Eiffel Tower | Day 1 | Paris

When I decided to Au pair again I knew I had to visit the beautiful city of Paris again. It wasn’t even an option to not place it on my to do list. The last time I was in Paris was the winter of 2013 with my host family. The only difference this year was that my friend and I went together. We have been discussing it for three months (since we met) and it was great to see our plans coming together.

We decided to leave early on Saturday and spend the weekend. Our day actually didn’t start off that great and it kind of only got worse, but luckily we stayed positive and soon all the problems (transport back home and various other things) were sorted out and we could go explore.

On our way to the metro station we saw the opera house which looked magnificent, which only made me wonder how it must look inside. We used the confusing yet easy metro system which I was luckily familiar with. First on the list was the Eiffel tower. We only had the late afternoon and night left so the Eiffel tower and its surrounding Christmas market was the best option. Also because there are not any other attractions near the Eiffel tower we wanted to see. We walked down Place Joffree towards he Mur pour le Paix where the Eiffel tower became visible through the building and trees and then appeared in full view. It was an extraordinary sight – and feeling – to see such a famous and beautiful structure in real life and it only became more magnificent as we walked closer.

We arrived when it was still light, and as we made our way closer it became darker, until we saw the Eiffel tower light up and then later on sparkle. The Christmas market also ran along the path we were taking so we managed to get our Christmas spirit on and I bought a gluhwein as usual. The closer we came to the structure until it loomed over us with all its crafted metal pieces. We didn’t go up, but the sight was just as great from underneath.

As we headed back to the hostel from exhaustion from walking and travelling we headed to a super market where we bought dinner; spaghetti, tomato sauce, baby tomatoes and a can of mushrooms and made an easy Italian dish. We wanted to buy at the Christmas market, but the prices were insane and we ended up spending less and eating more. Day one was a success!