Paris: Part I

Our first day in Paris. We stayed at The Westin which is the perfect central location. If I were to go back to Paris I would stay there again. I had our whole week planned out and I knew we were going to be tired the first day coming off of a red eye so I didn't pack it as full. Our plan was to go to the Luxembourg Gardens but on the way we ran into The Louvre and surprisingly the line was really short so we winged it and went in. I had planned to go through the Louvre right as it opened but we got lucky. If you are planning on going into museums during mid day when it's hot to get away from the heat...it won't work. Haha. We learned very quickly that they don't run ac anywhere. Luckily our hotel had it but every cafe we went to we sat outside because there is no air inside so at least that way you get a little breeze. 

The view from our hotel room.

That is The Louvre off in the distance. It was so close! We passed it many times. It is so pretty. I definitely got emotional walking up. A beautiful park/garden was across the street from us as well with a carnival running all week.

The crowd in front of the Mona Lisa is insanity. I took photos of my favorite pantings I learned about in Art History but I am going to dedicate an entire post to phone photos so this doesn't get insane.

The first of many ceiling photos.

Eating at our first cafe.

I got a croque monsieur and Steph and my mom shared a calzone. One of my favorite things I ate while there.

The next morning we woke up bright and early. And when I say bright and early I mean we were walking to the Notre Dame by 5am. 

The streets everywhere are unreal.

The cafes get me every time.

When we got there we had the place to ourselves for a little bit until a huge group of people wandered over to do yoga in the square. All I could think is..."not a bad way to wake up."

The doors didn't open for tour until 8am and so we went back another day to go inside. But the outside is always my favorite part and to see it without all the other tourists everywhere was magic.

I should probably note that Steph isn't in a lot of my photos because she edits her own in her own style. She was very much there with us.

We made it to the Luxembourg Gardens the second day.

All the pretty green scattered chairs is my favorite part.

We picked up some pastries on the way there to eat.

This jam filled pastry was my favorite pastry of the whole trip and we went to countless bakeries after this one and never found another one! A little depressing. We got many chocolate croissants though and that was a coffee flavored muffin.

We went and saw Saint Chapelle which is smaller than I imagined but the glass windows are incredible. You have to climb a very narrow winding staircase to get into it which was really cool.

The ceilings always get me.

And there is Steph. Always being cooler than me.

We sat at The Louvre a lot whenever we needed a break. Not a bad view.

Angelina's was right next to our hotel so we grabbed some pastries. I wanted to try them all but when you are paying 8 euros per pastry you have to be selective. Ha. I recommend the napoleon. 

My favorite thing is bringing treats back to the hotel to eat in bed.

I believe we took a quick nap after this. Because when you are up at 5am so you get the whole city to yourself you can sleep while the crowds and sun are out in full force. Haha.