Par-ee Holds The Key To Your Heart. YOLO to Paris! Update 8/9

xoSamma

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jul 23, 2010
Par-ee Holds The Key To Your Heart. YOLO to Paris!

Everyday’s a celebration of wishes coming true
You don’t need an invitation, We’re always here for you
Days and nights are filled with laughter
There’s always something new
In a world of adventure, enchantment, excitement
From out of the blue, it’s too good to be true
Could it be? Come and see
You’re always at home here at Disneyland Paris!




We’re going to Disneyland Paris to celebrate it’s 25th Birthday!
And it’s only fitting to go and celebrate our 25th birthdays early with Disneyland Paris.


Sam

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I’m Sam, I’m 24 and when I’m not at Disney I am playing with toddlers all day to pay for my next Disney trip. Walt Disney World is my home but I plan to travel and experience all the Disney parks around the world. And after this trip the only parks left are the ones in China. If you talk Disney with me I will probably be your best friend.



Brittany

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Brittany is one of my closest friend, she is also 24 and is a math teacher. We met in college and bonded over our love for Disney. After graduation we both moved to Florida to be a part of the Disney College Program and work for the Disney company. There she met her boyfriend and they have space mountain to thank for their love.



Do you believe in magic and in dreams coming true?
If you believe in magic it can happen for you
You never know you might be coming to call
cause its a small world after all
And there’s magic if you believe.
 
WE’RE GOING TO PARIS!!!!


This was a very spur of the moment trip, it’s clearly what I do best. So lets go back to how this trip all got started.
December 13th (to be exact) Alicia texted me that she wouldn’t be friends with Moana after going to a face audition, however later that day she received a call asking her to be apart of the 25th anniversary for Disneyland Paris. Which of course she asked me to go and how could I say no? The biggest thing she told me was not to tell anyone, she didn’t really know what she was going to do at the park and didn’t want to world to know.

At this time I had 4 months to figure out how to get there and if anyone was willing to take the trip with me. I first asked my friend Marisa because she went to Tokyo with me and loves to travel, she didn’t have a break from teaching the time I was going so I asked Brittany who loves Disney and she was sad that she didn’t go to Tokyo with us. I was worried that she also wouldn’t have a break from her teacher life either, turns out she did but she was planning a trip to California with her family. At this point I started planning for a solo trip, Sam alone in Pairs that would be interesting, but I was determined to go.
Then a few weeks later in the beginning of January Alicia’s roommate asked if I wanted to go with him and this point it was someone wants to go to Paris with me so sign me up. I didn't know him, but he is close with my sister and my parents liked him so why not? So he sent me an airbnb apartment he found with a 10 minute walk away from Disney and he started making plans about how to get there. Then Brittany asked if the invitation to Paris still available because she couldn’t pass it up. Plans with Thomas fell through so it was a girl trip to Paris with Brittany.

At the end of January we had a Bachelor viewing night as we started pricing out a vacation. We decided to do half Paris half Disney and stay at airbnbs to make it cheaper. We looked up flights and we found it cheaper to fly out of Toronto, more like half the price we would pay to fly from home. Nothing was booked at this point but we knew that this trip was going to happen. Wednesday February 1, I was at an Applebees booking my flight to Paris! Paris we are coming for you April 8- April 15
All of February was trying to find the right airbnb apartments that were right for us.

March we ended up finalizing everything I got an Airbnb with a 5 minute walk to Disneyland for the first half of the week and then Brittany found an apartment for the end of the week in Paris. The same day I booked the Disney one Alicia texted me with the date she was performing, it happened to be the day after we planned on leaving Disney. So it was back to trying to figure out our plans again because we knew we had to switch our days in order to see Alicia. By this time we had less than a month until we left and the options for the price we were willing to pay to be close to Disney were very slim and airbnb was just becoming a pain for me.

