Recap of Paris, France  – The City Of Lights

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Paris was my birthday gift to myself and one that I’ll forever remember!! I think it’s important that we find time to reward ourselves because this shidddd called life aint always easy! #pushthru Thank goodness for that last-minute ticket purchase on Delta!!! If you know me, I prefer to stretch my dollars…this was a $1k investment. Non-stop flight to Les Paris – easy trip + mileage points – #BIGWIN! This was my 3rd trip to Europe and one adventure that I was the most excited to E X P E R I E N C E!!!! Country #28 of #100 too (Add pic of me – Paris tee)

Before leaving Minneapolis…we had a medical emergencyonboard the flight – we were going to depart early then this (see the video). With just a few days scheduled in Paris…(I would’ve been a bit miffed to have been redirected to another airport had we taken off & get to Paris much later – judge me if you want). The pilot shared what happened as a lesson to all traveling on long-haul flights to not overdo it on sleeping pills! The young woman was about 21-25 years old…sadly she was removed from the flight – a trip deferred – she was gonnnnnne. {add video}.

The lead flight attendanton this 8-hr flight was one of my buddies. Of course, I got plugged as best you can while inflight. He also gave me a bottle of champagne for my bday to pop when I got settled…very nice!(show bottle)

So, Paris is 7-hrs ahead of Minnesota and I knew that I would be in the city for 4-days…Time was limited and sleep needed to be put on hold– yeah #teamnosleep #infulleffect. Funny shiddd I took frequent naps while there…I couldn’t afford to be all out of whack when I returned to the states knowing g that I had to travel immediately for work when i got back. Quick disclosure..in Paris, English is commonly spoken. My French from high school and that one quarter during college did not help me! HA I did think about Ms. Carr from Nathan Hale and how she demanded excellence in the French love language… Salut, Bonjour, Sil Vous Plait, Comment-allez-vous, Merci Beaucoup! Get that translation appbefore you go – save yourself some pain.

So my hotel of course…A Hilton property in the center of many of the big attractions in Paris (Ive shared many times that as a female & as a solo traveler i need to be on every video camera…not missing person case pls). I had a lovely French-styled room that met my needs – (a little overpriced…Euros currently stronger than the US dollar – didn’t realize it…assumed the US would be). It was especially nice because it offered a view of the Eiffel Tower. Because of my Hilton status…I get access to the executive lounge for drinks, snacks, cocktails, appetizers + breakfast = BIG WIN! (BTW…look for the breakfast pix & tell me what you notice..).

For this trip I didn’t pre-purchase any excursions/tours (TIP: I normally purchase in advance as the cost most times is cheaper)…the one thing that I did pre-pay for was my Paris Phootshoot!! There’s a picture of me at the base of the Eiffel Tower and I dreamt about that photo…i had it visually committed to memory…the photographer was like okay, are you sure…..hell yeah lol!! I also had this dress…YES, that RED one ….I knew exactly what I wanted – and how I wanted to be photographed. I brought two dresses on the trip but just had the one for the shoot. Lemme tell you how ridiculously amazing that experience was!!! My shoot was at 8 am on my 2nd day in Paris

and lots of couples were at this location called the Trocadero taking wedding pixs, engagement pixs & general pixs- it was fascinating to see what everyone wore for their individual shot…their poses etc. I saw one pose and told my photographer and he was ummmm – we don’t copy cat poses in our business well not when they just wrapped up. Lolwhatever…give me a good shiddddd tho!

I hired my photographer for 90 mins and was living in this moment – I was Runway Fabulous too! Do you know that I wore that dress for several more hours after the shoot – on the Seine River taking a cruise seeing the sites …Locals and Tourist wanted to take a pix with me – FUNNNNNNN TIMES!!!!

Soooooo the Eiffel Tower is an incredible structure built in 1889 and took 2-years to create. When you look at during the day it’s just a large structure made of a ton of iron. From a distance and especially at night…immaculate!!! At nightfall, at the top of the hour for 5-minutes….illuminating lights sparkle on the gold lit structure…(add video here) – it looks like New Years Eve!

After the Eiffel Tower my next big thing to do was to see the famous Mona Lisa and see the city! Paris is the capital city of France and the largest so there’s a lot of ground to cover. (TIP: To get a good foundation of any big city that I visit, I’ll always take the Hop-On, Hop-Offfor a few reasons…1). Its inexpensive….you can get a 24-hr or 48-hr Pass and get off anywhere on the route. The buses typically run every 15-30 mins 2). Its a guided tour so you can hear about the various buildings, neighborhoods, learn historical context etc.)

I decided to do the Bus Tour for a little while before seeing the iconic Mona Lisa and a couple of other museums. (TIP #3: Museums are great institutions to visit as well. Most are free or if theres a cost its minimal….learn to like museums if you dont already). My favorite spot on the bus tour is up top – (you know that red-double decker bus)…FRONT SEAT – best damn seat in the house – when the weather is good at least; thank goodness that the weather was great during the daytime. The evenings were chilly. Paris has some incredibly designed buildings and monuments- never seen sooooo many. The Washington Mall in DC and the architecture in Downtown Chicago impressive but nothing like Paris. The Parisian architects! Every turn I made there was a statute that was hundreds of years old, fortresses that were centuries old…Paris is one of the oldest cities in the world.

Paris is simply a beautiful city with so much history. The history we once read in our US History books was here staring in my face…Mona Lisa by da Vinci, Napoleon Bonaparte, King Louis, Marie Antoinette, and world-known monuments are all nestled in the City of Love!!

The Mona Lisa and hundreds, thousands of other painting, sculptures, artifacts, royal collections are housed at a place called Muse du Louvre or the Louvre…it was in the iconic movieThe da Vinci Code. This institution is a damn fortress…its grounds is the size of 11 football fields. FACT: This is also the location in which the Mona Lisa was stolen too! I always wondered why this one picture was so special…so famous. What I know is that it was painted between 1503-1507…the woman is believed to be from Florence, Italy. Still an unknown woman that da Vinci painted. The smirk, slight grin makes it such an unusual piece of art.

So when I finally locate the place of where the painting was stored…I knew I was close because of the swarms of people standing by or waiting in line to view this

world-renowned portrait. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagine the sheer volume of paparazzi flashing that was in front of me…all accompanied with valet ropes, protective glass enclosure & personal a security detail – WHEW!!!! She was all of that…and more!! I stood there for awhile admiring this portrait….focusing on the details…carefully studying what Leonardo constructed…it was really quite spectacular…indescribable honestly.

This feeling is consistent with most of Paris! If YOU ever have the opportunity to visit…DO IT! Don’t listen to the words of others…go and have your own experience. Ill be returning to Paris sooner rather than later.