Two of my best friends from Georgia planned a European vacation in April and Paris was one of three cities they had on their list to visit.  Naturally, we made a girl’s trip out of it and one of my best friends in Germany came with!  Three of us had never been to Paris before this trip and let me tell you, the city was an absolute dream. I’ve broken our trip up into three parts because we did allll the things and one post simply does not give Paris the justice she deserves!

My friend Mel and I landed in Paris around 9:00 a.m. Charles de Gaulle (the airport we flew into) is about an hour from the city center, so we ordered an Easy Go Shuttle to drive us to our hotel. Hiring a shuttle service is the way to go in the city – it was 30 Euro/person and completely worth it. Before our trip, we were warned about the traffic, but what we weren’t preemptively told about was the number of crazy drivers on the road. It was insane! Luckily, our driver was great and we made it to our hotel within an hour sans accident.

Where we stayed:

Hôtel Saint James Albany – Centrally located in the heart of Paris facing the Tuileries Garden and minutes away from the Louvre Museum.  The hotel was beautiful and the staff was extremely helpful and willing to answer any questions we had.

We freshened up in the hotel bathroom and dropped our bags at the front desk before we headed out to see the city!  We were starving, so we stopped by a food stand along the way to grab some crepes (because, when in Paris, you eat crepes, right?!).

Shortly after Mel and I scarfed down our crepes, I reunited with two of my besties (Haley and Virginia) in the middle of Paris!  We hugged and jumped and hugged some more.  The first stop on our agenda was the Eiffel Tower.  So, we bought some champs, walked by the Arc de Triomphe and made our way to the global icon of France. There we sat, with champagne in hand in front of one of the most iconic monuments in the world.  It was a surreal moment and honestly, I could have stayed at the base of the tower all day! 

We took the long route to the Musée Yves Saint Laurent to see additional views of the Eiffel.  Visiting the YSL Museum was a bucket list item for my friend Virginia and it did not disappoint.  Tickets to the museum were 7 Euro and worth every penny! His work is incredible.  I think his office space was my favorite as it had the perfect amount of light coming in which made the workspace even dreamier.   

After we left the YSL museum we headed to Long Champ and Louis Vuitton to purchase some goodies!  We were a bit delusional at this point from our early flights and walking around the city all day, so we popped into a couple more stores and took pictures of every grand door we saw along the way. I have serious envy over the doors and architecture in Paris! 

I’m not sure how far we walked on day one, but by the end of the day, we were exhausted so we went back to the hotel to rest for a few before heading to dinner at Ferdi.  Ferdi was a fun, little casual spot and within walking distance from our hotel.

After we finished dinner, we headed back to the hotel to rest up for the next day! 

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 which include more of what we saw, ate and where we shopped!

Cheers!

Amber