Paris: The city of lights, city of love, and a city that I've been lucky enough
to have visited many times over the past seven years. My last visit was in January
when I took a trip with a few close friends to celebrate my 28th birthday
My main goals for this trip were to have lots of good food, including pastries of
course, and wine, and just enjoy some time away from work and with friends. I also
made sure to do some things that I haven't had a chance to do during all
the other times I visited. For example, we visited the Catacombs, which I've always
wanted to do. Honestly, I was pretty creeped out as we walked through the
underground tunnels and, you know, looked at thousands and thousands of skulls and
human bones but it was really interesting to learn about this unique
part of Paris and its history. And the best part was that when we
finished our tour and emerged from underground, we discovered that it was
snowing!
Another thing I've always wanted to do in Paris was watch a show at the
Moulin Rouge. I love the movie Moulin Rouge which
really doesn't have anything to do with the actual live show but I just thought
it would be cool to go. It's a little on the pricey side, but again, it's part of
Paris's history and I appreciate it. I also love going to concerts when I
travel because it's something that mostly locals will go to and it's also
something that you can only really experience once. We decided to go to a
Snow Patrol concert and despite only knowing one song of theirs
it was really fun. It was one of the chillest shows I've been to and I even
heard a couple new songs to add to my playlist so no regrets about going to that
One of my favorite parts of the trip was the cooking class that we took
We chose one where we cooked a classic three-course French meal and our
instructor Frederic was super funny and friendly
And now the chef is going to taste
But also informative so we not only got to cook a really good meal and eat
it of course but we also learned a lot and had a great conversation about food and culture
Because we were staying in Paris for about nine days I knew that I
wanted to take a day trip somewhere. One of the day trips we did was to the Loire
Valley in France where they have a lot of vineyards and wineries. I did a whole
vlog on that so I'll link that in the description box if you want to see
Another trip that we did was a one night trip to Mont Saint-Michel. Now the drive
from Paris to Mont Saint-Michel is about four hours. What we didn't really account
for was how dark the highways of France would be...so being in that rental car for
four hours in the dark speeding along the highway was one of the most
stressful experiences of my life but we made it and I'm so glad we did
because the isle and the Abbey are so beautiful and because we went during
winter which is not peak season it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves
We saved the best for last so on our final night together in Paris we went to
the Eiffel Tower to watch it light up
Now that it's been a couple of months since this trip and I've had time to
reflect on it I'm just so thankful to have friends who love life and I'm
grateful for being able to share such a special trip like this with them. I know
there are tons of people who don't get a chance to do something like this in
their lifetime, let alone at 28 years old, so I'm going to cherish these memories forever
And hopefully I'll be back in Paris again some day but until then
Au revoir!