Paris Is Always a Good Idea
Have you ever seen the movie Sabrina? It’s one of my favorites, and if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend the 1954 film with Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart or the 1995 remake with Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford. The movie is about a young woman named Sabrina Fairchild, the daughter of the chauffeur employed by the wealthy Larrabee family. And while I always enjoy a good love story, what I really love about this film is the time Sabrina spends in Paris.
Perhaps it’s because it makes me reminisce about my own experiences in the City of Light.
On three separate occasions, I’ve experienced Paris in vastly different ways: once for a few days while on vacation with my aunt and uncle and cousins the summer after my senior year of high school, another time for a semester in college, and once for a long weekend with my husband. But it was during the six months in college when I got to call the City of Light home that I fell in love with Paris.
On a little one-way street called Rue Thouin in the Latin Quarter, there is a bright blue door that leads to a spiral staircase with blue rod iron railings that takes you to the door of a tiny apartment. Inside, a narrow hallway leads to four doorways to four small rooms: the bedroom to the right, the bathroom straight ahead, the living room to the left of the bathroom, and to the immediate left, a galley kitchen, which featured a couple of cabinets, a mini refrigerator, a small cooktop, a sink, and floor to ceiling bright yellow tile. There was just enough room along the kitchen’s empty wall to set up an ironing board, which my roommate and I used as our kitchen table. The living room—which featured a window to the street, a desk, a foldout couch, a small closet, and, conveniently, a door—was turned into my bedroom.
For months, I slept on the world’s most comfortable foldout couch, and when the temperature rose and we had to open our windows for lack of air conditioning, I fell asleep to the sounds of an oscillating fan and the regulars at Teddy’s Bar, our downstairs neighbor. My roommate and I might have been a bit cramped for space, but the location—the lively Latin Quarter in the Fifth Arrondissement—more than made up for our lack of square footage. Because when the Panthéon, the Luxembourg Gardens, the Seine, Notre Dame, and the chic Saint-Germain-des-Prés area are all just a few minutes’ walk from your front door, you rarely spend time inside.
I arrived in Paris on a freezing cold February morning, and for the first two weeks I spent the days in an orientation and the evenings getting to know fellow exchange students and the city’s vast metro system and winding streets. I would be studying journalism as part of an exchange program between the Missouri School of Journalism and The Paris Institute of Political Studies, most commonly known as Sciences Po, and it became clear during our orientation that this was not a program for the faint of heart.
Growing up, I often heard my parents talk about the importance of being a well-rounded individual—to strive to do well in school, of course, but to also pursue non-academic interests. For me those interests were mainly music and athletics. I also remember my dad often talking about balance. “Work hard; play hard,” he’d say. I don’t think it was until I lived in Paris, four thousand miles away from everything familiar, that I truly understood—and took to heart—my dad’s advice.
During the week, I attended classes and studied . . . a lot. But in my free time and on the weekends, I ventured out with my camera and pocket map and intentionally got lost, discovering the nooks and crannies of Paris and digitally capturing what I wanted to remember forever. I also took advantage of being in Europe and visited Italy a couple of times, took a train to Switzerland for the day to buy some chocolates and water ski on Lake Geneva, spent Spring break in Amsterdam and Brussels, and ventured out to a couple of French coastal towns just to bike along the coast, sit on a beach, and breathe in fresh air. But those are stories for another time.
For now, I simply want to share a few Parisian experiences I have come to treasure—ones that make true for me the words of Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina: “Paris is always a good idea.” For me, these are experiences that make up the perfect day in Paris, and they are experiences that I hope, should you ever visit Paris, inspire your own adventures in the City of Light.
A Morning Stroll through Paris
In my opinion, there’s no better way to experience Paris than to slip on your most comfortable walking shoes, grab your camera and pocket map (preferably one like this that includes a métro map), and enjoy a stroll through Paris. Wherever you begin your journey, it’s likely you’ll walk past centuries’ old buildings and world-famous landmarks. You’ll walk through beautiful gardens and past eclectic street performers. The scents of delicious sweets and savories will lure you into bakeries and cafes, and you’ll journey across a variety of ornate and ancient bridges that span the Seine and connect the Left and Right Banks of Paris. Some of the more famous bridges and my favorites include Pont Neuf (pictured above), Pont des Arts, and Pont Alexandre-III.
If you’re not sure where to begin your day on foot, a good place to start can be the center of Paris, known as “Point Zero,” which is marked by a small star-like symbol set in the concrete in front of Notre Dame. I also highly recommend the ever popular Montmartre district. Most famously known for the beautiful Basilique du Sacré Cœur that sits atop the Montmartre hill, this district features a village-like charm and narrow cobbled streets lined by restaurants, shops, and artists creating their latest masterpieces.
