Wow, we made it!

My first sight of Paris was a little bit different than I expected.

I don’t know about you, but when I think of Paris, I think about cute shops and little cafes cluttering the streets. I think about the Eiffel Tower and tourists trying to see every monument.

Paris is a bit different than what I was expecting.

We got to our hotel at about 7:00 P.M on Sunday. If you didn’t know (which I didn’t) Europeans take Sundays very seriously. What I mean is that they all like to relax on Sunday, so almost all the shops and restaurants are closed, even in Paris! So we had a very interesting time finding a restaurant that night.

My main goal for the trip to Paris was to see the Eiffel Tower, and on the second day there we started walking from our hotel to the tower. I had never been to Paris and my parents hadn’t been for years so, we didn’t think that we needed to buy tickets if we wanted to go to the top or even the second floor. As it turned out, tickets were sold out to the summit for the next few days. But, fortunately we were able to get some to the second floor for the next day.

I do think a have a little bit of an obsession with the Eiffel Tower because I took a grand total of 114 photos just of the tower! But - come on - it is super photogenic.

Paris had a really strong impact on me; I learned a lot, I experienced many new things. I loved most that it has so much culture, people from all over the world living together, and of course some amazing food.

In the end, Paris didn’t really feel like that crazy, touristy city to me anymore, but instead a place I got to know and value in so many ways.