Little Old Me, Back from Paris

Kasey Murphy
Nov 8, 2017
4 min read

Paris, Paris, Paris. You hear so many things about Paris- some say its overwhelming, some say its overrated- I can see both. Just the idea of being in Paris was an alluring thought in itself. It was such a romantic city, with every street you could tell there was a story. But, in my mind, Paris reminded me of New York City in the way that it is so big and there is so much to do, that you may find yourself just lost with no idea in which direction you should even go, or if you are even in the right place. This sounds like it may be confusing, but when you're in a beautiful city it is actually quite exciting.

Let me start off by saying- in case you thought it was a myth or something, it's not- EVERYTHING in Paris is so expensive. We haggled with a taxi man to get us to our hostel from 85 euro down to 50, and thank God for Maddy because she did that haggling. We paid 7 euro for drinks at LEAST everywhere, 10 euro most places. It was worth it because we were in Paris, but just a disclaimer, and maybe a slight explanation to my father for where all my money is going...

We started off getting to Paris late night, arriving at our hostel- Saint Christopher's- which was by far the nicest hostel we stayed at. Upon arrival at approximately 11:30 we walked into a hostel-wide beer pong tournament in full swing. When we checked in we got free drink wristbands and free shot cards, don't mind if I do. But, we were exhausted so we just headed to sleep, which was good because people in hostels wake up at like 7 am and make sure not a single person gets any more sleep. (exaggeration, but truth)

With our bright and early start to the day we decided to walk towards the area of Le Marais, which was a cute shopping area, and just cute area in general. We went to a place called holybelly for breakfast and it was AMAZING. ~Italy doesnt have a wide variety of breakfast food so this was the first time we were able to get actual breakfast ~ Then we walked around and went for some ~light~ shopping, I also got macaroons here which I didn't look at the price before (rookie mistake). Anyway, after the attendants made fun of me for saying macaroons in their best attempt of an American accent, they told me it was 17 euro for the smallest box..

After this, we headed towards the Seine River- to go to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The river, no matter where you cross it, has beautiful views of the city at different points from afar, and EVERY bridge has a spot where people have put "love locks" on the bridge and thrown their key in the river. We crossed this and saw the cathedral and walked through ha park near it, which was beautiful. My trip has been filled with so many views of cathedrals, and they never ever get old. The Notre Dame Cathedral was especially fun as Maddy recited Hunchback quotes throughout the day..

We then stopped and stayed on this random street for a drink and to people watch- one of my favorite things to do obviously. We were told that we had to see the Eiffel Tower at night, so we planned to head that way around sunset to see it during the daylight, and once it got dark out. We took the metro to the Tower, with the help of an app that I downloaded we got there ~somewhat~ effortlessly. When we emerged from the metro station the tower was already lit up, but the sight of it was so stimulating, we made our way to the Champs de Mars, which is the lawn in front of the tower, bought a bottle of champagne and camped for about an hour- and were able to see the tower sparkling twice! Sitting and watching the Eiffel Tower was a true dream of mine, and even though it is just a tower, being in its presence was an amazing concept that I will never forget.

After this, we went to a small place for dinner where I yet again attempted to get a salad and then realized there was no dressing, so that was depressing- eating dry lettuce. But, don't let a healthy lifestyle kill your vibe because our next stop was Moulin Rouge!! Being the exotic, fun district that it is, this was so lively and definitely interesting to go through. We hopped on a bus to get here, and ended up going the wrong direction, which resulted in us being on this bus for a full 60 minutes, so it was getting quite late.

We went home after this, being slightly drained from our big day, and got all of our things packed up, as we had a 7 hour train ride back to good ole Milano the next day. Before leaving though, we had to stop by the Louvre and Tuileries Gardens of course. I did not actually go into the Louvre, as I hear my girl Mona isn't particularly worth the long lines, (and I'm not the most artsy one out there) but walking around the gardens was a great way to see all the sights of the city at a distance, and this was actually the first time we could see the Eiffel Tower from a distance! Walking to the train station we passed so many artists and florist shops, they were the perfect, quaint way to finish off Paris.

So after two days perfecting our "bonjour"s, it was time to say "Au Revoir".