"Paris is always a good idea" -Audrey Hepburn

I couldn't have said it better Audrey! My birthday present from James this year was a trip to Paris, my lifelong dream! It was everything I hoped for and more. We arrived in England and were there for about 3 days to get settled, then left early the morning of the 21st to head to Paris. I think we rode every kind of transport that day. We drove 2.5 hours to Luton airport, took a bus into the airport, flew to France, took the tube into Paris, and caught a boat to see the sights quicker. We also walked A LOT!! It was crazy!


Stepping off the tube and actually being in Paris, I seriously teared up. I couldn't believe I was really there. The entire day I kept having to say to myself, "You are really here! Enjoy every second! " It was almost magical. I know it sounds cheesy, but I loved it so much!! The first tourist spot closest to where we got off the tube was Notre Dame. It was nice that we could go inside for free (unlike Westminster Abbey). It was beautiful so many amazing paintings and stained glass windows. It had statues of saints and you could pay some money to light a candle to say a prayer to whichever saint it was. It was cool. Since it was almost Christmas, they had a huge nativity set up inside as well. I recommend going around Christmas for that reason. It was just cool to see all the decor and Christmas atmosphere around Paris. The weather was terrible, but we will let it slide. :)
Notre Dame had a huge Christmas tree being lit that day right behind me. I got a shot at night at the end of the day of it.
One of the beautiful stained glass pieces. It was almost too reverent in there to take a lot of pictures.
We walked outside and right around the corner was a crepe maker on the street. Sold! I had a nutella and banana crepe. Best thing ever.
I'm jealous of myself right now thinking of how good that thing tasted! I must go back!!
We knew we only had the day, so we wanted to get in as much as possible so we were looking for a bus tour. We couldn't find one and were walking around random streets. On one of the bridges we saw it covered in locks. I looked closer and it had peoples names with hearts and anniversary years. I'm guessing it is like saying you are the key to my heart. So romantic Paris. Love it!
We found a boat tour on the Seine that took us to our second stop, the Louvre. I have heard you could spend an entire day just in the Louvre, so we decided the outside was good enough for us with our time constraints. The grounds were absolutely beautiful. There were street vendors trying to sell these eiffel tower statues everywhere! We had one tell us he would give us 6 of them for 1 euro. What are we going to do with 6 eiffel tower statues?? I'm sure they were great quality too. Yeah right!

I'm sure in the summer this fountain is fun to sit in front of and watch, but with it raining all day, it looked pretty deserted. I just loved that it had these random green plastic chairs around it. I decided to take a seat and stay awhile. There were tons of picnic tables around and I'm sure in the summer people are out flying kites and picnicking with their families.
I loved this sculpture! It was just on one of the streets of Paris. So much history and art everywhere.

by Rodin of course. :)

This was one of the magical moments of the day. I had been getting antsy about seeing the Eiffel tower because I hadn't seen it yet and we had been there for a few hours. In my mind before going there I just figured you could see it from anywhere in the city. Not so much. Plus, it was super foggy and rainy making it hard to see much in the distance. This photo was my first glimpse of it in all it's glory! So amazing!!
This is in front of the Obelisk? I believe. That ferris wheel was enormous! I loved the fountain as well. I need to do more research next time I go, so I know more of the history of some of these monuments.
Another one of my favorite parts of the day was walking down the Champs Elysee. They had tons of booths set up for an open market because of Christmas. They were selling everything from jewelry to food. Lots of fun little shops selling different kinds of meats, cheeses, etc. James got a fresh baguette with ham and cheese. Best bread I have ever tasted! He loved it too of course.
We then made it to the Arc de Triomphe. Super cool. The round about around it is pretty crazy, which we had been told by several people. The drivers there are insane. We made it safely across because they have an underground walkway. Good thing!
We decided to climb to the top and get a view of the city. Man there were so many stairs! Almost 300 if I remember correctly. I thought I was going to die. I am so glad we did it though. At that time the weather had somewhat cleared and we got a great view of the city. When we went to the Eiffel Tower we couldn't see anything and it was so windy and cold we couldn't stand to be outside. So, it was a good thing we did both.

Doesn't it look magical? It was. It really was.

Ever wondered what it looks like under the arc? Well, here you go!
Trying to cross the street by the arc. Not the roundabout but the street down was almost as crazy. After we crossed the street, we just walked random streets of Paris. I imagined myself living in the cute little apartments with the flower boxes outside their windows. We also ran into a little park where a little family was playing with their kids. It was still in the heart of Paris but seemed like we were out in the suburbs. I loved that part of the day.
We ended with the Eiffel Tower. Great place to end. I was worried we wouldn't have time to go up to the top. We got there at the perfect time when the line wasn't super long. I was grateful.
I just wanted to prove that I actually stood under the Eiffel tower. Here's your proof. I guess it isn't actual proof since I wasn't in the picture, but just take my word for it. haha
My Grandpa Tenney before we left said if we did anything we had to ride to the very top of the tower. He went many years ago and didn't ride it up to the top and had always regretted it. I'm glad we got the do it for us and for him. This is my "I made it!" picture.

Man it was cold!!

The last shot of the tower before we got on our little boat to go back to the subway. I loved it. Michael Buble's new Christmas album was playing while we waited. I'll always think of Paris when I hear it now. :)

Here's our boat. I honestly fell asleep pretty quickly after we sat down. From the jet lag and waking up at 3am to get to the airport, it had been a long day!

We saw the Christmas tree lit up in front of Notre Dame from across the river and knew we needed a picture. It was a great ending to our day in Paris. We saw a lot and had so much fun just being together. I can't wait to go back and see all the things I missed, but for now I will cherish the memories we made that day.