Oh, the City of Love, as they call it. Of course, when people hear of Paris, they instantly picture the famous Eiffel Tower, but there is so much more to this beautiful city than one single monument. The culture, locals, picturesque architecture and the food make this city so much more!
Paris was the first place I desired to go when I finally got the chance to travel Europe, and I finally made that happen. It was the first city I visited in Europe and it was everything I had hoped for and more. We went for 3-days and spent New Year’s there. It was by far one of the best places to spend New Year’s Eve. I don’t regret the considerable number of macarons, croissants and other delicate desserts I had during my stay there.
I’m sure you’ve heard the myth that the people in Paris “hate” Americans, if you don’t speak French than you’re at a loss, and the city is dirty. What I wonder is how many of those people who have told you that have actually been to the city? What large city doesn’t have a part that may be considered “dirty” or a part where you don’t want to be alone at in the middle of the night? How many of those people actually tried to spark a conversation with a local? The locals in Paris speak French. It is France after all, so of course they are going to speak what is more than likely their first language, as we would in America. As a tourist, it is our job to understand and respect that. Every local we encountered was friendly and about 90% of them were able to speak/understand English. Those that couldn’t understand or speak it were pretty friendly and were able to guide us to someone that could, so this really isn’t an issue at least from our experience.
With this being our first foreign country visited together, we were a little hesitant at first on how to approach the locals. However, one thing we found that we still continue to do today when in a foreign country is to right away say “Hello” and they instantly know you speak English. Not only is it friendly, but it helps everyone and there is usually no confusion or that awkward “uhhhh, I don’t know what you’re saying” moment. (If you’ve travelled to a foreign country, you know what I’m talking about).
Where to stay
Now, one question we get from people is “where do you stay?” “how did you afford it?”. Like most cities, everything in the heart of the city tends to be way more expensive because of the convenience. We actually did not stay in the heart. We stayed in a Mercure hotel outside of the city on the southeastern side, but it was conveniently right next to the train station, which took you directly to the city center! This saved us a lot of money in the long run. I always suggest to people when going to Paris or any big city to look at hotels on the outside of the city. There are many different train stations in Paris that run 24/7, so you won’t have to worry about how you’re going to get to all the main attractions. Paris metro tickets are roughly 2 euro for a single ticket, making this one of the cheapest ways to get around.
Where to eat
As I stated above with the hotels, same thing applies to resteraunts. Anything that is near a main attraction, i.e. the Eiffel tower, is going to cost you a pretty penny. We learned that the hard way in Paris. With it being New Year’s Eve, we wanted to enjoy a nice meal and drink while being able to see the Eiffel Tower. We found one literally directly a crossed the street, and little did we know, the prices of drinks were doubled due to the fact that it was New Year’s Eve. We got one small appetizer, two main dishes and each got ONE drink each. A pretty normal order I would say. We were shocked to find out it came to 220 Euro. Luckily the food was good. It definitely put a damper on our mood that evening but we didn’t fret about it for too long.
There were a lot of great resteraunts we ate at while in Paris that did NOT come to this price. In fact, that was the only one we had an issue with. Everything else was amazing. My advice would be to simply look at the menu before going in! Most resteraunts have their menu right outside on the window. (this one did not, which should have been a red flag to us).
There is simply so much to see and do in Paris and we are definitely hoping to go back. There were some things I wanted to do that we just didn’t get to, due to how busy it was around this time. We are really hoping to see the Catacombs and actually go into the Louvre Museum. If you plan on doing this, definitely book your tickets online before you get there, and maybe even consider the fast-pass. Just showing up to the Louvre without a ticket could cost you 4 hours of your time standing in line. This we did not know!
I definitely recommend Paris to everyone! If you’ve been on the fence about going, do it. Like every city you go to, there’s going to be parts you don’t want to be in. Overall, you won’t be disappointed in this remarkable city.
Travelling Jellybean 