bridge that was “donated” by King Louis, and Pont Neuf - a bridge that has the faces of those who thought the bridge would fall down), several monuments visible (including the Louvre’s many different uses, a prison that looks like a château, Musée d’Orsay and how it used to be a train station, and more), and fun things to do along the Seine (dancing on the banks and swimming in the river). My favorite fact was that our boat was used during the Olympics opening ceremony in 2024 to hold athletes representing their countries!
After the cruise, we were ready for dinner, so we walked back towards our hotel and went over to La Jacobine, on a cute alleyway called Rue de Buci - thanks, Mom and Dad, for the recommendation! We didn’t have a reservation (they were all sold out), so we walked in with the hope of securing a table. The hostess told us if someone no-showed, we could have their table, and thankfully for us, someone did! We were seated shortly thereafter. (She did say the same thing to another group, but the one they were replacing did show up before they had a chance to order, and they were asked to leave… so we were grateful we got to stay!) We ordered a Coq au Vin dish with a starter of Montbeliard Sausage. Both dishes were amazing! We decided we also needed to try the Tarte Tatin, and it didn’t disappoint - it even came with some Crème Fraîche that was a nice complement. We would absolutely go back & would recommend this spot for some kind French hospitality!
After a successful first day, we called it a night and headed back to our hotel.
À très vite! (See you soon!)
Amy
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