October 13, 2015 – October 15, 2015

I went from having never visited Paris in almost 27 years to visiting in 3 times in 6 months. It never ceases to amaze me and there’s always something new to do. It’s quickly moving up the list of my favorite European cities.

We booked this trip at the beginning of the year to go see one of Tyler’s favorite bands, a French electronic duo called Justice. I can’t say I was very excited about the concert, but I am always excited about the prospect of traveling, so he didn’t have to twist my arm very hard.

Paris is just a short 3 hour train ride from Amsterdam, and you can bring your own wine on the train. We left after work with some friends and a few bottles of wine. By the end of the train ride we had taught them our favorite card game – Euchre. Upon our arrival in Paris, we quickly dropped our stuff off at the hotel and raced to our dinner reservations at Maison Blanche, which promised spectacular food and views of the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately we didn’t get to sit on the balcony overlooking the E.T. to enjoy our food, but nevertheless, the experience was fun. We did get to enjoy an after drink cocktail (or water in my case) while watching the tower glow.

To cap the night off, we visited Prescription, a fun little cocktail bar with a DJ who let me play with the turntables.

Our Saturday morning did not start very early after our late night. We had planned to do a Hop on Hop off bus tour around the city to take in as many sights as possible, but ended up just kind of walking around instead (and hitting over 20k steps!). We hit up the main attractions such as Notre Dame, the Seine, Louvre, Jardin des Tuileries, Champs Elysees, and the Arc de Triomphe. Walking up the 200 stairs to the top of the Arc is something I would definitely recommend. The Arc is the center point where 11 road converge like spokes of a wheel and it offers great views of the city.

The main attraction of Paris as previously mentioned was the Justice concert. Although I was skeptical, I had an absolute blast. We got off to a rocky start when there was a mob of a line for the bar, but I made some new friends and we were able to get our Heinekens. Justice was such a party. We spent the night dancing and singing and watching the light show. Thanks to Ty for making me go.

Sunday morning we woke up feeling great and got the most delicious crepes for breakfast overlooking the Pantheon.

After brunch we took a stroll through the Le Jardin du Luxembourg and watched some kids play with sailboats.

We spent most of our time on Sunday enjoying wine, cheese, and baguette with the Eiffel Tower as our backdrop, making one last pit stop for macaroons before we hit the train back to Amsterdam.

‘Til next time Paris!