I’m a very big believer of things happen for a reason, and if it is suppose to happen it will happen.
Well about 2 weeks before we left for Paris, Disneyland Paris came out with really great packages on the UK site for the 25th anniversary .(which thanks to the disboards I learned we could book through the UK site) And if this wasn’t a sign I don’t know what is. We got our room 3 night stay, 4 day tickets and free half board dining for a price that I thought I did something wrong because there was no way I would get all of that at WDW for the price we got. But I booked the package and we were staying at Santa Fe. Once I booked it I couldn't stop singing Santa Fe from Newsies...my brother could tell you how annoying I got after the first time it happened.


We finally had everything booked and ready with 2 weeks left over for planning. Brittany made an itinerary for our 3 days in Paris while she let me take care of Disney, which left me trying to figure out how to understand half board dining.


Ready or not here we come Paris!!!!
 


How exciting! You and Brittney back together again.

I can't wait to read all about your trip.
 


Another Sam report! And I'm the first one to join in!
Yay! Welcome back to another TR!

Yayyy! Can't wait to hear about this trip!
Welcome!!!! Thanks for joining in

Thanks for joining in!

How exciting! You and Brittney back together again.

I can't wait to read all about your trip.
Its been quite a while since we have been to disney together but it was a blast like always!
 
Travel Day

The day was here and we were headed off to Paris, but first we had to take the road trip to Toronto to catch our flight. Our flight wasn’t until 7pm so I had all morning to do my last minute packing, printing off important documents, and laying around just wanting the time to go by faster. As I waited for time to pass Ma randomly asked me how I do it, how I do what? She didn’t understand how I go places across the world and be ok with it. Clearly I’m not her child because I live for that plus it’s not as scary as it sounds. If I can do it anyone can. At 2 Brittany and I headed over to her home where we met up with her dad who would be taking us to Canada. Before we hit the road Brittany’s mother kept telling us to be safe and take care of each other. Then it was a lovely 2 hour drive to the Toronto airport.
When we got to the airport her dad decided to park and hang out with us in the airport before we left. The parking lot was a joke, we drove around forever trying to find a parking spot but after what seemed like a half hour we found a spot. We were flying Air Canada, which was a new experience for us, so we found the bag drop off where we had to print out our own luggage tags and put it on the conveyer belt to get to the plane. All that was left to do was go through security. But before that we decided to have some dinner before Brittany’s dad and boyfriend hit the road to head home.
Food options were slim here but they did have pizza and not just any pizza, BUTTER CHICKEN pizza. Excuse me what?! I can’t. And thank goodness Brittany knows my love for butter chicken and also enjoys it as well because we ended up splitting it and it was delicious!

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It was time to part ways, Brittany said her goodbyes and we were off! Security was a breeze and we both forgot we weren’t in America anymore so it seemed really relaxed compared to back home. When we got to our gate they were already getting ready to board. That left us with just enough time to snap a few snaps.

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Let’s go, anywhere. Say the word and I’m already there, run away with me

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We waited for the crowd of people trying to get on to die down because there was literally no rush, we already had our seats and we were going to be stuck in those seats for the next 7 hours why try to push through the crowd? We did get on and we found our seats. The struggle was real though when it came down to trying to get situated. The poor lady sitting next to us was in for a real treat for the next few hours.
We knew we needed to sleep for most of this flight because when we landed in Paris it would be 8am and we would have a full day ahead of us. But we also knew we had to stay up for our food. So while we waited we watched La La Land (which I’m sorry what is with that ending? Not a fan) And for dinner we had chicken with veggies and potatoes, some sort of salad, dinner roll and a brownie. Overall not horrible

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The flight seemed to go by really fast, but it also felt like I didn’t sleep at all so thats always good. What I do know was that Brittany and I both didn’t wake up early enough and we missed breakfast. All I wanted was my blueberry muffin. Although we missed out on breakfast the good thing was that we were landing! Paris we are coming for you!
It just took us longer than we planned. Why? because immigration/ border control was not well organized. A crowd formed outside the queue. We had a line formed but those coming down from the escalator didn’t see the line and just made a crowd at the queue entrance. it took us over an hour to get through the line. And once it was my turn I was kind of shocked that all they did was scan your passport and then you were good. No paper to fill out with where you were going, how long you were staying, ect.
Once getting through we had to find our bags quickly because Brittany set up a luggage storage/delivery service with the company Eelway. Since we were staying at an airbnb we couldn't get into the apartment until 2-3ish and at this time it was 10ish. We didn’t want to travel around Paris with our suitcases so Brittany found this company that takes your bags and delivers them to your airbnb at whatever you want. So we found the girl in the yellow shirt where she put zip ties with numbers on our luggage, plugged those numbers into her app with the apartment address, brittany signed off for it and we were off bag free.
First stop….starbucks, because Brittany needed her coffee. Then it was off to find the train that would take us to the city. It was about a 7 minute walk from the terminal to the RER station.

