I’d always dreamed of visiting Paris (let’s be real, who hasn’t?), and now I get to cross it off my bucket list. To be honest, I have a mixed feeling for the City of Love. My first thoughts upon roaming the streets of Paris? “I can’t imagine myself living here”. However, I can’t argue that the city is very picturesque, namely for its Renaissance architecture, cobblestone streets and gorgeous sunsets.

During my 3-nights stay in Paris, I’d visited [most] of the major attractions, walked so many miles and eaten lots of delicious meals. Here are just some of the highlights of my trip.

Day 1

At around 17:26 local time, we arrived in Paris via train from London. From Gare du Nord, we walked over 2.8 km to our hotel in Ibis Style Saint Lazare. Yes, suitcases and all. This is also a tribute to online web mapping services; I don’t know if we could’ve survived the whole trip without them.

Because the sun sets late in Paris in July (no, I did not know before), we decided to pay the Eiffel Tower a visit on out first night. Because what’s Paris without this iconic infrastructure, right?

Which reminds me, buying “a carnet” of 10 t+ tickets is so much cheaper than purchasing individual metro tickets. Instead of €1.90, each ticket cost only €1.45, which adds up to €4.5 for ten tickets! It’s especially handy if you’re planning to take the metro around Paris. You can even divide up the “carnet” among your group, like we did!

The Eiffel Tower is beautiful in pictures, I must admit. I mean, the shot above took literally thirty seconds to take, and despite the vehicles or crowd still manages to look pretty. But in person, I thought it was merely an overhyped, albeit iconic, metal framework. I didn’t feel romance in the air, in fact, the whole are felt somewhat stuffy as it teemed with tourists.

Day 2

So on the first half of day 2, we walked around a bunch of places, namely the Galeries Lafayette Hausmann, Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees. One thing that I learned firsthand from this day was to never buy food or drinks in “touristy” areas. For example, a crepe along Champs-Elysees cost us €9.30, when €11 got us two crepes of the same size (and even better taste) in a less known area. Trust me, it makes the difference when you’re travelling on a budget.

That day, we also moved from the area of Saint Lazare to an apartment in Le Marais, which is even closer to the city center. Not that you can’t discover all of Paris on foot. It was actually quite an exciting alternative to a hotel, because what’s more Parisian than staying in a cute little apartment (the link takes you to my Paris travel video which includes snippets of the apartment)? Although it was definitely not the most comfortable place to stay in, it had the most strategic location!

At around 7 pm, we decided to walk to the Louvre Museum and my mom spotted this Thai restaurant along the way. Ah, after weeks (because we were in the UK first) of eating just Western dishes, I really did miss the flavors of Asian cuisine! This particular plate of pad thai was the right balance of sour, tangy and home (okay, home isn’t exactly Thailand, but you know what I mean).

We saw the Louvre Museum, Palais du Louvre and Place du Palai Royal. By the end of the day, we had walked a total of 15.28 km (according to S Health, at least). Ha, I’m so ready for a marathon now.

Day 3

Parisians do know how to perfectly cook their Italian dishes, especially pasta. The picture below is of an enormous portion of salmon farfalle, also my breakfast, which we got in a restaurant in Ile Saint-Louis.

After breakfast/ lunch, we paid the Notre-Dame cathedral a quick visit. And boy was the queue terribly long. Naturally, we didn’t bother to go inside and instead walked to see some gorgeous infrastructures of Paris: Saint-Chapelle, Palais de Justice, Conciergerie, Palce Dauphine and Pont Neuf.

The bookstall quays along the Seine River are also worth a visit! I didn’t end up buying anything as the books were mostly in French (and I don’t speak French), but it was quite fun to stroll along the stalls. We also made a detour to the street of “Rue de la Huchette”, where tons of hidden cafes and restaurants are hidden! Plus, you can bet these quirky streets will always look good in photos.

And the highlight of day 3, for me, was definitely Shakespeare and Company. Nobody warned me in advance, so I’m telling you now: the books there are extremely pricey! Though the bookstore itself is gorgeous, with an endless collection of books in every nook and crannies, those copies are definitely not budget-friendly. However, in front of the shop they did set up some shelves of second-hand books, which can definitely be a bargain.

Last but not least, a visit to Paris can’t be complete without a stop in one of its many gardens! Jardin du Luxembourg was conveniently in our route back to the apartment. Another thing I learned on this trip is that Parisians love to sit back, have a nice chat and people-watch. Honestly, you can find people relaxing at any given time of the day in Paris.

From the Luxembourg Garden, we then walked towards La Sorbonne while passing the Pantheon and Sorbonne University. To wrap up the day, we tasted our first macaroons in Paris and enjoyed a hearty dinner in a small Chinese restaurant. It’s safe to say our feet were well-tortured from all the walking we’d done in just three days…

Day 4

Nothing much happened on our last day in Paris, as we had to check out early and walk back (yes, we dragged our heavy suitcases for over 6 km) to Gare du Nord.

And so in the afternoon of July 5th, 2017, the three of us boarded the Thalys train to Amsterdam.

Au revoir, Paris, we all had our fun. Until next time.

Hey, thanks a lot for reading till the end. If you’d like to see the video equivalent of this travel diary, go ahead and check out my Paris travel video montage!