My Trip to Paris

What I did during my first ever trip to Paris.

After a couple years of traveling within the country and two visits to Mexico, I was finally able to visit Paris, a city which had long been on my bucket list and that I almost feared I’d never get the chance to visit.

The trip was scheduled in early May during what was a challenging time for my family on account of the relapse of my sister’s mental illness. Perhaps to try making things better for us, my stepdad started talking about a potential vacation during the summer, and since I had long expressed my desire to go to Paris or somewhere in Europe, he decided to try buying affordable tickets for Paris. Two days later, we officially bought four tickets online using money I’d had saved up over time. Our trip was officially booked for the last week of August through early September.

What exactly did I do to prepare for this trip? For the most part, I tried watching several different French films along with a few videos on YouTube going over the rules of speaking French for those who already had a basic understanding of the language (I’d studied French for four years in high school, so I already understood a little, although I do read it better than I can speak it), including how to speak the language in the more casual way in which typical French people speak it, which might be more of a challenge than some people realize. We also booked tickets for certain places we were interested in visiting as a family, including the Palace of Versailles, Disneyland Paris, and the Louvre. By doing all this, I felt like we’d be at least a bit prepared for our trip.

We left for the O’Hare airport in the afternoon of August 26^th.  While there, we bought food at Burger King to eat during our flight (all at my suggestion, since I didn’t want to simply eat snacks during the long flight) while waiting about 3 hours for our flight through Iceland Air to be prepared to take off. Our layover was going to be in Iceland, which felt just as interesting as the trip itself was to be, but which also left us with concerns over the weather and what we’d do during the wait times once we were there.

The flight took off around 7:30 PM. I was quite impressed by the flight and all you could do while there. Our seats came with screens where you could see everything from a map of where we were flying through to promotional videos showing things you could do in Iceland to a decent number of movies, TV shows, and music selections available free for all passengers. I notice that this is often the case with longer flights, such as our flight to Hawaii three years before, while most shorter flights don’t usually offer these options for free. We could also get free drinks here, which wasn’t an option in any of our more recent flights. I spent five hours reading from my Kindle and watching one of the Austin Powers movies.

Our stop at Iceland in the morning was very brief; all we did was sit around and wait for our flight to Paris. Since Iceland doesn’t use to the Euro, we couldn’t buy anything at the airport with the money we’d exchanged before going on the trip while we were waiting. And the next flight was much shorter and came with all the features our previous flight did. The most notable thing about it was that I got to listen to some French songs and as we were arriving in Paris, I managed to get a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

Upon our arrival, one of the things I instantly wanted to do was see how well I could understand those speaking French. Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to understand what people were saying; some of the only words I managed to make out were when people mentioned numbers or simple phrases. My stepdad, who doesn’t know any French, would speak to people in English. You may have heard some things about French people hating it when Americans try speaking to them in English, but this was not my experience at all. Most of the people we interacted with had no problem with us speaking to them in English if we asked about it. Perhaps it was because the Olympics were going on and people had to speak English more often to the many tourists visiting the city, but either way, this wasn’t a problem we had during our visit.

We got to our hotel by riding the subway. We bought four tickets which allowed us to use any form of public transportation in the city. Most of the time, we managed to find seats, but there were a few occasions where it got too crowded and we had to remain standing. We had a lot of luck with our hotel because our room came with a kitchen, meaning we easily store and cook food without having to depend too much on street food. And just about a block away from our hotel was a grocery store dedicated to providing affordable food and with a moto claiming to promote the “cheap life”.  What we bought the most of were deli sandwiches, which in France tend to include a lot of ham and chicken sandwiches.

Another thing we did on our first day was take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower. Of course, it was great being able to see such an important cultural landmark up close. The pictures that were taken of me didn’t come out as great as they could have been because there was still a lot of sun even towards the evening and it bothered my eyes, but I still got at least two pictures that looked good enough to share with others.