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It was a walk but we found our way. We bought our train tickets and we were off.

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It was a nice half hour ride into the city and we got off at a random stop we weren’t technically suppose to get off at but it wasn’t wrong. We were still super close to our apartment which we went to go find because we went off exploring. Our apartment was on what I liked to call “japan lane” it was a street full of sushi, ramen, bubble tea shops and I was totally fine with that. We wanted to know where exactly the apartment was located since we had to be back in about an hour or so and didn’t want to travel to far away from it.

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After finding it we started headed in the direction of the louvre which was less than a 10 minute walk from us. Since we missed breakfast we ended up walking into a random bakery to grab a croissant and oh my god was it delicious. It just looked like a regular croissant but it was so much more.

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With croissants in hand we then were off to walk and take in the city.

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We ended up at the gardens outside of the louvre. Everyone was out enjoying the day, today was the warmest day of our trip and so many people were having little picnics all over the place.

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And as we sat down to relax we looked off in the distanced to see the Eiffel Tower, it was literally a dream.

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While sitting and enjoying the fact that we were finally here, brittany was trying to get a hold of Nazeem who was meeting us at the airbnb. A little after 2 we headed back to the apartment to check in. Once we got there both Nazeem and Eelway were waiting for us, perfect timing! We grabbed our luggage and headed up to our room for the next 3 nights. Nazeem was great, although he took it personal that we went out on our own to find a luggage service when he could have helped. He gave us a tour of the place, how to work everything and then he asked us what time we were planning on leaving. When I told him 7am at the latest he looked at me like I was crazy and tried telling me that it only took a half hour to Disney and it didn’t open until 10am. I knew that it would take us over an hour by train and that since we were staying at a disney resort the park opened at 8am. So he put down 7am and told us to text him when we left that day. He gave us the key and left.

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At this time the time change was hitting us hard and Brittany was kind enough put a nap time in her itinerary. And after a quick half hour snooze we were ready to do more exploring!





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Are You A Tower? Because Eiffel For You!

Before we headed out for the day I finally heard from my sister. She wanted to know what are plans were for the next few days. I knew coming here I wasn't going to see her much because she was working over nights and sleeping most of the day. However we did plan to meet up at some point of this trip.
We grabbed everything we needed and walked to the nearest bus stop. We had a 3 day pass for the l'open tour bus. This was great because it took you to the big attraction, it had four different bus loops and it was a hop on hop off bus. Plus you plugged in your headphones and listened to narration about the history of the area you were in while you were ridding around.
Our first stop we wanted to go was like any other tourist on their first day in Paris, the Eiffel Tower. Once the bus arrived we were lucky enough to grab some seats on the upper level. There we rode the loop enjoying the sites and making a mental note of what we needed to go back and see.

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After we made a loop around the Notre Dame we headed back the other way and drove down the Champs-Élysées, during this time the bus played the catchiest tune I have ever heard. And would soon become the “dreaded” song Sam wouldn’t stop singing. I later searched it on youtube to play basically every night we got back to the apartment.

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(As I sit here writing this I learned that tonight there was a shooting on the Champs-Élysées, my mother kept telling me how happy she was that I was in Paris last week and not this week. My heart goes out to Paris.)
As we made our way down the street we finally made it to the arc de triomphe and circled around the beautiful arch way.

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After we circle around we headed to a spot where we could get a beautiful view of the tower

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Then we got to our stop for the Eiffel Tower, and I can’t even describe what its like when you see it in person. All I can say is pictures don’t do it justice and for me it didn’t feel real.

