My friend Willa and I had always talked about going to Paris for the weekend, and when a really cheap flight popped up over Black Friday, we jumped at the chance. I then drafted my college roommate Rachel into also coming along.

Day 1 (Friday):

I purchased hotel rooms at Hotel Mercure Paris Tour Eiffel since they were discounted through my work. I checked on a map, and as the name indicated, it looked fairly close to the Eiffel Tower, so I was satisfied. However, when we actually arrived, I realized that it was adjacent to/shares a wall with the Hotel Pullman Paris, one of the closest hotels you can get to the Eiffel Tower. We were all completely blown away, and we quickly dropped our luggage off before walking back out to explore. We first walked a few streets over to gape up at the tower from underneath and just marvel at the fact that we were Paris.

Then we doubled back to grab a quick bite to eat. The restaurants closest to big tourist attractions like that are notably more expensive, but we were hungry and chose a cute little cafe to grab some coffee and a quick meal at Chez Ribe.

Afterwards, we made our way to Trocadero Gardens, which is the park directly in front of the Eiffel Tower and the location of most of the standard Eiffel Tower photos you’ve probably seen on Instagram. If you want souvenirs, there are guys every few meters selling selfie sticks, wine, and trinkets. We weren’t interested, so we just bypassed them.

Wanting to knock out most of the obligatory tourist stops, we ordered an Uber to take us to the Arc de Triomphe, a monument ordered by Napoleon to honor his French armies in 1806, and one of the most famous structures in Paris. It’s actually in the middle of a very busy multi-lane roundabout (or traffic circle, depending on your nationality), so we just viewed it from the outer part of the circle.

We grabbed lunch at Cafe des Deux Moulins, which takes its name from the two nearby windmills, Moulin Rouge and Moulin de la Galette, and was made famous by the movie Amélie. It’s very cute and has a bright red theme.

Next up was one of the most recognizable museums in the world, the Louvre. We didn’t have time to walk through the full museum (plan at least a half a day for that, probably more), so my goal was to walk under the Louvre pyramid and at least get a peek inside the museum. With all of the pop culture out there about Illuminati and other mysterious stories, I had a lot of preconceived ideas about what would be down there. While the Louvre pyramid has an inverted section extending underground that is quite beautiful, the rest of the underground area adjoining the Louvre was essentially a big mall called the Carrousel du Louvre. Hope Mary Magdalene likes Sunglass Hut.

The views from outside were my favorite, though. Since it had gotten dark while we were exploring inside, when we walked out, both the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Pyramid were illuminated. While we were taking photos, the Eiffel Tower started to sparkle! Turns out, they light it up after dark, but for the first 5 minutes of each hour after dark, it glitters, which was one of the most random and enjoyable surprises of the trip.

After wandering around and enjoying the night, we went to Boucherie Rouliere based on the recommendation of one of Willa’s colleagues who owns a house in Paris. All of her recommendations were spot-on for the whole weekend, and we dined on some of the most flavorful food I have ever tasted. And of course, charcuterie with every meal!

Day 2 (Saturday):

We had initially planned to visit the Palace of Versailles on Saturday, but we were told by multiple people that trying to fit this in to a weekend-long trip would be virtually impossible. We ended up skipping it in favor of a more relaxed day in Paris central, which I’m really glad we did.

Our first goal of the day was to buy fancy pastries, which I think sums us up as humans pretty succinctly. Paris, as you probably know, is quite famous for its beautiful desserts, but I didn’t realize quite how prevalent pastry shops are. In most of the neighborhoods we visited, there was a pastry shop every few stores. When we planned for the day, though, we wanted to have a set location in mind, so we researched on Yelp and finally picked Angelina’s. It was an adorable, pastel little store with pastries so pretty they looked like art. We each picked one to-go and carried them to Le Varenne, where we had lunch. After stuffing ourselves with coffee, orange juice, eggs, and croissants, we were too full for the croissants, so they continued the journey with us.

We ubered to the Square du Vert-Galant for a tour on the Seine river, but sadly lost our precious pastries over a miscommunication with the driver. As we pulled up to the docking point, I guess the curb was a little higher in the front, so the driver wanted the two of us in the back to get out first and then was planning on driving up a bit to let Willa out. However, he didn’t speak very much English, so he just said, “You get out. Not you.” which set off alarm bells for me. After an interaction in which I thought I was taking a stand, (“Willa, get out of the car right now!” “No, she does not get out!”) and in which I finally figured out what was going on, the pastries were left abandoned in the back corner of the car along with my 5-star Uber passenger rating. C’est la vie.

