France, Day 1

It feels like it’s been 2 days when it’s all been the same. Got up at 0230 in order to leave the hostel and grab a taxi by 0300. Got to the airport around 0330 and stood in line until they decided to move us to the other end of the airport in order to check our bags. Staffing was horrendous and the checked bag lanes didn’t open until almost 0500. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 0640 so we were really trying to get through all this crap. Finally got bags checked and went to security. The airport was very disorganized, which is what caused most of the chaos that ensued throughout the airport before 0600. Got through security and to our gate with about 15 minutes before boarding starts. We got boarded and situated and took off from Amsterdam to Paris. Our flight was supposed to take about 1 hour and 15 minutes. We made it in 45 minutes, which was great. We grabbed our bag from the bag claim and grabbed a taxi to the hotel. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the hotel due to us arriving in the airport in the middle of rush hour. When we got to the hotel at about 0930, we checked in and we were able to enter our room immediately since it was ready for us already, which was very nice to do. After sitting briefly and eating some chocolate that was obtained in Belgium, we set out to the metro to go to the Louvre metro stop in order to get on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. We started off with Norte Dame, which is still closed from the fire 3 years ago, but we did a VR experience to see what the inside used to be like. It was amazing and huge and I cannot believe how massive it truly was. After Norte Dame we headed to the Arc de Triomphe where we got tickets to go up the Arc. It gave really good views of Paris. We walked a little and found the infamous Pierre Hermé macarons and grabbed some for us to enjoy tonight and tomorrow. After that walk we made our way to the Eiffel Tower where we were able to go up to the 2nd floor and get some great views of the city that way as well. The Eiffel Tower was honestly just huge, much bigger than depicted in movies/shows, and the architecture is stunning. We took some pictures up in the tower and on the ground before heading across the street to the Siene River for a canal tour. The canal tour took about an hour but we got to see a lot with a lot less people in the way and we even got to see the saint statue that is used to determine how bad the Siene is flooding throughout the year. Afterwards, we made our way to a restaurant. The staff was quite rude, so we decided to go somewhere else for dinner: Fleur. I decided to try the duck confit which was actually quite good along with some chocolate cake for dessert that we split. After dinner we walked back to the Eiffel Tower and waited for the lights to come on and for the twinkling to start (it’s truly the one thing I wanted to see). It was absolutely beautiful. It was honestly quite the wonder to see. After that, we hailed a taxi back to the hotel (transportation had stopped). After that, it wasn’t long before we got ready for bed. We get to sleep in a little tomorrow, and we’ll be taking advantage of that.