To be able to say that I am sitting on my balcony in Paris writing this, with a dreamlike view of the Eiffel Tower blows my mind. I always knew I would go to Paris one day. It’s every girls’ dream to go to Paris right? I mean for me it always was. To be honest though what I learned from this trip is that Paris is different depending on who you go with. There is Paris with family. A tourist like treck around the city. I am very thankful because my parents are fun chill parents that didn’t necessarily follow that stereotype. So here is what went down:
Day 1:
We got into France at 2 am. After an eleven hour flight though the night where I barely slept, we hopped off the plane and started our first day in Paris, France! It was a little rough because we all were a bit tired but there was no time to waste. Paris is split into 20 arrondissements. We stayed in the 7th and had the cutest house you could imagine. The design was Art Deco with little trinkets all over the place. I firmly decided that that was how I am going to design my house one day. It was spacious, cozy and everything you could ask for in a European home. Not to mention the view of the Eiffel Tower.
After a quick trip to the grocery store Jaid, B, Mom, Dad and I sat and took in the fact that we were in one of the greatest cities in the world. We ate cheese and baguettes with some fruit, the whole nine yards. Then we headed out to explore. Walking around Paris with my family isn’t boring in the least bit. We aren’t the unfashionable quite family that looks like complete tourist and stops at all the vendors to buy a dumb key chain or something. We are a loud, intense, funny group of people that has a great time anywhere we go together. We fight and have our issues but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. Some of my friends used to tell Jaid and I our family should have our own reality tv show we are that crazy. I can’t necessarily agree because I think it would be quite boring but hey Keeping Up With The Jones’s keep a look out haha.
We stopped at a cafe called Cafe Castel and had some drinks before dinner. B ordered some French fries and was thoroughly disappointed. But the best part was the beer my dad got that was bigger than his head. I kid you not. After exhausting the waiter with our bad attempts at speaking French we decided to head to dinner.
Prior to coming to Paris I had looked up all these trendy places I really wanted to go to, so when we went to Cafe de Flore I was pretty excited. We ubered in a black Mercedes van that hit a motor bike when it stopped at our destination haha. Driving in Paris is INSANE. I don’t understand how there aren’t more crashes but I think if you live in it you get used to it. This cafe was in a very nice area of Paris with Cartier, Hermes, those types of stores surrounding it. It was known. And you could tell. Once we finally sat down I got their famous hot chocolate. SO SO GOOD. Very rich but I’m pretty sure every thing in Europe is like that. We sat their until 10 o’clock at night. But let me just say something. FRENCH BOYS. I will marry one. K?
Anyway, yeah at 10 at night in Paris it feels like it is around 6ish in the afternoon. People are still out walking around, eating dinner. The city is alive but like New York… I’m pretty sure Paris never sleeps. That night was an early one where we all went back home and enjoyed the view. Sitting on this balcony the first night here with the most picture perfect sunset behind the Eiffel Tower I could ever imagine, and was one of those moments. One of those moments when you can’t even believe how much beauty God can put into your life. One of those moment where everything stops and you have to just take it all in. That was how our first day went in Paris and I couldn’t have asked for it to have gone any other way.
Day 2:
I am a morning person. Always have been, always will be. I can tell you right now that nothing compares to waking up in Paris. The windows open, shining with bright morning glow eliminating the entire house. The sound of cars outside already starting the day. Birds chirping out the window. The cozy white sheets teasing you to sleep the day away because you are just that comfortable. It is like a movie. And then to get up and look out the window and see the Eiffel Tower, reminding you where you are is just the icing on top of the cake. I hope everyone of you reading this gets to experience it once in your life.That morning my dad ran to a nearby bakery and got us chocolate croissants. Yep, those were good too. Lol everything was good. We all got ready for our tour that started at 9.
I feel very privileged to have the parents that I do. This day was another reminder of that. My parents, since they didn’t like group tours themselves, were able to get us a private tour around the city to all the popular attractions. First was to the Eiffel Tower which was pretty close to where we were staying so we could just walk if we wanted to. But next we went to Notre Dame. When we all went to go inside Brooklyn and I weren’t let in because our shoulders weren’t covered so we walked across the street and bought some scarves to wear inside. Honestly, they were kind of cute. Notre Dame is incredibly. To think that people build such a structure with that kind of detail so long ago is amazing. Our tour guide was so so sweet and was the perfect mix of funny and factual. In other words, we all weren’t bored to death.
We got ice cream at this part of Paris that is actually an island called Île de la Cit. Of course the ice cream was great. My mom also spilled her water all over the table. So for the rest of the day we didn’t really get out of the van but just drove around the sites. We saw the Ritz, The Opera House, and an area called Montmartre which is like the art district of Paris. Here is my issue. For some reason I always fall asleep in cars. Like all the time. I sleep better in cars than I probably do in beds. So I fell asleep for most of the drive through Montmartre. We stopped at this office for my mom to pick up our train tickets and my dad, B, and I walked to Angelina’s for some chocolate. So so good of course. Then we headed back to the house, napped for like an hour, and were on our way again.
My fam and I all walked around for a while just exploring. Honestly, ranomdly walking the streets of Paris is one of the best ways to experience it. And with my family it is pretty much us making fun of each other, and laughing our butts off at something Jaidan did or said. She’s the funny one in the family. My sisters and I wanted to get this ice cream that was shaped like roses at a shop called Amorino that I found. So we set off to there and my parents went to sit at a cafe for a drink. We got our ice cream then joined them and sat for a while. My mom made reservations for us at the fancy French restaurant called La Fontaine de Mars. We sat up top in this tiny little room and had a usual Jones family dinner. Loud, funny, good food, and even better company:). We might as well be Italian haha. Gosh I would kill for that olive skin tone.
