I try to discuss how wonderful Andy is as much as possible, but on this occasion he absolutely out did himself. From the moment we met I banged on about how much I loved Paris and had always wanted to go. My old room was covered in Paris pictures and I'm pretty sure my phone wallpaper was the Eiffel Tower for a number of months until I found a photo of me and Andy that I loved.
Now my 21st Birthday was over a year ago, but I'm still going to post about it, because it is truthfully one of my favourite experiences to date. I remember waking up on the day of my 21st birthday, Andy had taken the day off work and we had breakfast in bed. He'd spent the previous week telling me about bills and how the present wasn't going to be what he classed as good. In he toddles with a cute little gift bag and honestly I didn't care what was inside the bag I was just so happy that someone as brilliant as him would even take the day of work to be with me (soppy I know). Anyway I open the bag to find a little book of things to do in Paris and I'm confused, because we're not going to Paris. He smiles and says he knows how much I love Paris so he thought he'd get me a book of things we could plan to do for when we can afford to do. I smile at the kind gesture and proceed to open my card, except a piece of paper falls out... and on that piece of paper was the information that we were going to PARISS!!!!! I literally sobbed for a good ten minutes... Andy's parents were extremely kind and gave us spending money for whilst we were there and we had the most amazing time.
In hindsight we wouldn't have gotten a taxi from the airport as it was extortionate and have learnt to thoroughly research where trains/ bus stops are for future trips away. There is a very simple train journey that involves on cross over and takes about 30 minutes until you're in Central Paris. Another train journey of about 15 minutes takes you to the city centre. Once at our hotel room, which I don't have photographs of because I am an idiot, we took a few minutes to familiarise ourselves with where we were and to admire the views. Paris is a city and has high-rise towers with little balconies. Paris also has a hundred and one mini cafes and coffee shops which are adorable too.
The first thing we did was find a train into the city centre so I could find the Eiffel Tower. I don't think Andy will ever forget my face when I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time, I was completely awestricken. It is such a magical sight that just completely stunned me. We ventured down the stairs and headed towards the Tower, you honestly could not miss it if you tried as its so large. The tower spans quite a distance and has traffic going under/around it. I imagine that is quite a sight whilst you're driving. We headed to the top of the Tower and got to see the splendid views of Paris as a whole.
One of the must do things is to try the Macaroons that are at the Eiffel Tower itself. I know everyone raves about Parisian Macaroons, but I have never tasted something so delicious in my life. The next thing has got to be visiting the aquarium. You can place your hands in a fish tank and genuinely stroke the fish... It is a bizarre sensation and such an unusual activity to be able to partake in. What I loved about Paris was that the tourist style activities were actually very reasonably priced and didn't end up costing the earth to do. During the whole trip we visited the Eiffel Tower three times, visited an aquarium and the 'Arc De Triumph'. We had numerous meals, even found a pizza hut and had a four cheese pizza. I have to admit that Paris doesn't do cups of tea... In fact no European country does cups of tea well, however they have Peach Ice Tea which is always a bonus.
The Arc De Triomphe is free to visit for those with a passport that is in a EU Country... The security checks whilst visiting were rather overwhelming with armed police everywhere and every touristy areas had airport style security. Given the current situation you can see the need for such tight security, however this didn't deter the tourists and everywhere was still extremely busy.
There are numerous museums in Paris that we didn't get change to visit, however we saw all the sights on a river cruise that was such good fun and let us see the main sights without having to 100% visit them. This saved us a lot of money, but still made us feel as though we'd seen everything. My favourite part of the whole trip was the Eiffel Tower without a doubt. I think we went a total of three times, but may have gone more. The panoramic views were extraordinary and I highly recommend a visit if you get the chance to go.
All in all we had an amazing trip. The weather was horrendous and I lost a good pair of shoes, but we took it in our stride and still managed to have a great time. I can't wait to go back for a second visit and get to experience Disneyland Paris itself.
Until Next Time
T
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