Paris Adventures: Eiffel Tower & Champs Elysees
Paris was amazing but I have to admit, it was also a bit disappointing at times: construction in the garden of Versailles and also at the Arc de Triomphe. It also rained nonstop which put a slight damper on our 2 days and made it hard to actually do much sightseeing. Regardless, we managed to scratch the surface and realized that we all wanted to come back!
We started off our Paris trip by flying into CDG around early evening on the first day. It was rainy from day 1 but since we only had a short day or so in the city, we took full advantage of it. First, we took the train from CDG to the center city and dropped off our luggage at Hotel du Printemps. This hotel was farther from the touristy spots but charming and completely affordable; the first two pictures are our views from the room.
As you can see, I was enamored with the views from the Eiffel Tower. Absolutely gorgeous. And best of all, we got to experience it a bit during daylight and then more into night. The city lights up like none other and the Eiffel Tower is gorgeous with an occasional display of flashing lights creating a sparkle of light on its surface (hard to capture).
One of my Paris “must dos” was a stop in the much-hyped Ladurée. I have to admit, the macarons did not disappoint and were the best I had ever had. I think the vanilla was our favorite.
The last few photos don’t have the best clarity – we didn’t want to use our DSLR in the rain and so our backup camera had to suffice. The Arc de Triomphe was undergoing construction so I was a bit overwhelmed with all the scaffolding. I have seen Notre Dame before during the day. But at night, it’s a completely different building. I highly recommend seeing it when it’s dark – the architecture is illuminated in a unique light.
