Touring and Towers

After a complementary breakfast at the hotel, where I took full advantage of the coffee, my friends and I embarked on our first day in Paris! We spent the majority of the morning exploring and taking in the city. From the first block we walked down I could tell that Paris is much more developed than Italy, and I must say it was a nice change.

After walking around, and taking in our surroundings for most of the morning, we were ready for lunch and ready to take a break from the cold. We all wanted to try as many French specialties as we could while we were here, so Maria and Anna got croques with fried eggs and I got quiche with smoked salmon and spinach. Simple yet delicious!

After our stomachs were full and our feet were slightly defrosted, we made our way toward the Eiffel Tower – the first monument on our list. As we walked towards it, it kept peaking out behind buildings, teasing us, and then BAM. The Eiffel Tower was right in front of us. It was amazing to see the real thing, as it is such a well-known, noteworthy monument I have known of my whole life. I was surprised to see just how big it was!

After sitting in the park for a while, we went on a hunt for coffee to warm us up or in this case … STARBUCKS! Starbucks coffee is my favorite treat back at home but there are unfortunately no stores in Italy. While in France we had seen a couple in passing and knew a Starbucks coffee was a must this trip. I know, such Americans. After asking a few people, we hunted one down! I ordered a nice and big American coffee with hazelnut syrup. It was delicious - truly a touch of home to me.

We then got in touch with Rachel, a friend of Anna’s, who would be staying with us the remainder of the trip, and headed towards the Arch de Triomphe and Champs Elysees.

By then the sun had set, the temperature had dropped, and we were all exhausted from a long day of walking. We found the nearest metro and headed back to the Hotel to rest up before dinner. We didn’t wake up until 10pm! Thank goodness restaurants are open late here, because we were quickly able to find a quaint crepe restaurant nearby. I ordered an egg and cheese crepe with salad and a sugar and butter crepe for dessert. Crepes were the perfect way to end our first night in Paris.