Paris was incredibly last minute. It’s a city I’ve always wanted to experience during the European summer, and so I booked it as a mere pit stop on my journey through to Switzerland. But it was anything but that.
Arriving on the Eurostar, Paris was painted in a dreary, but equally beautiful light from the heavy rain clouds. It was my second time in this magnificent city but it felt like my first as I stepped out of the Gare du Nord.
I love travelling but don’t get me wrong, it’s incredibly exhausting. Especially trying to find your Airbnb’s exact location (not the one shown on google maps), whilst lugging your 25kg suitcase around old, wet cobble streets and up many, many flights of stairs.
After checking in, I walked around mon quartier and bought a variation of French cuisine delights to take back to my Airbnb. I spent the rest of the afternoon inside as the rain was going nowhere. I felt kind of guilty with Paris being right at my doorstep, so I compromised and watched “Paris Can Wait” (the irony).
The following two days I walked, ate, drank a lot of coffee, ate again, then walked some more.
I visited quite a lot of the major sites, including Le Tour Eiffel, however these are my favourite snaps.
It was hard to warm up to the Parisien lifestyle as everything was done a certain way. As a solo traveller, it’s difficult to adapt to this lifestyle to fully enjoy its benefits so I learnt to appreciate it from afar. Especially the love of food. I also met up with a long time family friend who lives and works in Paris. That helped too.
I had a slight sense of relief leaving Paris knowing I would return very soon, but also as I set off to one of my favourite places in this world… and how else to travel but by the TGV.
I highly recommend using Europe’s train networks. Yes, they’re expensive, but the convenience is unparalleled and the speed… well it’s just exciting!
Marcelle Bucher 