Duane and I recently booked a trip to Italy to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and had the option for a layover in Paris that was either an hour and a half or 25 hours long. The decision to experience Paris in a day was an easy one and we couldn’t wait for the big day to arrive.
Knowing we would be limited on time, we made sure to do research online and planned out a rough itinerary in advance. Our red eye flight from Seattle was scheduled to arrive in Paris at around 1:30pm, and our flight for Italy the next day was scheduled to leave at 2:50pm, so we had about 10 total hours of non-sleeping or commuting time to spend touring the beautiful city. We even pretended we were on the TV show “The Amazing Race” just to make our adventure even more fun.
The first decision we made before we even left the United States was to book a hotel near the iconic landmarks, which for us, was right off the Champs-Élysées. If we had a few days to spend in Paris, we would have probably considered other areas, but we really didn’t want to spend our sight-seeing time, dealing with the traffic getting into the city. The second thing we decided was to take a taxi from the airport to the hotel instead of the train, hoping to save time. We later learned that because of our proximity to the train station and traffic driving into the city, it would have taken us the same amount of time to take the train, but for a fraction of the price of a taxi. Lesson learned.
After checking into the hotel and putting on our raincoats, we headed out to begin our whirlwind sight-seeing tour. The first thing on our agenda was to walk down the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe, located in the center of Place Charles de Gaulle, which was formerly known as Place de l’Étoile. We were blown away by the organized chaos we saw with traffic originating from twelve different avenues and somehow making it around the landmark without any traffic lights or signs. It was pretty incredible!
We left the Arc de Triomphe and headed in the opposite direction towards the Eiffel Tower, but didn’t get very far before stopping in a boulangerie (bakery) for a must have pain au chocolat, or chocolate bread. You can’t visit Paris without making a stop at one of their many bakeries and enjoying a French pastry and espresso. On our walk to the Eiffel Tower, we made sure to take our time and absorb the beauty all around us. The buildings and architecture were absolutely magnificent and everything was exactly as we had seen in the movies!
Seriously, can this picture be any more French? I promise, this was a totally candid shot and not at all staged.
Seeing the Eiffel Tower was one of the highlights of our trip, probably because it’s the most iconic symbol that represents Paris in our minds. Apparently we’re not the only ones who feel that way since it’s the most visited paid-for landmark in the world, with more than 7 million yearly visitors. Standing at 324 meters tall, it’s easy to spot from pretty much anywhere in the city, but the best vantage point for unobstructed pictures is from Place du Trocadéro, which is just across the Seine to the northwest.
This picture was taken walking away from the Eiffel Tower and across the Seine to the Place du Trocadéro.
We’re clearly very amateur photographers, but with the help of our intuitive smart phones, we’re able to capture beautiful shots like this one. We were walking to the Eiffel Tower and looked up to see this gorgeous view.
Probably the most surprising thing about the Eiffel Tower is how unassuming it’s park-like location is. If you aren’t looking up as you navigate your way through a mixture of cafes, small businesses, and residential neighborhoods, you can easily just bump right into it. Across the street from where we took this picture was a beautiful apartment building equipped with balconies where its tenants can have their coffee every morning while gazing at this magnificent landmark. How wonderfully crazy is that!
From the Place du Trocadéro.
If you have even less time in Paris than we did and can only do one thing, we would without a doubt recommend going on a Seine River cruse. The Seine divides Paris in half and passes right through the heart of the city. It’s a great opportunity to take photos of the Eiffel Tower and many of the city’s landmarks since many are located conveniently on the riverbanks. If a river cruise is out of your budget or you’re hoping to squeeze in some exercise during your short visit, you can easily walk along the river and enjoy the same views.
Being the efficient couple that we are, we opted for a dinner cruise so we can enjoy the beautiful sites while dining on delicious French cuisine.
Our waiter thought Duane looked like a French rapper named Booba, minus the tattoos. He also shared with us a really valuable tip that was super helpful for the duration of our vacation. He said when you pay with a credit card, the merchant should not walk off with your card but should instead bring the payment processing machine to you. If they do take your card for processing, you’ll likely see some additional charges on your statement when you return home.
We only had a few hours the next morning to finish experiencing Paris before we had to head to the airport to catch our flight to Italy. We decided that we would use that time to have breakfast in a local restaurant and see the world famous Louvre Museum.
As with many restaurants in the tourists areas of European cities, this restaurant offered a protein-packed option with eggs, bacon, ham, in addition to the more traditional pastries, bread, espresso, and juice.
After breakfast we took the train across the city to the Louvre, which was more massive than we imagined. With approximately 380,000 objects and 35,000 works of art on display, we quickly realized that we will need to plan another trip to Paris to explore the world’s largest art museum . Our time there wasn’t wasted, however, because the architecture and sites outside the museum were breathtaking on their own, and gave us ample opportunity to take some beautiful pictures.
With a flight to catch, we left the Louvre and headed to Charles de Gaulle Airport by train. At the station we met a nice Canadian gentleman living in France who shared with us that tourists heading to the airport are big targets for pick-pockets. The last thing you want after a magical visit to the City of Light is to be a victim, so be sure and keep your belongings closely guarded at all times. I hope this has been helpful! Bon voyage!
The Louvre Pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum.
