What to do in Paris for 5 Days

Paris part 1….

Paris part 1 was the first stop of the 3 countries I visited with my boyfriend. We got there on May 25, which was only 3 days after I graduated from Marist College. My goal for this trip was to not only be the person to be able to take my boyfriend to Europe for the first time, but it was also the opportunity for me to travel to Europe since I wasn’t able to study abroad for a semester due to covid.

When we first arrived in Paris, I remember feeling like I was just dropped into a random new place with no clue where anything was. I definitely should’ve prepared more activity wise so I didn’t feel lost, however, Viator came in clutch with that. After checking into Hotel Eiffel Kensington, we got on a cruise boat to become familiarized with the area and see all the major tourist destinations. In hindsight, going on a boat after a 7 hour flight was definitely not a good idea when the cruise is silent and the boat is basically rocking you to sleep, but we live and we learn! After the cruise, we got off and went straight to the Eiffel tower where I currently have 1000 different angles of the tower in my camera roll. Then we went out to dinner and went to bed early to get caught up on sleep (which is one of the most important things to do when traveling so you don’t get messed up with the time zones!)

Day 2 was spending the day at the French Open (my boyfriend is a huge tennis fan!). This was about a 25 minute cab ride, so we got there at noon and stayed until around 4 pm. Our first stop was the Louis Vuitton Foundation which definitely was not it at all. I was under the impression that this would be an archive of past LV collections, but it was just the history of the architecture of the building. Then we went to the Arc de Triomphe and walked down Avenue Des Champs-Elysses for some shopping. Then we made our way down to Place De La Concorde to then walk to Place Vendome for some higher end shopping. The last stop was the Lourve Museum.

Day 3 was spent going a bit more north from the Arc De Triomphe. We followed 16 Ave up to Trocadero for some amazing views. Then we rented electric scooters and just drove around which was so much fun!

What else is there to do outside of Paris?

After my trip to Sicily, my college friend and I decided to stay an extra 2 nights in Paris. Day 1 was taking her to the Arc, Lourve and shopping. We stayed out the entire day getting lunch with a cocktail, getting macaroons at Laduree and even saw the Eiffel Tower light up at midnight!

The second day was dedicated to the Palace of Versailles. We reserves spots for only $30 to stay at the Palace for as long as they were open for. We did a full tour of inside the castle, as well as the gardens in the back which were huge! My favorite room inside the Palace was the Hall of Mirrors!

Stay Tuned for my next post on my travels to Switzerland and what mistake I made when planning for a country hopping trip!