JOAN COLLINS BROWN

If you remember Chase and I went to Paris at the beginning of May. The reason we went was to visit the new LDS Temple that was built in Paris. We had the opportunity to tour the building before it was dedicated as an operating LDS Temple. The first thing we did as soon as we got off the plane was go straight to the hotel. We stayed in the Opera district, which was a great choice. I felt like the area wasn't too crowed and there were plenty of restaurants and grocery stores around for food runs.  It was also really simple to get the metro from this area which is what we used the whole time we were there. I do have to say, having just come from Barcelona, I found the metro system in Barcelona a bit more user friendly because you can buy a card that has several rides in one ticket. Instead of having to buy a card for each ride we took in Paris. With that being said both metros were very simple and easy to get the hang of.

DAY 1 After to dropped off our things in the hotel we went straight to the Temple open house. There were people from all over the world visiting and it was so beautiful to see. We ended up getting an Uber back since the Temple is actually a bit of a walk from the train station in Versailles, and it just made more sense to get a car ride back. We went back to the hotel to just relax for a bit before we went out for dinner. I had looked up a pizza place and as we were walking got distracted and just walked into another place owned by a man from Senegal in the Opera district (we communicated with him through a mixture of Italian and Spanish, since our French was no good). We walked around loads just getting familiar with the area.

DAY 2 After having breakfast at the hotel, which was delicious by the way, probably the best hotel breakfast I've ever had. Imagine crepes for breakfast, I was in heaven. After our early breakfast we made our way to the Eiffel Tower.  The Eiffel Tower is exactly what I thought it would be. So spectacular, I just wanted to keep coming back to see it at every point of the day and from every angle. It's amazing when you finally see something in real life that you had been seeing in pictures since you were a little girl.  After we walked around the Eiffel Tower a bit and sat down in the Parc du Champ de Mars for a while just taking in the sun and enjoying the view. We made our way to Laduree to pick out some Macarons, the were delicious and worth every penny. We sat down in a park with the view of the Louvre in a far distance, while we ate our Macarons, it was perfect. As we made our way towards the Louvre we saw the weather change. We were so hungry we picked up some bites from PAUL Cafe, and ate under a tree while the rain just poured down. Lucky enough we were nice and dry and just waited a little for the rain to pass. We got very lucky because the rain scared people away from waiting in line at the Louvre, so we went right in. Now its important to note that the Museum is free if you are a student or below the age of 26. I got in free and we just had to pay for Chase's ticket. He also wanted the audio, so we rented one of those as well. I have to say the Museum is massive and absolutely stunning. You almost feel like you went to ten different museums in one day because there are so many different areas and art from all over the world and different eras. Yes, I did see the Mona Lisa and no I wasn't disappointed. I did my research and knew the painting is actually quite small and very protected, and not to mention crowded  We spent a little over four hours at the Louvre, so if you are planning on going keep that in mind. After the Louvre we made our way back to the Tower Eiffel to see it once more during sun set. It is so beautiful to see the lights turn on and sparkle (they do this every hour after sunset until midnight for five minutes).

DAY THREE After breakfast we made our way to Sacre Coeur located at the top of Montmartre. Such a beautiful building. We didn't go inside because the lines were just too long for Chase and I. We walked more of the area in Montmartre, which is just lovely. We ended up finding La Maison Rose, it's nothing special as far as a landmark goes, but I had seen pictures of this cute cafe for years on Pinterest. I never knew it was actually in Paris. I was so happy to see it in real life. We walked a lot this day and made our way to the Norte Dome. Another absolutely beautiful building, but we didn't want to go in. Chase had actually been before, but the lines were too long and the day too beautiful to be stuck inside all day. We walked toward the back of Norte Dome and had the lunch we prepared in the park for a little picnic. It was pretty perfect. We went on the hunt for some ice cream and found great ice cream from two different shops. The first was called Berthillon which was recommended to me by a friend, it was so good! Shortly after we joined the queue at one of the shops the line suddenly grew out the door and into the street.. The next ice cream shop is located all over the city and is called Amorino. They sculpt out the ice cream in the shape of a flower. The mango flavor was the best thing in the world and you can pick as many flavors as you want, you pay depending on the cone size. We just walked around the rest of the day, and then went back to the hotel before dinner with a stop at the Eiffel Tower to see the lights.

DAY FOUR We woke up pretty early to go to church, which was nice, and then went back to change. The one thing left in our agenda was to see the Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. Beforehand, we stopped by the original and famous Angelinas to try their hot chocolate. We spent most of our day here just walking around and sitting. We did so much walking this day all around Paris. It was just a great relaxing day, if you call walking 5 + miles relaxing.

I was so scared Paris would disappoint me, but it didn't in the least. I think next time I visit I will definitely do things a little bit differently. I think I was so concerned with the idea of just being in Paris I didn't appreciate the historical or cultural aspect of the city. I would love to see more museums and see more of the hidden gems of the city. Overall it was an amazing trip with my love.