We waited in the boarding area for a bit before choosing seats on top of the tour boat. It felt okay before we started moving, but Paris in February with the added wind gusts made it pretty chilly. It was worth it for the views, though. We got to see all the important cultural buildings and bridges located along the river, and a highlight for me was seeing the Notre Dame Cathedral from multiple sides as well as the Pont Alexandre III bridge.

After docking, we went to Le Comptoir to eat and defrost. Just after ordering charcuterie, wine, and some bougie dish including lamb, lemon, and fennel, a group of protesters marched by–I hadn’t been closely following the political landscape, but it seemed like the heart of the protest was over Macron and general elitism. After taking a short video, we went back to our fancy food and wine. Awkward.

While it was still light out, I wanted to see Rue Cremieux, a one-block pastel street that is just stunningly beautiful. I was really excited about this one and dragged the girls there, but as you would expect, having an instagrammable location draws a ton of instagrammers. When we showed up, the street was packed with people trying to get a perfect photo of themselves. We were asked to move by several people (some a bit rudely) while we were trying to walk down the street, even though we would wait a moment or two for people to take photos every few steps. Several girls had boyfriends lying on the ground trying to capture the perfect angle. While I’ve gotten used to this at many tourist attractions, and I love a photo as much as the next person, this was on a different level and in such a small space. I later found out that the people who live there have asked that the city close the street to visitors on evenings and weekends because instagrammers have been so intrusive. In the end, I was a bit disappointed in the behavior of the people there but the street itself was impressive.

Afterwards, we couldn’t find the library Willa wanted to see (turns out it wasn’t open to the public), and instead walked around and explored Montmartre. The little stores, the cobblestone streets, and the warm glow from the streetlamps made the entire area feel like a fairytale to me.

After eating and buying our fill, we decided to find a speakeasy that was recommended to us, Prescription Cocktail Bar. We ducked under stone archways, went down narrow cobblestone streets, and saw churches and cathedrals rising up from behind alleyway openings. The search for the speakeasy itself was a fun event. There was a massive van parked in front so we missed it the first time we walked by (not sure if it was just a regular van or if that’s part of the “secret speakeasy” charm), but it was worth the search. We met a lovely outgoing bartender who spoke fluent English and sipped on our cocktails while admiring the old-world industrial charm.

No visit to Paris is complete without a visit to its most famous street, the Champs Elysees, so we walked by some of its staples, like the flagship Louis Vuitton store.

Then, since this was our last night, we decided we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower up close while it sparkled, so we ubered back to Trocadero Gardens. There ended up being more traffic than we expected, so we arrived with 35 seconds before the light show. The traffic was so heavy everywhere else that our driver just dropped us in the middle of a traffic circle. Wanting to watch from the best spot, we made a mad dash across the street and the glittering lights came out the instant we reached the other side. We watched for the full 5 minutes and then walked back to the hotel, still appreciating the view.

Day 3 (Sunday):

Rachel and I woke up early to go to the Catacombs of Paris, which is technically a cemetery holding the bones of more than six million people under the city. However, they have been so heavily popularized in literature and pop culture in general, that I wanted the opportunity to see for myself. Willa was not convinced, deeming us morbid, and went to explore a bit by herself.

I actually didn’t do that much research before going, but apparently the wait can be incredibly long, with people waiting for hours. Thankfully, it was a very rainy day and we only had a 45 minute wait. Only a certain amount of people are allowed in at once so that it does not become overcrowded. When it was our turn to go, we entered the caverns essentially alone, which was an eerie but cool few minutes. I also thought the entire area would be made of bones, but a lot of it is just cavernous hallways. Paths that you are not allowed to take are padlocked with bars, so there is no danger of getting lost. There are periodic antechambers with the history of the catacombs, and I thought the entire experience was tasteful and historically interesting. I was incredibly impressed by the science behind the way the bones are used to essentially build the rooms and the structures inside. The gift shop at the end is a bit much, though. We do not need skull mugs or skeleton candy, please and thank you.

We then met up with Willa and ended our Parisian adventure with one final amazing crepe, bid the Eiffel Tower goodbye, and went to the airport.

-Pont Alexandre II Bridge

-Bir-Hakeim Bridge