Note: This is a picture-heavy post.

Visiting Paris has always been a priority in my bucket list. It has always been a regret of mine to not visit the city when I was studying in the UK 10 years ago. I kept putting it off to the next summer and little did I know, time flew by so quickly that it was time to leave. Finally, 10 years later, that opportunity arose and I grabbed it by its Parisian horns.

Ten years certainly built up an immense amount of anticipation. As you can imagine, I had many years of expectations to fulfil when I stepped into what is known as the city of love. Perhaps it was that great amount of expectations that needed to be fulfilled that I found Paris rather … underwhelming.

Sad to say, our first evening in Paris didn’t get off to a good start. The self-serviced apartment we rented had a multitude of problems which I shan’t bore you with (suffice it to say, we had to get technicians in to fix a lot of issues), it rained each day we were there (when it didn’t rain, it was very gloomy) and our first meal in Paris was awful. Still, I wasn’t about to let these get in the way of my enjoying what the city has to offer.

We stayed at Rue Saint-Honoré, which was a prime location for food and shopping (we were also only 5 minutes away from the Louvre). Even though we had a lot of problems with our apartment, the one very good thing about that apartment was that right below it was the best bakery in the area. Every morning I ate the best croissants I’ve ever had for breakfast. I woke up to the smell of baked pastries and bread. I think I may have put on weight by smelling the baked goods alone. 😛

One of the best things I did in Paris was a Segway tour of the city on the second day. Many thanks to Val for the suggestion because Tim and I enjoyed the Segway tour so much, we immediately booked one for Rome as well. The tour guide showed us the beautiful sights of Paris and shared interesting historical facts and stories with us. If you’ve never ridden a Segway before, I highly recommend it if it’s possible. It’s a lot of fun and I found it much easier to ride than a bicycle. 🙂

We visited a number of attractions:

• the Louvre (far too many people, so we rushed in just to see the Mona Lisa and rushed back out. So many people trying to take a photograph of a tiny painting. Tsk tsk. By the way, the tour guide told us that if you spent 30 seconds on each exhibit, it will take you 16 days non-stop just to see every exhibit at the Louvre.)
• Musée d’Orsay (fell in love with Renoir’s paintings)
• Musée de l’Orangerie (sat down and contemplated Monet’s work. Okay, more like rested our tired feet from too much walking)

• the Pantheon
• the Eiffel Tower (can’t go to Paris and not visit the tower, right?)
• Arc de Triomphe and the smaller Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (I think I enjoyed the shops on Champs-Élysées leading up to the Arc de Triomphe than the actual monument :P)
• Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris (stunning, absolutely stunning. When the bells rang, I thought of Quasimodo).
• Montmartre (visited the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur)

• the Palais Garnier, the Opera House in Paris (such a grand building. Even though it’s a tourist attraction, I felt terribly under-dressed in my jeans and hoodie. I felt like I should have been there in a ballgown and white gloves. I could just pictures ladies and gentlemen of yore watching operas from their individual boxes).
• A few “love locks” bridges. The story is that when you’re there with your loved one, you hook a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the River Seine. I brought mine all the way from Daiso but forgot to lock it on the bridge. 😛
• And more!

Paris truly is a beautiful city. The women (and a lot of men) are incredibly stylish and people-watching became a bit of a habit of mine because the French knows how to remain absolutely chic when the weather is absolutely shit. The buildings were very beautiful and the River Seine was simply stunning in the evening. It’s a city ripe with so much history. The food (other than our first French meal) was good. The shopping, well, I could do a whole new post on the shopping alone because if I could, I’d buy something in every store I visited. 😛

I guess the reason I found it slightly underwhelming was that I expected more out of the city. After building that anticipation for 10 years, it was as though I expected the sun and moon, which in hindsight, was just silly. I have far too many movies and TV shows to blame thank for such high expectations. It’s not Paris, it’s me.

Perhaps one day, if I ever get to return to Paris, I will fall head over heels in love with the city. Paris, you and I aren’t over yet. We’ve only just begun.

Au revoir, Paris. Ciao Roma!