An Afternoon in the Gardens
As a tourist in Paris—even one who’s there for six months—I found myself often having a “go, go, go” mentality. Like many people who visit Paris, I wanted to see and experience everything I possibly could in the limited time I had. But some of my fondest memories of Paris are from when I stopped to spend an hour or two enjoying its beautiful gardens. One of my absolute favorite spots in Paris is the Jardin du Luxembourg. Just a ten minute walk from my apartment, I often found myself seeking respite from the hustle and bustle of the city, whether it was for an outdoor study session, a bit of exercise, or a picnic.
To me, a perfect afternoon in Paris is a picnic in the gardens. When my husband and I visited Paris, we exhausted ourselves walking all over the city, so we grabbed a treat from a nearby café (Rue Soufflot on the east side of the garden offers a variety of places to grab a meal or snack to go), found a spot where we could enjoy the scenery and do some good people watching, and enjoyed the beauty of the gardens. Because here’s the thing: when you visit Paris, you do most of your sightseeing on foot. Chances are you will walk several miles in one day, so taking a break to enjoy the gardens will be a welcome time out for your feet!
Other beautiful and noteworthy gardens include the Garden of Plants, the Tuileries Garden, and the Trocadéro Gardens. If you are a garden lover and find yourself in Paris for several days, you might be interested in the Bois de Boulogne—a beautiful park covering more than two thousand acres west of Paris. And, of course, Versailles is an incredible day trip that offers exquisite gardens and a palace!
A Night on the Town
When my husband and I visited Paris, I wanted to show him everything—where I had lived and attended classes, my favorite gardens, the fancy stores on the Champs-Elysées, and all the big touristy things you just have to do when in Paris. But there’s one thing I didn’t get to do in all my months in Paris—and that was going out for a night on the town with the man I love.
On our first day in Paris, Steele treated me to a trip to Tiffany’s (bucket list, check!). Once we got past the floors housing gemstones the size of Texas and diamonds the size of Rhode Island, we had so much fun picking out a beautiful yet simple necklace, my Paris keepsake. What made our experience particularly nice is that the gentleman behind the counter treated us like royalty!
And so, our last night in Paris, my husband and I got dressed up (still wore my Vans for comfort!); took the metro from Maubert–Mutualité to Trocadéro; ate dinner at Café du Trocadéro; laughed at the waiter who, perhaps a bit annoyed, told our American neighbors that “yes, we offer doggie bags”; strolled on down to the Eiffel Tower; and enjoyed an elevator ride to the top just before the sun was about to set.
There are a million different suggestions for how to best visit the Eiffel Tower, and while I don’t have any groundbreaking tips on how to best experience Paris’s most popular attraction and avoid the crowds, I will say it’s fun being at the top while the sun is setting. Not only is it romantic (despite the hundreds of people surrounding you) when you’re there with your spouse, but you also get to see Paris in the daylight and at night. In my opinion, that’s the best way to experience the Eiffel Tower in the City of Light.
We ended our date night outside a quaint café near our hotel and enjoyed a glass of wine and our favorite dessert, crème brûlée.
Quick side note: While summiting the Eiffel Tower is a goal for many people visiting Paris, including me!, the Montparnasse Tower Observation Deck offers an additional panoramic view of the city, but this one includes the Eiffel Tower. In my opinion, the view from the top of the Montparnasse Tower is the best view of Paris. Plus, in my experience, it’s significantly less crowded and easier and faster to summit than the Eiffel Tower.
One Last Thing . . .
During our three-day stay in Paris, my husband and I took an entire day to visit Normandy, namely Omaha Beach and the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in the town of Colleville-sur-Mer, just a three-hour drive west of Paris. It’s hard to describe what we felt when we stepped foot onto the cemetery grounds and walked the beach. Breathtaking, somber, surreal, and unimaginable are just a few of the words we use to try and describe Omaha Beach, the Cemetery, and the Memorial. It’s also hard to describe the feelings we had when we walked those hallowed American grounds in France. Visiting Normandy is simply an incredible experience.
Neither my husband nor I will ever truly understand the sacrifice made on that expansive beach. But our appreciation is deepened after having stood on Omaha Beach and seen for ourselves how much beachfront there truly is and how steep the slope is, which was fortified with enemy bunkers that are still there to this day for visitors to walk through. It is awe-inspiring and incredibly humbling to think about the brave men who sacrificed so much and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and future generations. And so, if time allows during your stay, I highly recommend a trip to Normandy.
If you’ve been to Paris, what are some of your favorite experiences? I encourage you to share in the comments below!
2 Comments
Laura Smith
I really enjoyed this! You and I will have to talk about Paris sometime! I went for a long weekend in 2018 and absolutely loved it. I definitely want to go back. One part of town we didn’t get to was Montmarte and the Sacre Couer! 🙁 I will share my blog post here so you can see the highlights I was able to see! http://lauracsmith.blogspot.com/2018/05/april-in-paris.html
Barbara Shippy
Thank you, Laura! And I am always up to talking about Paris. I loved scrolling through your blog post and looking at all your photos. Thank you for sharing!