Salut!
I decided to spend my last weekend in France in Paris, as my classes in Tours ended on Friday and my flight was on Sunday. I had a limited time window, but I was unsure when I would be able to return to Paris again. So, I decided to try to go to as many of the major tourist attractions in Paris as I could within two days!
My plan to be speedy ran into a problem almost immediately, when the line to go up the Eiffel Tower was a lot longer than I anticipated. I unfortunately didn’t get to go to the top, but I managed to go to Versailles afterwards. I had about thirty minutes to tour the entire palace, and wow, was it stunning! The gardens were open for longer, and I was glad to have more time to fully enjoy them. I’d highly recommend them to anyone–I was captivated by their size and beauty the entire time I was there.
The next day was museum day, including Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre. Both of them were fantastic, but I was partial to the variety of types of art in the Louvre. I wasn’t expecting to find a Moai statue in France, for example! I walked by the Mona Lisa but wasn’t willing to wait in the massive line to take a picture in front of it (it was still cool to see it, though). After a long morning and afternoon of looking at art, I had a bit of free time, so I decided to go to the Basilica of Sacré-Cœur. I didn’t have any metro tickets to get there, however, and it was quite a distance away. I therefore resorted to a recommendation from a friend: electric scooters.
Riding the electric scooters through the streets of Paris was probably my favorite experience there. Being able to coast through the streets of Paris and see its beautiful architecture everywhere you go was truly a breathtaking experience and one I’d recommend to anyone. There are a large number of electric scooters for rent scattered throughout the city that make them easily accessible. After Sacré-Cœur, I toured the city some more on the scooter just to experience it some more! I then met up with some friends for dinner, who were from the Institut de Touraine and also happened to be in Paris that weekend, and I spent the rest of my last evening in France with them. We went to some stores after dinner and met some kind people who lived in Paris, who gave us some recommendations on places to go the next time we were there.
I had a wonderful time in Paris, and looking back on all of my experiences in France, I’m truly grateful that I had this experience. I really hope I can go back to this amazing country some day! As usual, I’ve attached pictures of the highlights to the bottom of this post.
Thank you for reading!
