While my visit in Paris was short, I discovered so much. Paris is a dream place of many, including myself as my whole room is covered in Paris inspired decorations. I felt so privileged having the chance to experience Paris in person rather than looking at my wall art dreaming of what it would be like. This made me want to share 10 things I learned about Paris!
Here we go.....
Number 1:
Everything is CLOSED on Sunday!!! And by everything, I mean EVERYTHING. I had the privilege of landing in Paris on a lovely Sunday morning. With the excitement of being in Paris, I checked into my hotel and wanted to cruise all the shops. To my surprise, NOTHING was open unless I was hungry, as all restaurants, cafes, and fast food businesses were. This blew my mind, as here in Canada and in the United States the only difference between a Saturday and a Sunday is slightly shorter hours.
Number 2:
Speaking of Cafes being open on Sunday, THEY ARE EVERYWHERE! Honestly, every corner of a street has a Cafe on it and they are always quite busy! Another bizarre thing is other than the different names; many of them looked exactly the same! Red Awning, Wicker Chairs, Circle Tables, People Smoking while they eat, were the reoccurring similarities that All of the Cafes seemed to share.
Number 3:
Do you ever get the craving of some nice bread and butter or maybe some Pizza or Pasta? Well you are in luck, because in Paris BREAD IS EVERYWHERE!!! I ate more Pizza and Pasta in Paris then I ever have back home and that is saying a lot as I LOVE PIZZA! Every restaurant that I went to had Pizza and Pasta and with whatever you ordered you were also served Bread and butter. I even saw many people with bags full of bread when I was strolling down the street! I found it insane, with how much bread could be in one place.
Number 4:
If you are only in Paris for 5 minutes and it happens to be after the Sun has set, YOU ARE IN LUCK! The absolute most amazing sight I have ever seen was the Eiffel Tower when it sparkled. It is everything you would hope for times 10! The Eiffel Tower is a great sight in itself, but when it sparkles, it is magical! All of your problems fly away for these 5 minutes as you are left in awe of such beauty. It’s like when you star up at the stars and simply glaze, but WAY BETTER! I cannot describe in words how perfect these simple 5 minutes were! Just make sure you get to the Eiffel Tower on the hour as if you get there 6 minutes later you will have to wait 54 minutes more in order to see such a sight as it only goes once an hour, which in my opinion is crazy as I would love for it to sparkle the second the sun goes down until the moment it rises again!
Number 5:
When they say the thing you want most will happen to you when you least expect it, they are right!! Now keep in mind, I had no idea where I was going and neither did my mother and sister, we spent ALL DAY looking for a perfect pair of heels for me to take home! Then once it hit midday I simply just wanted a pair of heels, I didn’t quite care if they were the perfect ones or not! Long story short I did find some beautiful heels that fit my basically kid-sized feet and I was one happy camper. Since we have now accomplished this the next morning the only plan on our agenda was to go to the suitcase store we saw during the previous day! We of course get there and you will not believe what was right next door. A HUGE SHOE STORE!!! They had so many shoes that when I walked in I was just in awe!! My mother and sister found this quite funny, as I did not! On the Plus side, I ended up leaving Paris with 3 pairs of heels instead of 1.
Number 6:
The people of Paris, although crazy drivers (and I mean crazy as we were only in Paris for 10 minutes and our taxi driver almost got into a car accident), are amazing at parking! Many people in America don't normally parallel park, so when we get older this skill seems to fade and we simply, for a lack of a better word, suck at it. Parallel Parking is a must in Paris. Their cars are so small that they simply are everywhere and the space between each car is a measly couple inches in front and back! So long story short, Paris gets an A+ for parallel parking.
Number 7:
If you want to take a stroll and enjoy some peace and quiet while experiencing all of Paris's amazing views, you have to wake up at the crack of dawn. I have never seen a place so jam-packed of people ever before! You are constantly surrounded by a crowd of people who are all in a rush to see the next great sight!
Number 8:
The buildings are beautiful! The amount of character that each building has is astonishing! They take you back to earlier times when we designed buildings with care and love instead of building them all the same as fast as possible. I mean every corner there was such gorgeous buildings with balconies full of flowers and little tables to enjoy your view on a nice summer day. I absolutely loved it!
Number 9:
In order to achieve the full experience of the Eiffel Tower, you must take a tour! You skip the line, which saves you hours of your life, and you learn such amazing intriguing facts. I absolutely loved our tour guide, you could tell that she enjoyed her job and you could understand her very clearly with your ironic Australian accent. A couple facts I learned are the following:
-When Hitler wanted to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, they cut the cords of the elevator and told Hitler it would take weeks in order to fix. This gave him the only option that if he wanted to reach the top he would have to go up 1710 stairs! He of course did not climb all those stairs and after his departure the elevator was back up and running days following!
-The Eiffel Tower was built for a World Fair and was only to be up for 6 months!
- In the last 100 years, 120 million people have visited the Eiffel Tower (Thank goodness they didn't tear it down after the 6 Month period!!!)
Number 10:
When visiting Paris, your nose will also go on a field trip of its own. Every corner of Paris has a new peculiar smell, which gives your nose a shock each time. Not all of these smells were pleasant actually many of them weren’t as Paris is full of garbage and people peeing in the parks (We seriously saw 2 men pee in the park like it was nothing). Although you do get the occasional smell of things like flowers, pastries, or assorted soaps, which are always lovely and much appreciated after what majority of the time you are smelling.
All in all, Paris was everything I wanted and some things that I didn’t. I could have done without the smells and dirtiness, but the sights were impeccable and the overall experience was 100% worth it. I would definitely go back and I will continually obsess about Paris forever!