After din din Jaidan and B were tired and wanted to just go back to the house. In my head I was thinking “ No way am I going to just go home and go to sleep. I am in FREAKIN PARIS”. So my mom and I walked to the Eiffel Tower, bought her a bottle of champagne and watched it sparkle. I put my phone away and just took it all in. I mean after a selfie my mom insisted on taking haha.
I really appreciated my mom in that moment. She is always there to go out and live with me. I was sitting there right under the tower surrounded by couples, families, groups of friends, the whole lawn almost completely filled up and thought to myself “ I am in Paris. And although the old me would have pictured this first moment right under the tower to be spent with a boy I was in love with by my side or all my girlfriends high on life after a night in Paris, I was with my mom”. And I was thankful for that because it made me have that moment for myself. To take it all in and appreciate the city of love just loving myself and my mom/family who allowed me to come here. I know I will go back one day and have that moment over again. Maybe with strangers, the love of my life, my best friends, who knows.
I gave the crappy bottle of champagne to these hot college boys and set out with my mom to a farther away view of the tower. We went to the steps and took some pictures until my dad called at 12:45 worried telling us to come back to the house. On the way back it struck 1:00. At 1 the Eiffel Tower sparkles completely and then turns off for the night. It was gorgeous. Day 2 was successful to say the least;).
Day 3:
Day 3 was a mommy and me day. We got up early and were out of the house on our way to the Arc de triomphe. Tourists are annoying. And I know that probably sounds hypocritical like “um you are not a local there so technically you are a tourist too.” But no. I mean the tourists that act like complete tourists. The ones who stand in front of the way for every picture, who collect in huge crowds of people that won’t move for people to get through, THOSE tourists. The Arc de Triomphe was nothing short of that. However, I was determined to go to the top because of the view. My mom on the other hand struggled to climb the 284 steps up to the top but made me laugh the entire way. The view was amazing as expected and I recommend doing it if ever in Paris because you seriously can see everything!
After the Arc de Triomphe we decided to go have a snack at this famous macaroon place called Laduree. It was on the Champs-Élysées right down from the Arc so it worked out well. We had the most adorable little lunch there. Plus the raspberry macaroon I tried was dank. I posted two insta stories that ended up getting on the Paris, Laduree, and Champs-Élysées instagram stories which was kinda cool too! Then we went to the Musée d’orsay which was a museum with five floors full of amazing pieces of art. At the top was this huge clock and a great view of Paris. The louvre was close by so we just walked there and took some pictures.
Omg it was so so sad! We were taking pictures in front of the pyramid things and this like 50 year old man fell off those pedestal that people can stand on to make it look like they are touching the top of the pyramids. I don’t know about you but I seriously think old people falling is the saddest thing. Like their bodies aren’t supposed to do that. If my friends fall I will just laugh or help but with adults its like, what. just. happened. Haha you aren’t supposed to fall hahaha.
Once the whole family got home we set out to go to dinner and this show called Moulin Rouge. We ate at this Italian restaurant where the owner and other guests at the restraunt thought my dad was Alec Baldwin and WOULD NOT stop staring. B and I were laughing so so hard when we caught this guy staring like he had never seen something so great in his life. It was classic. After we went to the Moulin Rouge. I can’t even describe it but we had so much fun. Look it up online if you are curious what it is. If you have seen the movie Burlesque with Christina Aguilera, it was like that. At first my sisters were like what the heck we do not want to go to that. But it was actually sick and so French it was like we had to see it.
Day 4:
Versailles was saved for Father’s Day. We had a private tour with the cutest little women. I swear she was TINY. I’m 5’4 she must have been like barely 5 foot. Her name was Marie. Shoutout to Marie for successful navigating us through the PACKED palace. I swear the word “excuse me” may not exsist in any other language. Not to mention telling us cool facts like that one of the Louiss’ ex mistresses was called “Momma Prostitute” by his daughters because she stayed in Versailles just to pick out the next mistresses for the king lol. The gardens personally were my favorite part. It was hot but a fun time as always.
OKay if you are still reading this good for you because I didn’t realize how freaking long this would be.
After Versailles we headed to a restaurant for dinner by our house. I had veal for the first time and actually loved it. I love trying new things so I was like “why not”. We left my parents at the bar because Jaid and B wanted to pack up their bags and I wanted to go for a run on our last night in Paris. I talked B into going with me and Oh. My. Gosh.
IT was a moment. One of those moments that I could not believe what my life had come to. Running around the Eiffel Tower at sunset was a dream. A dream I had never thought in a million years would happen. I know this sounds like so omg and dramatic but I can’t help it because it was the greatest goodbye to a city I knew I would be coming back to one day. For me running is a stress reliever, I think. About everything. Reflecting on where I was in the world in that moment and what a fun four days I got to experience was pure bliss. Brooklyn and I ran out for a last minute ice cream run at around 12 that night to say our last goodbyes and we were out the next morning bright and early.
Paris was everything I dreamed it could be. And I feel so lucky to have experienced it the way I did. As I finish writing this I am in my room in Germany. The day I left Paris there was a suspected terrorist attack on the Champs-Élysées where a man drove his car into a group of police. His car was said to be holding explosives and weapons to blow up the car. I am thankful that my mom and I were not on that street that day and that my family left Paris safe and sound. Hope summer is treating everyone well and everyone is having a blast.
All My Love, T
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