Paris j'adore!

One of the MANY photos we took in front of the Eiffel Tower.

After our week in Paris, a long flight back to Taiwan, a hectic week at work, and a devastating typhoon, I finally have time to sit down and share our trip to France with you guys. I don't even know where to start! I feel like we were there for a month; we saw so many amazing places. We walked all over the city and also made a day-trip to Versailles. And, not to forget the biggest news, we got engaged!

We arrived in Paris early on Sunday morning and we stayed at a lovely hotel in the 9th arrondissement, close to all the big shopping centers like Galeries Lafayette and Printemps (I didn't plan it, it just worked out that way... I promise!) We were also in easy walking distance from The Louvre, the Seine, Champs-Élysées and Jardin des Tuileries. We also walked to the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame. I told you we walked all over the city!

On our first day we went  out to explore our neighborhood. We discovered that most of the stores had huge sales going on, (*happy dance!) and that our neighborhood was filled with cute cafés and bakeries. Later in the evening, we walked to the Eiffel Tower. I love that the sun only sets at around 10pm, so we took a picnic blanket, bought some champagne and found a spot amongst all the other people at Champ de Mars to watch the sun set behind the Eiffel Tower and wait for the lights to start flickering, which it does for a few minutes every hour after sunset.

Having champagne and enjoying the sunset at the Champ de Mars.

It was right before 11pm that The Boyfriend officially got upgraded to The Fiancé. It was very romantic and special and I'll never forget how happy I felt at that moment. He got me the most beautiful ring, which I'm in love with and will probably wear every day for the rest of my life. We were so giddy while watching the Eiffel Tower light up. It was like a fairy tale. We stayed there until after midnight, enjoying the happy summer atmosphere with the other tourists and Parisians.

Just after he put a ring on it!

I'm a lucky lady!

On Monday we took a train to Versailles to visit the Palace and beautiful gardens. I never knew the grounds were so enormous, and of course we walked all over. We also sat by the huge pond on the perfect green grass to have lunch. Oh gosh, which reminds me how much we ate that week! How couldn't we? I couldn't get enough of all the delicious food in France. I'm a pastry fanatic and were all over the croissants and crêpes. 

The gardens at the Palace of Versailles.

Walking around the gardens at Versailles

Later that evening we strolled through the Tuileries Garden at The Louvre, walked by Notre-Dame and visited the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore which, for book nerds like us, was heaven on Earth. After that we, unsuccessfully, tried to find this one jazz lounge our friend had recommended to us, but later gave up and splurged on a lovely dinner on a typical Parisian street.

Walking past the Louvre Museum.

Escargot, anyone?

On Tuesday morning and afternoon we did something very exciting, which will be a whole blog post by itself and I'll tell you guys about that later... Oh, the suspense! In the evening we walked to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica in Montmartre to experience the glorious view of Paris from the mountain and to watch the sunset. We passed the famous Moulin Rouge on our way there, and I almost had a mini heart attack when The Fiancé told me that he has never seen the movie... On which planet does he live!? Anyway, we drank champagne on the steps leading up to the Sacré-Cœur and stayed there until we were ready for a late dinner. 

Outside the famous Moulin Rouge.

Steps leading up to the Sacré-Cœur Basilica.

Enjoying the view of Paris with some champagne.

We were planning on buying tickets for those red hop on/off sightseeing buses for Wednesday, but it was a little rainy, so we went to Champs-Élysées instead to visit all the famous stores and to take some pics by the Arc de Triomphe. Of course, we got sucked into doing some shopping; I mean, you can't take two shopaholics to Champs-Élysées and not go shopping... We also visited the world famous Louis Vuitton flagship store and got macarons at Ladurée. Later we had a nice early dinner there and headed back to the hotel.

Standing in the middle of Champs-Élysées to get an Arc de Triomphe snapshot. So responsible!

The line to get in was ridiculous, but we HAD TO get some macarons. Totally worth it!

On Thursday the weather was nice again so we walked to the Eiffel Tower and bought our tickets for the hop on/off bus. These buses will take you all over the city and it's so convenient. We went to all the famous spots again and took more pictures. We walked to the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens as well. We ended the sightseeing trip at the Trocadéro across the road from the Eiffel Tower where we had crêpes... again... and people-watched. I can't, for the life of me, remember what we did on Thursday evening, but I'm sure it included food and champagne, or wine... or probably both...

The lovely Luxembourgh Garden

Eating crêpes at the Trocadéro. Yummy!

On Friday we went out to do some shopping again. (I love France and its 12% tax returns!) We spoiled ourselves to some very nice souvenirs and we also had delicious hot chocolate at Angelina, which one of our friends recommended to us. On Saturday we said goodbye to the City of Lights and headed back to reality in Taiwan. 

Paris is a shopaholic's paradise!

The best hot chocolate I've ever had! At Angelina.

We still can't stop talking about our trip and we feel so fortunate that we were able to go. I love the city and all the people were so friendly and helpful. It's total BS that Parisians are rude. We didn't have a bad experience once! I felt so at home there; maybe I was a Parisian girl in my past life? I really wouldn't mind living there, I'll just have to get used to EVERYONE smoking. Seriously, I felt that I was the only person in Paris that is a non-smoker.

No wonder Paris is on almost everyone's wishlist of places to see; it really is worth it and I'll treasure the memories of our experiences there for the rest of my life.

View of Paris from the roof of Galeries Lafayette.

Paris j'adore!