As you may know, on August 24th, Rachel and I headed out for a 16 day trip to Europe to celebrate 10 years of marriage bliss. Today will be the second part of a series of blog posts highlighting this amazing trip. (Check out part one here!) Without further ado…Part Two – Paris Day One!

After spending 2.5 days at Disneyland Paris, we were ready to head into the city on Monday morning. We ended up taking the train into Paris, as it didn’t look to be too terribly long and was quite a bit cheaper than taking a cab.

Once we got over to our hotel, we checked our bags (since our room wasn’t quite ready yet) and grabbed lunch at a nearby café (which was delicious!).

Luckily, after lunch our room was ready so we were able to go ahead and get settled into our room before heading out for the rest of the afternoon and evening. 

Our time in Paris is best broken down into the 3 main days we were there. So…I’m starting with Mondayafternoon/evening. We headed over to the Arc de Triomphe (AdT) first, which is at the western end of the Champs-Élysées (probably the most famous avenue/road in Paris for shopping).

The AdT is absolutely amazing. We both were so blown away at the size and beauty of this monument. We ended up buying tickets and making our way up to the top to take in the city. And, of course, the first thing I noticed as soon as we got to the top was the Eiffel Tower! After spending some time taking pictures and videos, we made our way back down (it was all stairs, the entire way…).

We spent a little time making our way down the Champs-Élysées just taking in the city (including finding some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had) before heading down towards the Eiffel Tower and our scheduled 5pm tour. 

Now for me personally, there were several bucket list items I knew I wanted to check off my list during this trip. At the very top was the Eiffel Tower. And friends, as we finally came upon it, I was absolutely blown away. It was without a doubt even more impressive in person.

Our tour guide ended up taking our group up to the second floor (about halfway up) and gave us a great explanation/tour of the city. We had the option to go up to the top, but for multiple reasons, including the fact that it was a good 30-45 minute wait, we decided to pass on going all the way up. Once the tour part was over, we stayed on the second floor for a bit before heading back down and grabbing some more pictures/videos. 

This is the face of a giddy American.

After spending quite some time at the Eiffel Tower, we headed over to the Seine River for our evening river cruise. We ended up getting on the 8pm cruise (which lasts roughly an hour), which takes you around the river and so many amazing parts of Paris. 

As we got towards the end of the cruise, night began to fall on us, which allowed us to experience this beautiful city in a different light. Right at 9pm as we were about to dock, the boat stopped right in front of the Eiffel Tower and the tower began to sparkles as it does for 5 minutes at the top of every hour in the evening. It was breathtaking!

After getting off the cruise, we grabbed a few more pictures before making the walk back over to our hotel. All in all, we had a wonderful first day in Paris!

Stay tuned for Part Three – Days Two and Three in Paris!