This weekend, I took the opportunity of having no scheduled events to take a trip into Europe, as this summer is my first venture out of North America and so I wanted to get out and see some of the other countries that are nearby. I landed on Paris, for one because the flights from Dublin were fairly cheap and I tend towards frugality when possible, but also because I have wanted to visit France for a long time now and this was the perfect chance to fulfill that goal. I took French for two years in high school, so I had learned about French culture a bit and also wanted the chance to practice my speaking and listening skills in the real world.

My trip got off to a bit of a rocky start. This was my first time planning a full itinerary by myself, and I neglected to fully research the airport and how long it would take to get to where I was staying. Had I taken this precaution, I likely wouldn’t have opted for a route which took me about 3 hours to get from the airport to my hostel, nor would I have booked it to have me arriving at 2:30 AM. An hour and a half shuttle bus ride followed by another hour and a half of late-night metro riding was not how I planned to start off my trip and I was entirely exhausted by the time I got settled in, but I was excited to start the new day and fully start exploring the city I had only caught small glimpses of on my trip to the hostel.

My first day in Paris, I started at the Point de la Concorde and the Arc de Triomphe, which are connected by the iconic Champs-Elysées. I was immediately struck by the inherent beauty in the city. I found myself admiring all of the buildings on random streets as I made my way between destinations, imagining what it must be like to live in them and pass by them everyday. The Arc de Triomphe was truly amazing to see, with beautiful stonework and friezes all around it and massive statues on each of its four pillars. After climbing the stairs to the top, I got my first, and in my opinion best, view across the city. Although I later went up the Eiffel Tower, the cityscape of Paris just doesn’t look as majestic without its most iconic landmark in it. The Arc also had placards that pointed out some of the other iconic landmarks that were visible from that vantage point, which was super helpful for me as it was the very start of my trip and I still wasn’t well oriented in the city yet.

After leaving the Arc de Triomphe, I wandered a bit more off of the beaten path to Rue Cler, a popular market street. I wanted to go and experience the places where actual French people might go to for their routine shopping. Dotted along the street, there was a host of bistros, produce stands, butchers, clothing boutiques, and fromageries, many of which I stopped into and looked around. There were more niche stores as well, such as a dedicated shop for flavored honey, and another selling only fancy blends of tea. I bought some French cheese to bring home and try with my family, then stopped for a relaxing lunch while watching the shoppers go about their business.

My next stop was the Panthéon, a last-minute addition to my trip that turned out to be one of the highlights. I had no idea what it was really about when I bought the tickets, but it was the most beautiful place that I saw on my entire trip, with every wall covered in huge frescos bookended by sculptures and tied together by the massive triple dome in the center of the monument. I also learned a great deal of the history surrounding the Panthéon and France as a whole, focused mainly on the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, which I quickly realized I didn’t know as much about as I ought to.

My second day started off with a trip to the Louvre. While I had no interest in elbowing my way through crowds to get a blurry, distant photo of the Mona Lisa, the Louvre is one of the biggest museums on the planet and had plenty to offer for me. I quickly found myself lost in the art and the rooms that it was exhibited in, which was often times just as beautiful. My favorite spot in the museum was the covered sculpture garden in the French sculpture section, which had such a peaceful energy to it with all of the sunlight coming in through the ceiling. I really enjoyed just sitting on the benches and admiring all of the art.

My next stop was for the Eiffel Tower. My original plan was to sit in the Champ-de-Mars and read for a bit, but the pouring rain on the way there quickly squashed that plan. Instead I decided to climb the stairs to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower, where I got great views and learned a bit of the history behind the tower on my way up. Apparently, when it was first constructed, it was painted red. I can’t imagine why they changed the color to the brown it is now, red sounds so much more vibrant and interesting. The entire tower needs to be repainted about every 7 years to prevent the metal from being damaged, which sounds like an incredible amount of work! I’m surprised it doesn’t constantly have people painting it, considering what a monumental task that must be.

The trip to Paris was so fulfilling and it was really cool to explore a city and culture entirely on my own, with the freedom to go wherever my whims led me as I worked towards each of the stops on my plan. I can’t wait to continue exploring the world after this!