Throwback Wednesday: A Day In Paris

My first day in Paris I had one goal in mind: shopping. Not shopping to spend money, mind you. No, I wanted to go window shopping. And tree looking! If you are going to travel to Paris (or anywhere really) during the holiday season, your first instinct should be to see the seasonal things. You can see everything else during another visit … during a different season. This is not so for Christmas lights and trees. To see those you have to travel during the holidays.

So, our plane landed that first day in France at around 9AM. Plenty of time to see and do everything, right?

Or not. Two hours were spent going through security. Two hours wherein Justin said "No, you can wait to use the restroom until we get our luggage." lol. Remember how I said I had no regrets while traveling (on Monday's finance post)? Well … I did have one regret. Following Justin's lead right then. Although had I stopped for even a moment to use the restroom, our line may have taken three hours to get through instead of two. Oh well. It's neither here nor there at this point.

So we go check in to our hotel the Intercontinental Le Grand, which was every good adjective I could ever possibly come up with. And we get free drinks and free food … and the stay has been paid for with points … And there's an upgrade … and a balcony … and OMG! I literally was on top of the world feeling like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. It was that good. #highlyrecommended

Anyway, we couldn't spend all day in our hotel (even though I contemplated it), so we headed out to Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. I didn't see the window displays at first because I was so hungry! So we went into Printemps and got a quick lunch (snack) at Fauchon (bread and cheese). We tried a macaron (meh) and got an eclair covered in gold to go. Because why not? We marveled at the beautiful floral covered trees and cute characters in Printemps before moving on to Galeries Lafayette.

And then I saw it.

The tree.

The gorgeous, magnificent, 68-foot tall tree decorated with over 120 ornaments.

*swoon* :)

But there was no stopping. We were on a mission to find New Years cards to send to family and friends. We went up to the top floor and had just begun sifting through the Eiffel Tower lego sets, French architecture books, and beautiful Paris mementos when my phone buzzed.

It was a friendly text (from a European friend, of course) saying "Welcome to Europe!"

And just at that moment I looked up and out the window of the store we were in and saw IT!

The Eiffel Tower.

Squee!

(Yes, I was having the best day ever at that point.)

Anyway, shortly thereafter we discovered that if you go up one more level of Galeries Lafayette you get a rooftop view of Paris.

And then we had chocolate-filled beignets at the bakery on floor 9 … looking out at the Eiffel Tower. *sigh* :)

Finally, we ended the day by watching the sunset over the Eiffel Tower and then having a delicious dinner at a small Parisian restaurant.

It was definitely a great day. Dare I say perfect?

Paris never ceases to amaze me.