twenty four hours in paris
After spending a few days visiting friends in Belgium and the Netherlands, I decided to take a bus almost eight hours down from Rotterdam to Paris. I’ve already been to Paris, but not since 2014, so I didn’t quite feel the need to go too intense with the sightseeing. I did want to see some of the more famous landmarks again, but seeing as this trip was so last minute (like most of my trips), I decided to skip going into the museums. If I go back to Paris anytime soon, I would love to explore more of the art museums there.
To get to Paris, I took a BlaBlaCarBus which sounds like a fake company, but it’s very real. It’s a cheaper alternative to the already quite budget-friendly FlixBus. I took a FlixBus from Bruges to Rotterdam (about three hours) and the BlaBlaCarBus honestly felt the same. A bus is a bus and I got there in one piece which is the most important part anyway.
Upon arriving in Paris, I found my hostel (Aloha Eiffel Tower) and just put my bags down before making my way to the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkling. The tower is constantly lit up until midnight during the off season and sparkles every nighttime hour, on the hour. I walked back then to the hostel and slept until about 7:30 the next morning.
Quick rundown, I struggled greatly to figure out the shower and then when I finally did it was absolutely scalding hot. For three minutes, it then turned icy. I ate the half a baguette they served for breakfast and got started on my day. I started by taking the metro just a few stops to Notre Dame. I got there about 9 in the morning and I walked right in. There was no line at all, I wasn’t even sure if it was open yet. Once inside, there were crowds, but I couldn’t believe how I’d just sauntered inside for free. Once I stepped outside again, there was a line wrapped around the sidewalks, so I think I got very lucky and arrived early.
I then walked over to The Louvre just to walk around and by the river. The lines were so long. People who had previously bought tickets online were queued up over two hours before their timeslot. It was wild. So I quickly escaped those crowds and moved onto walking down to the Arc de Triomhe. I stopped at George’s Cafe and got the most expensive lunch of my life (a cappuccino was 9 euros and a small bottle of water was 7 euros). Once at the Arc de Triomphe, I realized it was about 16 Euros to actually go up into it, so I just looked from the outside. It was nice either way.
At that time I just wanted to do something more relaxed as all that walking had taken most of my energy. Just as I walked over towards the Eiffel Tower with a plan to sit and relax on the lawn, I realized that most of the lawn was closed. In good news though, I saw tickets for an hour long boat ride down the Seine for just 20 Euros. So I hopped on that and it was so crowded, but quite nice. There was an option for an audio guide, but I just wanted to listen to Taylor Swift, so that’s what I did.
After the cruise, I found a small corner of the lawn that wasn’t closed and sat there for hours. I just grabbed some McDonald’s for dinner because I spent so much on lunch and just wanted something more relaxed. I then went back to the Eiffel Tower and waited until 9pm for the sparkles and I’m so glad I did because a couple sitting right next to me fully got engaged a few feet from me which was so cool to watch.
I feel like I did a pretty decent job for only having one day in Paris. I don’t know when I’ll be back, but whenever I am I will for sure be properly exploring the museums a bit more :)
xx
D
