Paris Holds the Key to my Heart

We had a long drive ahead of us to get to my most anticipated destination: Paris. We slept, we drove, we stopped and had our first pastry of France, slept, drove, and drove some more. We finally got to Paris and I got to see my first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower (YAY!) on our way to the hotel. Our room was HUGE! We finally got one of the good rooms and had our own double beds for the double night stay. If you couldn't tell I was a bit excited.

We headed to our farewell dinner with our group at a nice little restaurant called Chez Jenny. It was a fun way to end the majority of our time with our group. For the most part we enjoyed who we got to travel with. We had some interesting people that is for sure, but we made it work. That night we had an illuminations tour of the "City of Lights." It was beautiful and won my heart within minutes. The part that truly captured my heard was seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up and SPARKLE (yes, sparkle) at the top of every hour. It was truly one of the most magical moments of my life.
The next morning was our tour to go up on the Eiffel Tower. Does it get any better than that? It is the symbol of Paris and I got to go up on it. We even made it better by getting Diet Cokes and croissants. Divine.
There are no words for the majestic feeling being at the base and coming to the realization that "I am in Paris!" Wow, I loved it.
Our morning tour ended at the Arc de Triumph and we had the rest of the day to ourselves. We walked down the world famous Champs de Elysees. We even stopped at the Louis Vuitton store. Talk about an intense store! 4-5 floors of overpriced items.
We continued our walk past all the high-end stores and reached this beautiful stretch of tree-lined walkways changing colors with the turn of the season. It was simply exquisite. To make the walk even better, we stopped at a crepe stand for delectable crepes and Diet Coke. It made for an excellent walk.
We reached the Place de la Concord and it was Paris in every direction. Paris is known for it symmetry in it's architecture and this square was one of the greatest examples. It really is pleasing to the eye, no wonder the whole city is beautiful.
The walk continued on to a beautiful courtyard before reaching the Louvre. There were beautiful fountains, gardens, and statues. I'm not usually one for the arts, but it just spoke of Paris.
We reached the Louvre and it was so surreal to be there. Who hasn't seen the Louvre in a million things?
We spent the rest of the afternoon making our way through the city, eating gelato, sight seeing and slowly getting closer to Notre Dame.
We made it to Notre Dame. Fabulous. We enjoyed our pastries out front, made our way inside , and sat back down to hear the church bells. Have I mentioned my mom loves church bells in Europe? We even got a special encore when the bells went off for about 10 minutes. Mom was in heaven.
I came up with the genius idea to make our way over to the Eiffel Tower to watch it light up. We check out the map, knew it would be a bit of a walk but knew we had some time to make it over there. We wandered along the river, enjoyed the sights, and decided to head down some side streets to shorten our walk.
After a mere two hours (of straight walking mind you) we finally reached the mall in front of the tower. It was astounding. have I mentioned I love the Eiffel Tower? I do, love at first sight really.
We grabbed another crepe, sat on the mall and waiting for the tower to light up. It was our last night in Europe and I couldn't have picked a better place to spend it.
The tower sparkled again and I did all I could to just live in the moment. Who knows when I will make it back? I had to reveal in the incredible opportunity I had to be there. I am so lucky.
A taxi ride complete the Paris experience as we headed back to our hotel. Lucky for us, there was a McDonald's a block down the street. With only crepes and pastries to eat, we were ready for some real food. I know, it's a bit pathetic when you start considering McDonald's as real food.
Departure day brought an early start, but one that we surprisingly welcomed. Two weeks is a long time to live out of a suitcase and change hotels every night. We got dropped off at the airport and didn't have too long to wait for our direct flight home. I don't think I could thank Delta enough for creating a direct flight from Paris to SLC. Thank you!!!
We were exhausted when we got home, but were so grateful to be back in America.

This is the end of my European adventure. I wish I could really share everything that I got to see and do. It was a trip of a lifetime and one I will not soon forget. I also had the amazing blessing of going with my Mom. I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner or a better way to create memories with her. I will always have those moments in my memory with her. That is so special.

Thanks for staying tuned for all of this, I'll get back to our present life shortly.