A Day In Paris

 This post might be late in making it to the blog, but better late than never :) 

Back in December when I went to Scotland my friend asked if I wanted to go to Paris for 2 days. Once you are in the UK it is fairly easy to travel to Europe so of course I said YES!! Paris had always bee on of my Bucket List places to visit and going there was a dream. While our trip was quite short, we managed to fit A LOT into our short time there and completed most all of it in just ONE day. Keep reading to see what we did on our Day in Paris: 

Arc De Triomphe - Apart from the Eiffel Tower this is such a central landmark to this city and totally worth seeing! If you ride the metro or stay in a hotel or apartment a bit on the edge of the city there is a good chance you will walk by the Arc De Triomphe. This is such a great place to stop and explore, even if it is only to take a few quick pictures in front of the iconic structure. However, if you want to see more of the city and explore it then you could actually schedule a time to go up in it.
Place Du Trocadero/Tour De Eiffel - If you want to go up in the Eiffel tower that is definitely an option, but if you are short on time your best option is to stop at Place Du Trocadero early in the morning to take pictures on the ledge and steps with the Eiffel Tower in the background. The Place Du Trocadero is between the Arc De Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower and is seriously the most visited spot by photographers in Paris (and its a top blogger spot too). We stopped here around 8:20 our first morning in Paris and it was the perfect time to take pictures and not to overly crowded by people.
Louvre - The Louvre is such an iconic museum full of such treasures and art that most of us have only ever seen in pictures. We all know the Louvre as the museum where you enter through a class pyramid but what you might not know is it is a HUGE museum that is partly hidden underneath the pyramid and also takes up the buildings around it. I never knew the Louvre was so HUGE! You could probably spend an entire day there and still not see everything, so if you are trying to fit it into a short trip I would suggest choosing your top 4-5 things you want to see and focusing on those. We really wanted to see the Venus De Milo and Mona Lisa, but in the process of trying to find where those were located in the museum (signage is confusing) we actually got to see a good bit of other artifacts, sculptures, and art.
Palaise Royal - This is a great place to stop if you are already at the Louvre. If you have ever seen the pictures of people in Paris standing on black and white columbs this is at the Palaise Royal and it is just a few streets over from the Louvre and is totally worth checking out for a picture spot or break place.
**Tourist Shops**
Musee D'Orangerie - If you are a fan of Claude Monet or simply want to take the #cliche picture standing in front of the Waterlillies than you have to go to the Musee D'Orangerie.....plus depending on the time of day that you go the line for this museum might actually be shorter than others and the museum is small enough that it won't take all of your time and if you simply want to stop in just to see the two rooms of Claude Monet's Waterlillies than that in itself is worth it.
Musee D'Orsay - So this museum was on our list to visit and we actually had tickets for it (we got a combined ticket for the D'Orangerie and D'Orsay) but we didn't consider that even though we bought tickets online we might still have to wait in a line so when we got there and saw the line wrapped 2 blocks we took that stop off the list.
Tuileres Garden (Jardin des Tuileries) - Definitely not as stunning in the winter (Even if there was the Christmas market) but still a beautiful place to explore or walk through from the Louvre to the D'Orangerie.

BONUS (Day Two):
Notre Dame - We wanted to visit Notre Dame but were not able to fit it into our main day so we managed to stop by the famous Cathedral on our departure day, early in the morning before we headed to the airport. We were not able to go up in the tower, but we were able to look around inside. Going inside the Cathedral is free, but you had to pay to go in the tower. The sad thing is that Notre Dame just caught fire a week ago and now most of the inside details are destroyed....seeing the famous cathedral on fire was so sad, but it also made me appreciate the opportunity I had to visit it in December.

Have you Visited any of these places in Paris?

- Madison