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The bus stop was on the other side of the tower, so we had to back track back to it. On our walk up to it we found a little crepe stand. When in Paris get all the crepes you can. This became our mission, eat a crepe a day.

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These would be the one of the best if not the best crepes we had on our trip.

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Brittany went with a classic sugar crepe

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And I went with a nice nutella one

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At this moment it was, hurry we have to start the paris Instagram going, which for me I already had the perfect quote.
Are you a Tower? Because Eiffel for you
(the moment I got back to work everyone was telling me how they got a kick out of it. Those are the people who deal with my daily shenanigans and my newest obsession of pick up lines where I shout them to the classroom next door and they just respond with “You’re out of control sam” you know just a casual day)

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After we finished our delicious crepes we walked closer to the tower and joined the rest of the hundreds of people laying in the grass, soaking up the sun. We had a guy practicing his bar tending skills, a girl doing a photoshoot doing pointe, a guy who brought his boom box to bring the music and everyone else just having picnics on this beautiful 80 degree day.

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This was our moment to bring out the selfie stick. I came prepared for this trip, I had multiple forms of picture taking devices. My canon camera, go pro and the handy dandy selfie stick.

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And when you get at least one descent picture of Sam don’t expect me to keep taking nice photos because it wont happen

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Out There Strolling By The Seine

There comes a time when you need to stop taking pictures of the Eiffel Tower and save it for another day. That time came for us and we headed to the other crazy congested side of the tower to find the bus stop. We found the bus but decided to take the boat down the seine. Brittany chose L’open tours because there hop on hop off bus also came with a boat pass too. When we made it to the dock it was already leaving so we had to wait for the next boat, we waited a awhile. But it was a beautiful day and we just sat by the seine.

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I knew I shouldn’t complain about how I was melting and how warm it was that day but it was hot so when we saw the boat coming we were super relieved. Jokes on us though because we had to change show our pass at the ticket booth to get a boat pass. We had no time to waste, we rushed right over and hoped it was a quick thing because I could not wait another half hour for another boat to come. We made it just in time and off down the river we went.
Since it was such a beautiful day EVERYONE was out on the Seine. This was on my list of things I wanted to do, picnic by the river. Spoiler it never happened and its just another reason to go to Paris.

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There were multiple stops along the way but we decided to ride most of the loop since we paid for it. Our 1.5 hour journey down the seine was peaceful, scenic but most importantly a nice little nap for Brittany.

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Hey Quasimodo, your home is beautiful

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The closest stop near our apartment was the louvre and boy were we “excited” to see steps that needed to be climbed while all we wanted was a bed to sleep in. We fought the sleep off and made it back to dry land and started headed back to our new home.
Insert Hunchback lyrics “Out there strolling by the Seine, Taste a morning out there”

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Once we made it to the courtyard area of the Louvre we stopped to take more pictures. At this point in time Brittany told me “I know you love taking pictures so I planned ahead for it. Joe wont ever stop to take pictures” She basically knows my life super well.

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By this time it was 8ish and we were in search of some dinner. I didn’t really want to do the whole dine in experience because I didn’t think I would be able to get through it with not being about to speak french. However Brittany was on a mission to pick a random cafe and eat there. I couldn’t be the mean friend who wouldn’t let her experience the whole France experience so we chose a random cafe (but first she googled to see if you sit yourself).

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We ended up walking in and asking for a table for two. We were lucky enough to pick a place where the waitress spoke some english. Also a little tip: we both read if you start your conversation in French they will be more friendly. Good thing for us Brittany knew some french thanks to her high school days.

Things to know when you are dining in France
  • Your waiter doesn’t disturb you, check up on you, if you want something you need to get there attention. So when you are done and need the check you have to say it.
  • Unlike America you don’t tip your waiter, you can but its included already
  • If you don’t know how to ask for tap water in French expect to pay for your water.
  • If you read blogs before coming a lot will say that the french are rude especially when it comes to dining. This is a big reason why I didn’t want to eat at restaurants, but believe me you can get through your meal. We didn’t really run into any rude Parisians.
  • BE READY FOR SOME SLOW SERVICE (this drove us nuts by the end of the trip, they are very relaxed, easy going people)
  • Google will be your best friend, if you don’t know what something is on the menu you google it.
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Tonight we both went with the Croque monsieur which is basically just a ham and cheese sandwich but it was SO GOOD! I’m a cheese person so I appreciate the love for cheese in Paris.

