A Weekend in Paris
In 2016, I spent the summer studying abroad in Innsbruck, Austria. While I was there, I was fortunate enough to be able to visit multiple cities in Europe. After watching the new season of Emily in Paris, I’ve been reminiscing on the time I spent in Paris all those years ago. We jammed as much as possible into a weekend exploring the city of loooovee and here’s everything we did. My only regret is that my picture taking skills weren’t that great, but the memories were awesome!
Getting There
During my summer abroad, I bought a Eurail pass, so I could use it to travel via train across Europe. This option made the most sense for me at the time, as I didn’t have set plans for where I wanted to travel and as I was a broke college student. This pass was flexible and affordable and made booking last minute trips easy. I will say make sure you have the destinations properly filled out before you get on the train. I forgot to do this going to Rome and the officers on the train threatened to make me buy a new pass or get off the train (thankfully, they let me off the hook and I was able to fill it out quickly right then!). From Innsbruck to Paris the train ride is almost 9 hours, so definitely be prepared to spend the whole day on the train. Bring snacks, games, and movies to pass the time. But don’t forget to check out the amazing views along the way (like this gorgeous rainbow seen from the train!). Now that I have a full time job and can afford to spend more money on travels, if I did it again, I’d save the trains for shorter trips and optimize my time in Paris by taking a plane.
Day 1
After a long train ride, we were exhausted. We got into the city just before sunset and grabbed a drink and snack before heading to our hostel. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the place we ate at (pictured below), but the views were 10/10.
Day 2
We spent our first full day seeing as much as possible and walking over 20,000 steps. We saw some epic Paris places! First stop - The Palace of Versailles. Now I know what you’re probably thinking…you’re starting a weekend in Paris in Versailles?? Kacey, you know that’s not even in Paris, right? Well, yes technically, it’s 10 miles outside of Paris. But, it’s iconic and one of the greatest achievements of art in France in the 17th century. So, of course we had to add this to our list! The Palace is home to almost 6000 paintings and 3000 sculptures. The Gardens of Versailles is home to 400+ statues and is the largest open-air museum in the world! And for the small price of $2000, you can spend a night inside the Palace. Obviously, as college students this was not in our budget, so we continued onward to our next stop.
Next stop was the Eiffel Tower. Obviously, you can’t go to Paris and not see it! You can buy tickets to go up the tower, but we decided to pass on this because we wanted to get the full view of it. It was truly incredible and so much bigger than I imagined.
Then we went to Notre Dame. I feel so grateful to have seen this place before its tragic fire in 2019. Its architecture and beauty were absolutely stunning both inside and out.
Next, we made a quick stop at the Pont Des Arts. This is a pedestrian bridge that is well known for its famous ‘love lock’ tradition. Couples from all over the world would engrave their names into locks, attach them to the bridge, and throw the key in the water as a symbol of their eternal love and devotion to one another. As a true romantic, I love this tradition. And what better place than in the city of love!
We then made our way to the Louvre Museum and spent a few hours exploring the masterpieces throughout. Of course, we had to stop to see the Mona Lisa. As expected, the crowd around this masterpiece was HUGE, but we waited to get a picture!
We then did a one hour sightseeing river cruise on the Seine River. The Seine River cuts through the heart of Paris and gives picturesque views of the Eiffel Tower, ferris wheel, and a number of unique looking bridges. I do wish I would’ve gotten some more pictures, but I enjoyed this cruise. As a nature lover, it was nice to be near some sort of body of water (if only for an hour) after being in such a busy city.
Next we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. This famous monument has 284 steps leading to a panoramic terrace that gives gorgeous unobstructed views of the Eiffel Tower. The stairs wrap around the monument in a spiral and are quite narrow. It did make me a bit dizzy at times and honestly was such a workout for this out of shape college gal. But! The views definitely made the climb worth it. Pro tip: this place is gorgeous at sunset! This was in July and the sun didn’t set until almost 10pm, so after this we grabbed a quick dinner and went back to our hostel to sleep.
Day 3
The next day was spent in DisneyLand Paris. Now I know this is probably a pretty controversial place to spend the day when we were only in Paris for such a short time. I’m sure you non-Disney fans are thinking that there has to be a better way to spend your time in Paris. And honestly, yes I agree. I went to college an hour from Disney World and now live 2 hours from DisneyLand and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve been to both parks combined. So yes I’m not a Disney fanatic. However, one of the people I went with was a Disney fanatic, worked at Disney World at the time, and was kind enough to get the whole group free tickets to the park. So that’s why we chose to spend the day here. We explored the park, went on some rides, and saw Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. And honestly it was a lot of fun!
Nowadays, I much prefer the art of slow travel and seeing places off the beaten trail. The places locals love, with less tourists. But for it being my first time abroad without my family and for only having 3 days in the city, this itinerary was perfect. And you never know, maybe I’ll find myself back here again - au revoir, Paris!