bonjour from paris!
similar top | boots | jeans | earrings | bag
Bonjour! We've been in Paris 3 days and that's still about the extent of my French. Language barrier aside, we are loving it!! The first two days were freezing cold (as expected) and rainy, so we were a little bummed thinking it might rain the entire trip. Yesterday it even hailed, quite a bit actually, but thankfully we were on a bus most of the afternoon so we avoided getting pelted. Today, however, was all sunny skies and it was so nice to be able to walk around the city and stay dry. It is definitely very cold, in the low to mid forties every day, but this is such an incredible time to be in the City of Love. The last traces of fall are still everywhere you look, with gorgeous yellow leaves falling from the trees along the banks of the Seine. Yet Christmas decor is already in full swing and the decorations are unlike anything I've ever seen- they do Christmas BIG over here! On a whole nother level. We were in a giant shopping mall today and saw countless Christmas trees- every floor had the most beautiful trees, each one even more spectacular than the last. In the very middle of the mall, a giant Christmas tree stood at least fifty feet tall made entirely of inflatable balloons in shapes like cacti, hearts, pretzels, and ice cream. It was the most fun and unique tree I've ever seen. I want one in our house!
We've done a lot of sightseeing the past few days but I plan on doing a full recap or two with Paris photos when we get home so I won't ramble about that (yet). A few things I've learned: The crepes are better at street stands than in restaurants. No matter how fancy the restaurant, the crepes are WAY better from a vendor on the street. Not to mention they're half the price! There are few pleasures in this life better than walking around the streets of Paris on a cold day, eating a warm Nutella crepe & sipping on hot chocolate. Heaven! Okay enough about the crepes (I could talk about them all day #obsessed), we also learned right away that you aren't supposed to tip in restaurants. I mean I guess you could, but in France, the tip is already included in the price of the bill. Our waiter looked at us so confused the first day when we were paying for lunch and couldn't understand why we didn't have a tip line on the receipt. I've also learned what a small world it is, as today I ran into a friend that I knew was in Paris but had no idea I'd actually spot sitting in a cafe as we were casually walking by. What are the odds?! Either way I'm glad we saw her!
I feel like this post makes zero sense and I'm too tired to proofread it- I think I've slept a total of 9 hours the past 3 nights combined and we've done A LOT those 3 days, so I'm running on serious fumes. Tomorrow we head to Disneyland and I'm so excited- off to bed to hopefully get some rest before the big day!
xo, Britt