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After dinner our plan was to stop at the bakery across the street where we got our first croissant and get more for the morning. However that plan didn’t work because it closed before we left. What a bummer, that slow service can ruin your plans.
We left without our croissants but we successfully made it through our first Paris cafe experience and it was great.
After dinner we headed back to the apartment and I was slowly becoming on autopilot on how to get there. Find the bridal store, cross the busy street, go down japan lane and home sweet home. We made it back by 9:30ish and I was very surprised we were out that long with the little sleep we got on the plane. Overall it was a very successful first day in the city and tomorrow we get to walk around the whole thing.



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You really did accomplish a lot on your first day. The Croque Monsieur looks so good. I always get that at La Madeline's. No comparison right? :goodvibes
 
You really did accomplish a lot on your first day. The Croque Monsieur looks so good. I always get that at La Madeline's. No comparison right? :goodvibes
It was a busy day but a wonderful start to the trip.
It was SO GOOD! 10 out 10 recommend.
 
Paul Paul Paul!!!

It was a lovely monday morning, except for the fact that my alarm never went off and Brittany was the kind friend who let me sleep. We had to be out of the apartment by 8:20 to get to Notre Dame by 9. Since I didn’t get up till after 8 it was a rush of a morning but we to be out by 8:20 or we would be late for the tour and pay 20 euros for missing it.
We walked the 5 minutes to the wonderful bakery to get our daily croissant

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Then it was off to Notre Dame, about half way there we started picking up the pace and pretty much jogged all the way there. We were worried we would be late and the jog got us nice and warm on the cold and cloudy day. We got there right at 9am and just in time for the tour to start

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Brittany booked this walking tour through Wego Walking Tours. Paul is the tour guide while his wife is in charge of the website/business side of the company. The tour was free but it was a feel free to “Tip” pay him how much you think the tour was worth once it was done.
Before we started Paul wanted to talk about pick pockets and scammers. There are multiple scams they use and if I’m being honest this was the biggest thing I was worried about for this trip. He told us a story about one of his tours and how he was talking about the ring scam. A guy comes up with a fake gold ring and asks if you dropped it, he gives it to you as a gift then comes back to you saying he found out his wife need surgery and needs money and asks you to give him half of what the ring is worth (since the ring was a “gift” and it would be rude to take it back). Well apparently a girl taking one of his tours read about this scam before coming to Paris and it her friends sent her on a mission to collect as many of these fake scam rings as she could and she gave them a euro for each one. Paul told the group not to be worried about these scammers because if its normally a tour group like his they don’t bother you but if they did just shout “PAUL PAUL PAUL” and he will come to your rescue.
This is how Paul got his nickname Paul Paul Paul, and brittany and I referred to him as paul paul paul for the rest of the trip.
If you ever find yourself in Paris I HIGHLY recommend his tour, he was amazing. He had so many stories to tell about everything. Our tour started at Notre Dame and we walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower, 3 hours total so be prepared to do a lot of walking.
We learned about the history of Notre Dame, how is took 200 years to complete, how there were plans to take it down, and how in 2000 it was scrubbed down to look the way it does now because before it was practically black.

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In front of the cathedral there is a star on the ground. There are many beliefs around the what this sun does. Some say if you spin on the star your wish comes true, others believe the amount of times you run around the star is the amount of times you will visit Paris and then there are those who believe if you hop on the star you will meet the love of your life in Paris.
That didn’t stop us from spinning and making a wish.

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From Notre Dame we walked to Saint Chapelle. Here he talked about King Louis 9th and how some believed he had healing powers while some believe his mother was behind it hiring actors to make him believe he was a healer.

