A love letter to Paris

Oh, Paris. The beautiful city of love, three and a half days is not neatly enough time to take in all that it has to offer.

Throughout my life, I heard so many negative things about Paris: the people are mean, it’s unsafe, the streets are filthy, rats do all the cooking. But from what I can tell, I can neither confirm nor deny that there are rats in the kitchen.

The city is well taken care of because people love it, and because of that the city has so much to give in return.

We saw so much of Paris, but at the same time we barely scratched the surface in our short time here.

All this means is I will have to return. One day soon. To see you again.

xx abby

The Food.

Okay, okay, let’s get into the meat of this — literally. (Sorry, I won’t do it again.) The food in Paris is incredible. Obviously. Neither Jordan nor I had any particularly French food, other than crepes, but all of the food we did eat was fantastic. Paris is such. cultural center, that there was just about every world cuisine including French.

The food Jordan and I were most impressed with was at the boulangeries or patisseries. We often woke up quite late, just in time to get a sandwich at one of the local bakery and get two sandwiches and a pain au chocolat, all for the same price that one of us would pay for a meal at a restaurant. This quickly became a staple for us in all of France, not just Paris.

And we had crepes, and they were delicious. Jordan still thinks about the Crepe we got from Les Délices de Marengo, next to the Louvre, that had curried chicken, potatoes and eggs. To be honest, I think that is the only reason Jordan would want to go back to France is to get that Crepe again. In his defense, that place was delicious and I wouldn’t mind heading back.

The Activities.

We started off our time in Paris with a bang — literally. (That one really is my bad, I apologize.) We got to Paris after a long series of trains all the way from Rome, just in time to see the fireworks to celebrate the new year. For me, it was one of the few experiences that gave me pause. How am I here right now? In Paris? Celebrating the new year? Im not sure I fully got over that feeling to be totally honest, eventually it just became a norm.

We did a lot of walking in Paris, especially on the first of the year when not much was open except the sidewalks. We walked almost through the entire Latin Quarter, saw the Notre Dame, and even walked the long route from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower not once, but twice.

Although we didn’t go up into the Eiffel Tower, we made sure that we didn’t miss out on the iconic landmark and walked through the Tower gardens. This part is totally free to enter, you get the best views and you can even stand right under the tower!

The Museums.

There are so many museums in Paris. It would be hard to visit them all if you were staying for a month and did nothing else. Jordan and I easily clocked in ten hours at the different museums in Paris and we only stepped foot in three, and all of them were art museums.

The first museum we saw, and the only one we planned in advance was the Louvre. It was huge. It was also beautiful. We spent a total of four hours here, and even still I’m confident that we missed a good chunk of it. Afterwards, I felt very cultured, and the part of me that studied classics in university felt wholly exercised.

We also saw the Petit Palais, conveniently located across from the Grand Palais, which we did not have time to go to. They had some really cool exhibits here especially the We Are Here exhibit which focused on the history of the street art movement. The title“We are Here” has been used in different social and historical contexts, but it has strong messages of affirmation, connection and resilience. Devastatingly, this exhibit closed yesterday. I’m not sure where it is heading next, but if you get the chance to see it, it is well worth it!

Museé d’Art Moderne was the last museum we saw in France, and as Jordan pointed out it is not that modern. The majority of the art work is from the 20th century or before, but compared to some of the stuff we saw in the Louvre, I’d say it was pretty modern. Inside the museum, you have fantastic views of the Eiffel Tower, and the city life outside. But, the biggest reason I recommend you go to this museum (other than the entrance being free) is the massive work of art that is La Fée Electricité by Raoul Dufy. It is beautiful, colorful and imposing. It is basically the entire history of electricity summed up into a huge painting that stands all around you.

The Friend.

One of the highlights of my trip was meeting up with my good friend Piper. She is probably my oldest friend actually now that I think about it. It felt almost prophetic, considering we took French together in middle school and then, over a decade later, reunited in Paris. We got dinner at a cozy little café and chatted for two hours before parting ways. It was such a great night and it was so nice to finally see a familiar face from home.

The End.

The next morning we got on a train to Lyon.