Gallery • 12 Photos

Paris, city of divine architecture and art. Exquisite foods and alcoholic beverages. It all seems like a dream. A chance to explore the famous city of France? Yes, please!

We got the chance to transform a dream into reality for 5 days.

Here is our journey through Paris:

December 13th, Day 1: 10-hour flight from San Francisco International Airport to Charles de Gaulle Airport? And a 9 hour time difference ahead? Yes, something light would be perfect. Our first day in Paris, France we arrived at 10:15 am. Once we got to the airport we took a shuttle from CDG to the Mercure Hotel in Paris. This fabulous hotel is literally 3 minutes away walking from the Eiffel Tower! We were exhausted the entire ride to the hotel. But once we spotted the Tower from the front of our hotel we were stunned! Such beautiful architecture! Witnessing it with your own eyes instead of behind a camera is jaw-dropping. After seeing that beauty our tiredness disappeared. We were eager to explore our hotel and then the streets of Paris. First, we grabbed a bite in the hotel’s restaurant which was an odd Cesar salad with egg, cucumber, tomato, bread crumbs, and a liquid Cesar dressing. After, we went out to go take a better look at the Eiffel Tower. Later, we went back into the hotel to rest for our next day.

December 14th, Day 2: Today was the day for sightseeing! We had a whole day of activities planned for the day. We started off our day by eating croissants for breakfast along with some tea from a nice cafe. We soon met at 2 Rue des Pyramides at 10 am for an audio bus tour all around Paris. The bus dropped us off by the river Seine which is not too far from the Eiffel Tower. From there, we walked to the Eiffel Tower for lunch in the famous restaurant located in the Eiffel Tower, 58 Tour Eiffel. The restaurant is located on the 1st floor and it has “58” in the name because it is 58 meters up from the ground. In the restaurant, we were offered a starter, 2 drinks, the entree, and dessert. After the lovely lunch date with a view of the beautiful city, we went back to the river Seine for a river ride. There we saw many more famous sights with historical value such as “the bridge of love,” Passerelle des Arts. Legend is, if you cross under the bridge with your eyes closed and make a wish, it will come true. The ride lasted approximately 45 minutes. After the relaxing river ride, we headed back to the hotel. On our way there we saw a nice restaurant called Chez Ribe. We decided to go in and let me tell you, the food was great! We ordered a Parisian style hot dog which was a baguette with two wieners and cheese melted on the top. It had such a unique taste. Their desserts were probably the best part. Their cheesecake was so creamy and just the right amount of sweet. Their Crème brûlée was perfect as well! Perfect way to end the day. Our 1st day of activities was amazing!

December 15th, Day 3: The Louvre is the world’s largest art museum. You may know this museum for one of their best paintings, the Mona Lisa. We were supposed to go but sadly it was closed because of the Yellow Vest riots going on. That didn’t stop us though, instead we walked around Paris looking for things to do. Many places were closed so it was hard looking for something to do, but we finally found a mall that was open called Beaugrenelle Paris. The Beaugrenelle had many stores that we were either familiar with or were not. We shopped until we were done looking at everything and we were satisfied. 

We ended up finding a Starbucks a block away from the mall and stayed there talking for a while enjoying our coffee. Once it started getting late we finally decided to go back to the hotel and rest for our next day. Even though we couldn’t go to The Louvre we found out another thing we could do and we had fun.

December 16th, Day 4: The 4th day was the day we went to Disneyland Paris! When we first arrived we decided to go into the Disney Store to find warmer jackets since it was so cold. We got what we needed and decided to go into the park. It was beautiful! We decided to take pictures and while my mother was taking a picture the guy next to her was proposing to his girlfriend, how cute and cheers to them! While walking a little more into the park we saw Sleeping Beauty’s beautiful castle. It was big and had lights on which made the castle pop out more. We took our pictures and decided to go inside the castle. We were able to be on the castle’s balcony and look at the people walking by, we felt like real princesses. After we decided it was time to go on rides, we went on many, including Stars Wars Hyperspace Mountain, Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril, It’s a Small World, etc. We decided to eat after, while we were eating a parade was going on and we were able to see parts of the parade. After the parade we decided to meet a princess, we met Aurora, she was so sweet and beautiful. The last hour before we decided to leave, we decided to go to shops and a few more rides. Later after we saw everything we decided to head back to the hotel and rest for our last day in Paris.     

Disneyland Paris Hotel

December 17th, Day 5: Today was our last day in Paris so we decided to make the best of it. We went to one of Paris most famous mall, Galleries Lafayette. When you first walk in the mall you see MCM, Channel, Louis Vuitton, etc. The mall had many designer stores but what really caught our attention was the rooftop of the mall. It was amazing! We’ve never seen anything like it! We spent half the day shopping at the mall and we bought many things. After spending half the day shopping we decided to head back to the hotel and get ready for our fancy dinner. After getting all dressed up we headed to the boat where we were going to have our dinner. When we got checked in, someone led us to our table which had a beautiful view. We got settled in and they took our orders for our starter, main dish, and dessert. For our waiter, we got this very funny man who knew English, French, and Spanish. While bringing us our food and drinks he would always make us laugh and crack jokes. The boat ride was amazing and relaxing. We saw many more things and beautiful architecture. The dinner was really good and we had a good time. Once it was over we headed back to the hotel and packed for our plane ride back home.     

There are many things that are different over there compared to home. The highway speed limit can go as high as 110 mph, toilets are separated from showers and sinks, toilets flush with buttons on the wall, outlets are different, food and water taste unlike ours and currency is in Euros (worth more than dollars). The streets of Paris feel magical. You feel like you’re walking in a movie. Surprisingly, you don’t feel frightened but confident. Although Paris was amazing, it is very cold in the winter. On average when we were there, the temperature was at 30 degrees Fahrenheit. We definitely recommend you go visit. Just be prepared to spend lots of money because nothing in Paris is cheap!