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Here you can also go into the dungeon where Marie Antoinette was, although its not the real one it is a replica. Sounded pretty cool, we just didn’t have enough time.
Before we moved forward we played the game of what does this sign mean

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It doesn’t mean no hand holding, although Paul Paul Paul laughs every time he sees couples let go of each others hands. What it really means is that the pedestrian walkway was ending.
With no hand holding we made our way to the love lock bridge, or what was the lock bridge

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Back in 2015 the lock bridge was taken down after it couldn’t hold the weight of all the locks and now some are moved to a bridge near by. So all thats left was an empty bridge and thousands of locks cut off making us think what happened to all those relationships that were symbolized by those locks? Did they end when the bridge ended?

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Then it was to the Louvre

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The Louvre was first a fortress, then made into a palace (which would literally be a dream) and then was created into the famous museum that holds the mona lisa.

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out in front of the Louvre is the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which was built to commemorate Napoleon's military victories.

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Before we left the Louvre Paul Paul Paul gave us a secret entrance to go in if we didn’t want to wait in the 3 hour line out front. If you want to know where the secret entrance is you’re going to have to take this tour because its one thing he asked not to post online because that is the only one the Parisians have without having to wait forever with the tourists.
We left the Louvre and headed to the gardens towards the Paris Ferris Wheel that Paul Paul Paul disliked very much

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Why does he dislike the ferris wheel so much? For one he said it cuts the line that is formed between the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Arc de Triomphe down the road. His second reason is that it is run by a crazy carny that has a lot of money that always gets his way.

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Paul Paul Paul pointed out that here in Paris they bring goats around to mow down areas where they can’t get lawn mowers in. But don’t be fooled they are not very friendly

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At this point we made it to our half way point of our tour. And this is the part where I leave a tip for those who might be traveling to Paris. Be cautious on what shoes you wear. All over Paris there is this white sand/dirt that leaves your shoes and bottom of your pants white. Every night I would go back and have to wash my shoes with a sponge. So just be cautious because these areas are fairly large and you’ll have no choice but to walk in it.

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Never Mind I'll Find Someone Like You

At the half way point Paul Paul Paul let us stop for a restroom break and some food. Be prepared to pay to use a bathroom in Europe, there are a few free places but most places that are open to the public cost money to use. I'm not about paying so instead we headed to the crepe stand because a crepe a day is how we ate while in Paris.
This time I changed it up and got a strawberry jam crepe and it was delicious, one of the most messiest things I ever ate but still delicious.

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After a 10 minute break we met back up with the group and went back on our way. At this time Paul Paul Paul personally introduced himself to us since we were late at the beginning of the tour. We started talking more as we walked and he told us how we chose the best time to come because tourism is down and it isn't as crowded as it once was. As we walked we headed for Place de la Concorde, which is one of the major public squares in Paris and is famous for beheadings. When trying to get to the center we had to stay in a group and power walk to make sure we got through both lights and not get stuck in the “fake” median because drivers here are crazy.

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In the middle is the luxor obelisk, which was originally located at the entrance to Luxor Temple in Egypt. But now stands in Paris and also serves as a shadow clock

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Before we left this area Paul Paul Paul wanted to throw in some fun little facts, for example the spot where we were eating our crepes was the spot where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. How delightful is that?
Then it was onto the champs-élysées, we didn’t go all the way down it, we just got on the street to talk about the history. How it was once for designer stores and now its just stores you can find anywhere. Paul Paul Paul also said how cool it is to be there for the tour de france.
We turned the corner down a side street where we walked passed the Grand Palais and Petit Palais. He told us how the Grand Palais does fashion shows, silent discos, ect and the petit Palais is a free museum.

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Across the street was the “Adele” bridge. Paul Paul Paul heard people asking where the adele bridge was and he had no idea what they were talking about. But he soon learned that it was the bridge that she was on in her “Someone Like You” music video. And he goes “Don’t mind if I start singing the song when we walk across it” but how could you be mad when you have free entrainment? However if you want to know the real name of the bridge it is the Pont Alexandre III

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Once crossing the bridge we headed to the last museum of the tour, Musée de l’Armée, The army museum.

