I’ve just gotten back from a 4-day trip to Paris! Here’s what I got up to…
I planned this trip because we had a reading week, like we do every year. In previous years, I went to Italy or Bavaria. This year I went to Paris! I worked straight through the weekend and every day leading up to my trip to finish all my readings and homework, so that while in Paris I could completely relax. I planned the trip by myself, but actually ended up meeting up with some friends, which made the trip even better. To top it all off, I had amazing blue skies every day!
I arrived on Thursday morning (7am flight from Edinburgh!). I went straight to my hostel to drop my stuff. It took over an hour to get there from the airport! When I finally made it, I had a wander around the street where I was staying. I found a really cool shop called Les Fleurs. I hadn’t planned on doing a travel journal like the ones I did last year, but I found a notebook there and bought it and filled it up during the trip.
I then went to get a coffee and catch my breath before making a plan for the day. While I was there, Alvina texted me and said she was free for the afternoon, so we met for lunch and explored for the rest of the afternoon.
We got Japanese food near Place de la Bastille, which was so good. We got gyoza and california rolls. Not really what I expected to be eating for my first meal in Paris, but Asian food was kind of my go-to on the trip, because I’m lactose intolerant, so can’t really eat most French food.
After lunch we headed towards La Marais, which is apparently quite the hipster district. There was a whole square of art galleries, which Alvina took me to first. We also found a really fancy tea shop in that square.
We stopped and had a coffee at this cute place called Temps des Cerises – or something to that effect. It definitely had the word cherries in the name.
We then headed towards the center. We walked along the Seine.
We found this free exhibit about a manga/anime artist.
We saw Notre Dame during golden hour.
Got to have a peek inside Shakespeare & Co.
After our lovely walk, Alvina went home and I went on to Montmatre. I took the subway there to try to see the sunset.
I arrived and it was perfect timing! the Sacre-Coeur looked so beautiful!
And from the steps in front of the church, I saw all of Paris at sunset.
I then meandered through Montmatre back to a subway station to go back to the Bastille area, where I was staying.
The next day, I got up super early to go to the Louvre at 9am. I booked tickets online, so it barely took my any time to get in.
It was such a beautiful morning there with barely anyone at the museum.
I first wandered around the Near East collections. Mostly because I got lost and found it very difficult to navigate. But also because I knew everyone would head to the Mona Lisa. I wanted to explore the other parts of the museum too. I had most of the exhibits all to myself.
Still not over the views of the architecture from inside the museum.
I saw Hammurabi’s Code (above) and a sculpture of Aeneas carrying his father out of burning Troy. A nice throwback to my days of studying Latin.
When I made it to the painting sections, there were lots of people studying and painting, which was really cool.
Eventually I made it to the Mona Lisa, which was surrounded, but it wasn’t too hard to make it to the front to see.
By that point, I had been in the museum nearly 3 hours. I planned to meet another friend for lunch and to go see the Opera.
So I walked to the Opera to meet them. We ate at a cafe nearby called Cafe du Cadran.
The Opera was super beautiful – even more beautiful than I imagined. It was really dreamy walking around the building.
After the opera, I met up with Alvina again. I met her at this Japanese matcha cafe. I had my first ever matcha latte – I had it with soy milk. It was so, so good. They also did vegan madeleines which were amazing.
We stayed there for a while then we walked to the Eiffel Tower. We took our time and just wandered along the Seine and through central Paris.
After that we headed back home. We got ready and met again for dinner and drinks out. It was such a nice evening! Unsurprisingly I had a hard time ordering food because of dairy. Even the hummus had cream in it. WHY FRANCE WHY?
The next morning, I had a more relaxed start. I slept in then met Alvina and her boyfriend for brunch.
We then went to the Musee de L’Orangerie to see this Dada exhibit, but when we got there we found out it wasn’t on anymore. Anyway there was still some amazing stuff there. There was the entire collection of Paul Guillaume, who privately collected Renoirs and Picassos and all sorts of stuff.
That museum is also where they keep Monet’s Water Lilies. I was really excited to see those in person. They are unbelievably massive. And the space they’re in was really serene, even with all the people.
After we left the museum, we went to this Korean grocery store called K-mart and got some kimbap and onigiri. We sat in a park and ate our food in the sun.
Even though it was sunny, we were still really cold. We found this beautiful patisserie/cafe and had a sweet treat in there. I finally got to try some macarons and they were incredible!
After this, we split off and I went back to my hostel. I got some groceries on the way home and spent the evening talking to my parents on the phone, journalling, and reading.
The next day, Sunday, was my last full day. I had a slightly later morning and made it to the Musee d’Orsay at about 10. I really loved the architecture – it used to be a train station built for the World Expo or something at the beginning of the 20th century.
My favorite things I saw were the Van Goghs and the Degas exhibit that was there temporarily. Among their permanent exhibits, they also have one on the evolution of impressionism, which was really helpful if you don’t know that much about art history. I think impressionist paintings are possibly my favorite.
After that, I sat in the Jardins des Tuileries and ate a sandwich I had packed myself. I read there for a while. I also went back to K-mart after a while to get some more kimbap for the afternoon.
I sat in a cafe and also read to warm up after being outside for so long. There’s a massive cold front coming through Europe this week from Siberia, and every day I was there it got colder. So I sat by a radiator and made a plan for the rest of the afternoon.
I first went to the Centre Pompidou.
I don’t really like modern art, to be honest, but I wanted to check it out. A lot of it was just too much. like this one that was just white canvasses.
But there were some really good short films being played. I thought they were fantastic. The best one was called “5000 feet is the best” by Omer Fast. There was also a great one that was a video of a Somali refugee explaining her journey to Italy. It was done really well. On the way out of the museum, I caught a beautiful sunset and a view of the Sacre-Coeur.
After the museum, I went to get falafel at a place that was recommended to me called L’As du Falafel in the Jewish Quarter. It was the best thing I ate on the whole trip! Just really fresh!
I went to bed early that night so I could wake up at 5:30 to get my flight back to Edinburgh.
I had such a good time! I thought Paris would be totally overrated, but I had such a good time seeing friends and visiting art museums!
