What to do on a weekend in Paris
After an eight hour train ride, my boyfriend and I finally arrived in Paris. It was eight o’clock and we felt a bit exhausted so we bought a metro ticket and went to our hotel. Realizing that you could see the eiffel tower from the hotel’s street, we got excited and wanted to walk there. It was a bit longer than expected, but it was worth it. We arrived and the eiffel tower started to glitter, because it was 11 o’clock. We walked one time around it and then turned back to our hotel.
1. Notre Dame & Shakespeare and company
We woke up and got croissants at a very nice bakery for breakfast. We had a metro ticket for the day (7,50€ each) so we marked our destinations for the day on the metro map.
The metros work perfectly and bring you close to everything without waiting long times. Nevertheless it’s nice to walk a bit sometimes, so you actually get to see Paris and not just the underground.
Our first stop was Notre dame. The buildings and the streets around were really pretty. Notre Dame is a very nice building, but to be honest we wouldn’t say it impressed us more than any other church in Paris. It is a bit overrated.
From Notre Dame we walked to the english book store „shakespeare and company“. It’s a cozy, small and old bookstore that also has some places to sit and read.
2. The panthéon
From there we took the street to our second stop: the pantheon. On the way there you cross a lot of souvenir shops and mini markets.
The outside of the Pantheon was already very impressive. For people under 26 the entrance is free and it’s totally worth to go! What we didn’t know before is, that you can also go on the roof top for free where you have the best 360degree view over Paris and it’s nicer and more money saving than going up the Eiffel Tower!
3. Sacre coeur
Our third stop was the sacre coeur, which is located a bit more outside. We got some baguette and cheese from a market and went to the metro station again. The ride took about 20 minutes. Arriving there you’ll have to take a few stairs and walk a bit to reach sacre coeur, because it’s on top of a hill. Up there we had an amazing view over paris again. The outside of sacre coeur is beautiful and one of my favorite churches. The inside is not that spectacular, but should still be visited if you are up there anyway. We sat down on the stairs in front of the church to have our lunch we bought earlier. We enjoyed the view and listened to an amazing street singer!
4.and 5. Arc du Triumph & Galaries Lafayette
After some time we arrived at stop 4, the arc du triumph and walked through Champs-Élysées to look at some shops until we arrived at stop 5: la Galeries Lafayette. The most impressing shopping center ever.
6. Jardin du Luxembourg
7. The eiffel tower
Our final destination was the eiffel tower again. We went around eight pm, so we could also see it with light, but also in the dark again. We walked a bit more, but our legs hurt so bad that we just wanted to sit on a bench to relax. We realized that it will take some more time until it glitters again, so we took a bus and went to ponte de alexandre III, which is also worth a visit. Unfortunately we didn’t find the bus back to the eiffel tower, so we had to walk again. In the meantime it turned dark, so it was only a matter of time until it will sparkle again. We bought a nutella crêpe and sat on the other side of the river for the rest of the evening.
Day two: 8. Louvre
The next day we visited the Louvre. We already bought the tickets in advance two weeks earlier. We had the earliest tickets available (at 9 o’clock) and were one of the earliest people there (at 8 o’clock). It gets full very fast, so we decided to run to the Mona Lisa to see it without a lot of people and the plan worked out.
Then we went through the halls and looked at other art. We didn’t have so much time, because our flight left in the afternoon and we were still exhausted from the day before, so we couldn’t see so much, but I would definitely go back there to see more!
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