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We stood out in front of the museum while Paul Paul Paul gave us a history lesson on Napoleon and the building. After what seemed like a good 20 minute talk I wish we had enough time to go into the museum because it sounded really neat. Brittany and I had no intentions nor want to go to it but after hearing whats in there we really wanted to check it out (I guess just add it to the list what we need to do when we come back)
We also learned that Napoleons tomb is underneath the gold dome behind the museum. And an interesting fact Paul Paul Paul told us was that Hilter brought Napoleons sons remains back to be buried with him but Paris almost returned the remains because Hilter was the one to give it to them but in the end they just accepted the gift and kept the family together.
A little ways down from the museum was the Military school building which had bullet holes from WWll

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And then we made it to our last stop of the tour, Mur pour la Paix, Wall Of Peace with the Eiffel Tower behind it.

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The tower came to an end, he answered questions and everyone departed in there own directions. Before we left we gave him money for the tour and asked him for suggestions for places to eat in the area we were heading to that night. He gave us a cafe that he went to all the time with his dad growing up but he warned us a head of time to be careful at night around there. He kept reassuring us it was safe, just make sure to be careful.
With one last selfie he shouted “Team new york out!” and we departed making our way to the Eiffel Tower.

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Touring My Future Home

When in Paris you go and see that tower as many times as possible. Spoiler we went all three days were in the city. You always find your way back to the tower and no one is ever mad about it.

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Paris holds the key to your hear.
And all of Paris plays a part.


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And one never knows what will start!
Paris holds the key to her heart!


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Sometimes when you don’t have a photographer/tripod, you have to get creative. We had a real classy homemade tripod made out of our bags and a selfie stick. Overall it worked like a charm.

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Afterwards we decided to catch the bus back to the louvre. However we learned that the Eiffel Tower drop off was not the pick up location. So we had to head around the tower where we saw the bus waiting, we didn’t want to wait another 20 minutes for another one so we did what we had to and ran for that bus.
My favorite thing about these busses is when you snag a seat up on top, also listening to the audio and learning some history.

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We had a nice long but scenic route till we got to the louvre.
First we passed by Napoleons tomb located underneath the gold dome

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On the other side across the street from the Army Museum we saw people filming for something

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Then it was back to the Champs-Elysées

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And before we got to the Louvre we passed by one of the highlights on this ride, The Palais Garnier, which is famous for the Phantom of the Opera.

And do I dream again for now I find
The Phantom of the Opera is there
Inside my mind


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When we got to the Louvre we didn’t want to test out Paul Paul Pauls hidden door since he told us he wasn’t sure if it was open but we also didn’t want to wait the 3 hours to get in through the main entrance. Brittany ordered tickets before hand and we went in through the carrousel louvre entrance. There is a mall underneath the Louvre so we used that entrance.

There was still a long line if you didn’t have a ticket but if you already had yours it was a very quick to get in, we probably waited 15 minutes.

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The main “lobby” area was packed full of people, we grabbed a map and made our way into the museum. There were 3 different entrances into the museum itself, so we picked one and thought they all connected (we thought wrong) Most people are here for one reason…to see the Mona Lisa. We were like every other tourist but we didn’t plan so well because it was on the whole opposite side of the building and that building is HUGE! How people actually lived there without cellphones to call each other is crazy. Like you could loose someone for a year, but it would be great for a game of hide and seek.

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Although we wanted to see the Mona Lisa I was super excited we made the mistake because on the side we went in it had the palace part of the now museum still in tack. And I could see myself moving into a place like this.

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While I was to busy raving over this place and telling Brittany how this is going to my future home, she was on the mission of trying to get us un “lost”

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After walking through what seemed to be like millions of rooms with art covering all walls we started to get hungry. And lucky for us we passed by a little food stand out on the balcony, how we got out there was the only struggle. We walked back and forth trying to get out there and we finally found a room that led us outside.
They ran out of ham sandwiches so we both went with the chicken sandwich on a pretzel bread, I also got some chips that tasted like nature, nature is apparently what they call plain chips.

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The view though was amazing

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Then it was time to pull out that beloved selfie stick

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Once getting food in our bellies we were ready to figure out how to make it to the other side to get a glimpse of the Mona Lisa…this would be on the top of my list of most terrifying things in my life.




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