On our second day, we visited the Palace of Versailles. As we do during many of our trips, we woke up early and took a train to get there. We’d scheduled our visit there for ten o’clock, and by the time we got there, there were around three lines for visitors that were arriving between nine and ten. While there, we get to see artwork and rooms dedicated to the French monarchy up to the point of the French Revolution. I can’t claim to know much about French monarchs, but I did notice several paintings and monuments dedicated to Napolean, who I do know a few things about. I liked getting the chance to go inside the King’s Room, one of several places where you can see a bedroom as it would have been set up for a royal. I always like seeing such replicas when going to museums, so that was an interesting experience. We spent some time around the gardens, but we weren’t there for long because my parents didn’t want to walk around certain parts.

 Afterwards, we went to see Notre Dame, which is still under reconstruction and is set to be finished in December of this year. We also got to go inside the Arc de Triumph after about an hour of struggling to find it. Of course, we had to do a lot more walking to get to the top of the tower, but aside from how careful we had to be when going up, I don’t think this was too hard for me. Of course, the view from the top was great, giving us good views of much of Paris, and the inside included monuments to soldiers that had died or gone missing during World War 1, which was of course an honor to see.

On our third day, we went to Disneyland Paris. In some ways, it was a lot like Disney World in Orlando, where I got to go for the first time in 2022, with long lines for certain rides, parades around the afternoon, and its own castle. The nice thing about the castle, which is dedicated to Sleeping Beauty, is that it is free for all visitors to go inside, and it’s quite a beautiful place. We also got to go on a ride dedicated to Snow White, which we missed out on in Orlando on account of the ride malfunctioning just as we were supposed to enter. As with similar rides, it’s mostly a set of cars that takes you through several recreations of scenes from the movie, yet I still thought it was a little fun. However, we had to wait on a very long line for the Dumbo ride, which was much less fun for a mostly okay ride.

It was also here where I got to try the only crepe I got to eat in Paris. It was a chocolate one which came with Nutella, and while I did like it, it did taste a little too sweet. My family didn’t like these crepes at all and insisted that the ones we once tried in Mexico were better than these were. I felt that they probably made better crepes in other places, but they refused to get them again during our trip. We ended up leaving towards the late afternoon because we discovered we couldn’t go to the second park and my sister was starting to get tired, so we decided it was best to return to our hotel. Overall, I’d say our visit to Disneyland Paris was okay, but it could have been much better.

On our fourth day, we went to several places. First, we went to the Louvre, the famous museum where you can find a glass pyramid outside and one of the original Mona Lisa paintings inside. Trying to get a good picture of the Mona Lisa really is a hassle with all the people that are always around, and although I managed to get several, I can’t really say they are the best of the best quality. However, having at least one picture is good enough. I also managed to see portraits depicting Biblical figures, Joan of Arc, the French Revolution, relics from Ancient Egypt, and much more. It was a good museum, but it is much like other museums I’ve visited in the past, such as The Art Institute of Chicago. Also, most of the art there goes from ancient times to the early 1900s, so you won’t really find modern art there. It was here that I got to buy macaroons, and I gave my order in French to the best of my ability. The woman attending me was able to understand me, and I bought three strawberry and three coffee- flavored macaroons. When I tried them later, I thought both were good, but I much preferred the strawberry ones.

After this, we went to the Sacre Coeur church. To get there, we had to climb up a long flight of steps, several of which were in all sorts of colors. The inside of the church is amazing; you’ll find several shrines dedicated to religious figures and saints along with a beautiful altar devoted to the Sacred Heart, for which the church gets its name. Interestingly enough, there was also a shrine dedicated to sports in honor of the Olympics. Although that was amusing to see, I still wondered if it was really necessary having it there. While there, I got to do confession with a priest that knew some English, and we then stayed for Mass. When we finally left, it was raining, just as it had been when we were trying to get inside, but luckily, we had ponchos with us, so we didn’t get as wet as we could have otherwise.

