Of all of the trips we have been on, our trip to Paris has been the most memorable. Since I was a young girl, I have always dreamed of going to Paris, France. It truly was everything I hoped and more.
Our first stop was Atelier des Lumieres, a museum like no other. Instead of a typical exhibition, this is a digital exhibition where the art is projected on the surface of the museum. The building was dark and cool, with beautiful background music.
The exhibit was beyond anything I could have imagined. It was my favorite part of the trip and I would love to return to the museum. When we were there the exhibit included Van Gogh, Dreamed Japan, and Verse by Thomas Vanz. Seeing the art of Van Gogh in person and larger than life was mesmerizing. All we could do was sit and stare, in awe. I could have sat there forever just watching the walls shift from one piece of art to the next. The exhibit is limited time and has unfortunately ended. The new exhibit features Monet and Renoir, which I imagine would be equally fascinating in this format.
After the exhibit we strolled through the streets of Paris, which felt so surreal. For dinner I HAD to try escargot. The best way I can describe escargot would be a cross between a mushroom and seafood. I am so glad I tried it, but I will not likely order them again. Of course we had creme brûlée for dessert. It was MAGNIFICENT.
Day 2 in Paris began bright and early at the Eiffel Tower. This is THE moment I have waited for my entire life. It absolutely lived up to my expectations. It was huge and beautiful. I highly recommend the walking tour of the Eiffel Tour. We learned so much from our tour guide. The most interesting bit of information was that in 1912 (the Eiffel Tour was completed in 1889) a man named Franz Reichelt jumped off of the Eiffel Tour. He believed that he would be the first man to fly and regularly made parachutes out of clothes, but his parachutes were never successful. He was certain that the problem was that he was not jumping from a tall enough distance, not that his parachute was a failure. He received permission to throw a dummy from the Eiffel Tour, but when he showed up he chose to jump it on his own. According to our tour guide, he died before he hit the ground. This is a piece of the Eiffel Tour’s history that I had no idea about!
After the Eiffel Tour, we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. The view from the top of the Arc was magnificent! It was a lot of steps, but well worth it to see all of Paris from the top. It was fascinating to learn that while the Eiffel Tower only took 2 years to build, the Arc took 30 years! Napolean was VERY specific about how he wanted the arc, so specific that he eventually died before the arc’s completion.
We went for dinner beside the Eiffel Tour that night (to see it lit up) and walked through Trocadero Gardens.
Day 3 did NOT go as smoothly as the first two days of our journey. Up until this point we had used the metro and train system repeatedly with great success. The Paris public transit is very cheap and simple to navigate. In fact, it is the most straight forward public transit we have used thus far. On our last day we made our first transit mistake of the trip, which unfortunately cost us over an hour of extra travel. Learn from our mistake: if you only type ‘Orsay’ into your digital maps, the directions will take you to an area of Paris with this name, that is NOT the same area where Musee d’Orsay (the Orsay Museum) is located! It is clear across the city. By the time we realized our mistake, we were in the neighborhood of Orsay and had to go back the other direction to the museum.
Thankfully, our tickets for the museum were not for a specific time, so we did not miss it. The Orsay is a beautiful museum, which is best known for its’ Van Gogh and Monet. Van Gogh is my favorite artist, so seeing his work for the second time on this trip was amazing. The Orsay is a former train station, which only adds to the beauty of the museum.
We left the Orsay and found somewhere to buy macarons, because I was determined to try Parisian macarons while we were there. I was not disappointed. They were delicious. The cookie part was so crisp and had such a good flavor. I will certainly be getting more when we return.
Our final stop on our trip was the Louvre. Wow!
There are no words to describe this museum. It was an absolute must see. We were there for hours and did not even see a fraction of the art. I could spend weeks (probably months) in the museum and still not see everything. It was the most amazing museum I have been to and likely that I ever will go to.
Of course, The Louvre is home to Mona Lisa. The line to see her was nearly as indescribable as the museum itself. The line twisted through 3 levels of an escalator and many rooms. I am glad to have seen her, however, she is far from the most impressive artwork in the Louvre. When we return to Paris, we plan to go to the Louvre again, but we do not plan to wait in the line for Mona Lisa again. I definitely recommend going to the Louvre first thing and not making any other plans for the day. My only regret is that we were not able to wander through the museum longer.
On the way home, we had one more oversight. This mistake of ours was costly, but we learned a valuable lesson that I hope you will also learn (without having to pay the price). We took the train back to the museum, we bought our train tickets on the machine, just as we had for the whole weekend. We did not account for the fact that the airport is farther than most of the attractions. In Paris, you have to buy a specific ticket to take the train to the airport. If you don’t buy the ticket (it’s only a few euro extra), you will still be able to get on the train and ride to the airport, but when they check your ticket, it will not be correct. You will be stopped and have to pay a large fine for having the incorrect ticket. We had no idea and were totally blindsided by this. It was a very frustrating error to end our spectacular journey on.
Our trip to Paris was everything I ever wanted. The people were amiable, the food was mouthwatering, the art was exquisite, and I was completely blissful. We certainly learned some valuable lessons to apply to our future travels. Until next time, mon amour Paris!
Ashley in Wonderland 