Paris 2024: June 3 trip to Paris (part 2)

It’s been 2 weeks since I’ve been to Paris, and due to university exams, which are now (hopefully) finally over, I have time to write about my adventures in France! So, let’s dive into it, shall we? Here’s part 2!

June 3: Trip to Paris, the city of love

My dad and I woke up early in the morning so we could drive to Paris and see four different sightseeing attractions. I won’t yet reveal which ones, but I bet you can guess which four when I say the most famous ones in the heart of the city of love. Anyway, we went to the supermarket beforehand, buying ourselves some breakfast and lunch, then we headed back to the hotel to check-out. After we had done that, we braced ourselves for the drive, considering we were well aware that we’d have to drive on THE ONE AND ONLY roundabout. However, we were pleasantly surprised. Because we were so early, the traffic wasn’t that bad, and considering roundabouts work differently in France (those on the outside takes precedence over those driving on the inside), we were let on easily. We parked our car in a Onepark carpark, which is like a private type of parking which you have to reserve beforehand. For quite a lot of money. I did think it was a bit shady at first, but it didn’t feel as shady as the one my dad and I visited back in Amsterdam. We then went out of the parking garage, I guess I should call it, and proceeded to our first sightseeing attraction of the day: the Eiffel Tower.

I have been to France when I was but eight years old, to visit Disneyland Paris. I remember that my mum went: ”Look, the Eiffel Tower!” and I saw a glimpse before we had already passed it. Ever since then, I’ve had posters of the Eiffel Tower hanging in my room, wishing I would be able to see the real Eiffel Tower, for more than one second, in real life. And I never imagined that an impulse buy to attend Darklight 6 would allow me to finally see my dream in real life. We sadly didn’t climb it, but boy, I felt like I had stepped into a fairytale world. Sure, the colour is definitely very different from what it’s supposed to be, but painting it every now and then is the only way to keep it somewhat preserved in a good state. A guy then went on one knee in front of the Tower, and at first, despite not wanting to ever get married and not really caring for love, it was still very cute. Well, that was, until the boy’s friends told them they hadn’t filmed it, and they had to redo it. I could see the girl’s genuine enthusiasm disappear, as it felt more like a show, but she still said yes. I do think it’s a little cliche to do it in front of the Eiffel Tower in the city of love, but then again, I guess it’s allowed just for that reason alone. After this, my dad and I walked towards the Arc de Triomphe. It was quite a long walk, and with the quite long day the day before and my legs already a bit wary, I walked a little slower than I usually do. But, I had a sugary drink with me, so I managed just fine. Once we arrived, I was again mesmerised.

The intricate artwork on the Arc de Triomphe is honestly breathtaking. Some might argue that it doesn’t look like much, but it houses an enormous amount of history that many people who are tourists seem to forget. It’s quite of honourable to stand in front of the grave of the Unknown soldier who died in World War I, though his death is of course far from honourable. Then there are the names of those who fought and died for France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Again, there’s nothing honourable about dying for your country, but it’s still honourable to stand in front of the monument and take a moment of respect. We sadly didn’t cross to witness the inscriptions themselves as the roundabout, the famous one I mentioned earlier which is normally always coated in chaos, had significantly increased in terms of traffic. Both my dad and I deemed it irresponsible to try and cross. So, we ended up not doing this. Instead, we began to debate about whether we wanted to walk for 2 hours to the other two sightseeing attractions, or whether we wanted to take the car and drive to a parking garage a little closer to where we wanted to go. We did pay a lot of money for this particular private one, but if we wanted to see both of the attractions, we would win a lot of time by driving. On our way to the carpark, we walked along the Seine, and with my beloved Thames, I can now cross a second river off the list.

So, we walked back, got our car (which also surprised the owner of the carpark as he knew we had booked the carpark until at least 4 p.m., and we were already leaving after 1,5 hours of having been there, and it had barely passed 12 p.m. But we got our key back, get in the car, and ate our breakfast and lunch considering we didn’t take that much time beforehand to even eat breakfast. So, I guess we should call this a brunch, then? Anyway, we were halted by the police, but so were tons of cars in front of us, as an enormous amount of cyclers passed us. We have no idea what they were a part of, but it definitely wasn’t the Tour de France. Whoever they were, they definitely were very enthusiastic as they passed us and tons of pedestrians taking pictures and videos, cheering them on. Eventually we made it to the parking garage near our next destination, and once we exited the car, there she was. The cathedral I’ve always wanted to see, another France attraction I’ve wanted to see in real life ever since I was an eight-year-old child.

Despite the fire that burned the Notre Dame’s roof and spire, they had put the replacement spire on the cathedral, which means the completion of the cathedral, in terms of its restoration is nearing its end. I had tears in my eyes because I remember how devasted I was when I was watching the live footage of the fire, hell, I was even crying. You might find that odd, but I don’t care. Even though there were still scaffoldings at the front of the cathedral itself, it didn’t take away the beauty. I bought a souvenir of the cathedral across the cathedral, having bought a miniature Eiffel Tower, snow globe of France, and miniature Arc de Triomphe the day before, and we walked to the front of the cathedral, more or less the church itself.

Again, I felt tears well up in my eyes. Of course, the Notre Dame will never overpower my beloved Westminster Abbey, for that’s my most treasured historical monument, but the Notre Dame is definitely in spot two. Having walked around the cathedral a bit for as far as we could, seeing some statues here and there, we made our way to the final tourist attraction. But not before we passed the French Academy of Sciences, with an honourable mention of Louis XIV. For those who don’t know, Louis was known as Louis the Great, and most famously, and most likely most memorably, as the Sun King. It’s a truly beautiful building. At least, if you ask me. But I’ll let you be the judge of that.

After this, we continued our path to the Louvre. Once we found the courtyard of the Louvre Palace that surrounds the museum, we were honestly more mesmerised by that than the museum itself. I mean, not to be rude, but it’s still just a glass pyramid. But the surrounding architecture, holy crap, right out of a fairytale. I took videos of that, so I sadly can’t share that here, but take it from me, it’s the most beautiful courtyard you’ve ever seen. And the biggest at that, too. The palace is honestly way more beautiful than the museum. That still doesn’t take away the fact that the museum is beautiful in its own right, and that it’s still pretty special and iconic, but I just loved the palace a tiny bit more. Of course, I did take the famous photo that most people take here, trying to grab the tip of the Louvre. I will share this photo on my Instagram eventually, so if you wanna see it, I suggest you search my account Creabealounge on Instagram 😉

After we had seen the museum, we walked back to our car. It was at this point already close to 1.30 p.m., and with what happened to us on the trip to Paris, we didn’t want the same to happen on our way home. We were at our car around 2 p.m. and began the long drive home. Luckily, with the expected traffic in Antwerp, we managed to keep on driving relatively easily, though we knew we’d be home late, and yet once more decided that dinner, at least at a restaurant, would take too long. Wanting to get home somewhat early, we once more stopped at a MacDonalds and I ordered a vegetarian chicken burger. After that we drove on home and my Paris adventure came to an end. Paris, thank you for the memories. I hope to come back some day!

Love, Skye Lewis ❤

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