 And towards the late afternoon, I got to go to Shakespeare and Company, the famous English language bookstore which is just across the street from Notre Dame. I had been interested in this store ever since I first learned about it last year and I wondered if I’d ever really get the chance to visit, so when my stepdad let me go to the store with a total of fifty euros, I was very happy about it. And because this was the only place I got to visit in Paris completely on my own, this made my visit here even more meaningful. I spent an hour there looking through books and the different sections they had, including a reading room upstairs that had several pictures of famous authors over the years. Visitors aren’t allowed to take photos from the inside of the store, so I was only able to get pictures from just before I went inside. I bought two books, and both got the Shakespeare and Company stamp that comes with any purchase if you request it. Getting to achieve a major literary dream in addition to everything else I’d done in Paris made this visit even better.

On our fifth day, we did a bus tour that took us around many famous sights in Paris. We got to sit on the top of the bus and see several sights we’d already seen before, including the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre, as well as other places we had yet to visit, including several other museums and Champs Elysse, the area of the city known for its many shopping centers. We ended up getting off at the latter location, where we went to one of the most famous shopping places in Paris and tried seeing what we could find there. We ended up leaving there really fast because everything was way above our price range. When we tried going to McDonalds, we also found it to be too expensive, yet we still bought coffee and muffins rather than a regular meal. We then took another bus to the Louvre to buy the Mona Lisa t-shirts we hadn’t bought the day before, going inside the museum just when it started to rain. Later that day, we got to go on a boat where they went around several different places, but we were mostly there to enjoy the ride. I can’t say I liked our boat ride as much as I have on previous ships, but it was okay and we got to see many good sights once again.

On Sunday, we returned to the Eiffel Tower to go inside it and get a view from the top. As with the Arc de Triomphe, the view from the top was amazing. And to make things even better, I was able to see the Olympic stadium just as it was being used by the athletes participating at the Paralympics! I couldn’t see exactly what they were doing; it seemed as if they were doing some sort of dance, and I couldn’t get a good picture of it either, but regardless, it was still a fun thing to see. From inside the tower was a lot of information about it, including those who first visited it back when it opened in 1889 and how tall other buildings are in comparison to it. We also returned to the Champs Elysse to try finding perfumes to buy. My stepdad found one, but my mom, my sister, and I had to wait until the next day to find something that was good for us. The bad thing about Sunday was that I ended up catching a cold, probably on account of having been caught in the rain or the air conditioning in our hotel room, so I wasn’t in the best of shape, but I could still enjoy most of our activities.

Monday was our last day in Paris. We bought a couple souvenirs, including bags and wallets, and we also finally bought some more good perfume. That afternoon, we went over to the airport for our flight. We rode once again through Iceland Air, taking off towards the later afternoon and arriving at Iceland late at night. We thought we’d get the chance to leave the airport and explore parts of the country, but upon arriving we found out that we wouldn’t be able to leave on account of restrictions related to immigration, so we had to remain there overnight and then stay for the rest of the day until around 4:00 PM. And given how expensive everything was, we couldn’t buy much food and had to mostly eat whatever snacks or other food we’d brought along. Now this was something I wasn’t very happy about, and this turned out being my least favorite part of our trip.

The flight to Chicago went all right for the most part, and I did much of the same things I’d done on our other flights. We arrived in Chicago between four or five o’clock, which was around the same time we left Iceland. We got our car from the hotel where we’d left it parking for our trip and returned home. The car did end up having trouble running when we were getting closer to home, so this left us worried, but we still made it back.

Overall, I would say it was a good trip. It could have been better in some ways if I had been able to explore around more places that I was interested in instead of mostly following along with what my family wanted to do and if we had gone to more places outside of Paris. However, I’m still glad to have gone to a place that I had long dreamed of visiting and hope I get to visit several other countries I’ve got on my bucket list, such as Japan, Italy, Brazil, and Spain. I’d like to visit a country from each habitable continent if I get the chance, so now that I went to Europe, I might see if I can visit another continent on my next vacation.