Alright, you may have noticed that I’ve been taking a bit longer to circle back to these Europe posts! For one, summer is winding down and our schedule and extra-curriculars have definitely been amping up just a bit. We do have two more trips planned this month, and if I’m being completely honest- after the last post, I literally went down a bit of a spiral and spent a few days just really actually quite sad that I wasn’t walking the streets of Paris!

I’m saying it now, vacation blues are a real thing!!! Anyway, I feel amped up and ready to fulfill my promise of walking ya’ll through each of our days, so let’s get started with Paris, Day II!

I feel like I say this about almost every day, but Paris day II was something really special. I think it was my favorite day in Paris (outside of Disney of course!). We just did SO much and spent so much time walking around and exploring the city, I felt like I really soaked in a lot of Parisian culture. We also sat and had a picnic under the Eiffel Tower which was pretty spectacular and a stand out memory for me for sure. It was just magic. Alright, so let’s get into the itinerary!

Day II- Wednesday, May 20th

Since we got home late the night before, we slept in and just grabbed something quick from the hotel breakfast on the way out the door. I bought tickets for The Louvre for a 10:30 am entry, so we immediately got ready and walked over, the museum was literally a 5 minute walk from our hotel, it was so nice. We got in line for our specific entry time, they have multiple lines all around the middle of the museum (that iconic glass triangle), and everyone is separated by the entry time you bought on your ticket. Because we had kids and a stroller, we got “family entrance” which was kinda like VIP because a guard literally walked us directly in and we skipped the line and the lines of people waiting for the elevator and escalators to get down into the museum. One thing I will say, everything in Europe is SUPER family friendly, like you’re rewarded and get priority for nearly everything just because you have kids. It was really like a breath of fresh air.

Side panel- I felt like everyone was so welcoming to kids and wanting the kids to have a great experience, and the employees want you to get the most out of your visit with the kids in tow. Here (sorry America) I feel like we rush kids through an experience and expect them to act like adults in places like museums, rather than letting them lead and explore. Every museum between London and Paris gave us a kids version of the maps that had stickers, activities, kid friendly search and finds for the museum rooms- it was just really cool and unlike any experience we’ve had with museums in the states.

The Louvre is obviously MASSIVE. I read somewhere that you could go everyday for a week, spend the entirety of the day in the museum, and still not see it all. And I believe it! My biggest tip for the Louvre is to know your top pieces you want to see and then know where they’re located on the map! The Mona Lisa is obviously the most famous piece in there and it definitely wields a HUGE crowd! That was our first stop and it was already a mission getting to the front of the room to see it!

My top must-sees:

• Mona Lisa : fun fact- Leonardo da Vinci never finished the piece, started in 1503 and left in his studio when he died in 1519.
• Winged Victory of Samothrace : just a spectacular piece, discovered and brought to Paris in 1863- this is a great article about the history and mystery of this piece!
• Napoleon III State Apartments : so little fun fact that I didn’t actually realize until I was there- before it was turned into a museum, the Louvre was actually a fortress and royal palace for the French monarchy. It was the home of the monarchy until 1682 when King Louis XIV moved the royal court to the Palace of Versailles. The state apartments have largely been untouched and have been open to visitors since 1993. The rooms were STUNNING and probably my favorite thing we saw in the Louvre.

We hit my top 3 and of course saw tons of things along the way between the corridors and exhibits. But after 4 hours we were all hungry and the kids were definitely ready for some fresh air and more room to run around. So we left the museum and started walking towards the Jardin des Tuileries, just right outside the Louvre. While we were walking through, we found a cute cafe and stopped for lunch and some crepes! I wish I remembered the name of it, it had red umbrellas and was super good! My son drew a crowd running around chasing the birds and I’m proud to say I got approached my a few older women who upon hearing my “bonjour” started speaking to me in French. It was a few comments later when I *as politely as possible* said I was American and then they started speaking English to me, but it was a highlight of the day for sure thinking I was passing as French for a few moments!

Next on my itinerary was to visit the Petite Palais (reminder that the trip overview and listed itineraries are here). I’d seen photos online and heard about the peaceful courtyard within the Palais where you can sit and snack. It was also on the way to Champs Elysees (famous for luxury shopping) and Arc de Triomphe, which were also on the itinerary for the day. Trust me when I say I did the research and mapped everything out this way so that we were always headed in one direction.

We literally walked everywhere this day and it’s part of what made the day that much more spectacular! I highly recommend doing a day where you can walk throughout the city as much as possible! We did take a single stroller and the kids did take turns in it to rest.

The Petite Palais is free to visit and doesn’t require any reservations ahead of time. We walked through security and then I went to the visitors desk to get a map. The Petite Palais is a historic art museum that was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition in France. It is an absolutely stunning building and has the most beautiful courtyard space. It was here we decided to relax and bought some gelato to enjoy while sitting on the steps.

Once we finished walking through the exhibits (it’s not very big), we started our walk to Champs Elysees! I was intent on buying a very specific Chanel bag that I’ve had my eye on for some time now, I thought it would be SO cool to buy a Chanel bag in Paris, where the entire fashion house began! We made it to the Chanel store and they did not HAVE THE BAG, well they did, but only in a bright yellow version that I could not reason with myself to buy. They even sent us to another smaller Chanel store about a block away from the main one and they didn’t have it either. Apparently black Chanel bags are a hot commodity in Paris LOL. So I took a major L on that one! (I will probably end up buying it here in the States at some point but the dream was getting one in Paris, soooo maybe I’ll just have to go back 😉 )

The Arc de Triomphe sits at the end of the western, upper end of Avenue des Champs Elysees. We did some street shopping along the way, my daughter saw a cute little Paris crossbody bag from a street vendor that we had to grab and of course add a little pink Eiffel Tower keychain too.

Then we made it to the end of the street! The Arc de Triomphe sits in the middle of a circular intersection and is one of the most famous monuments in Paris (other than the Eiffel Tower!). I’ll never forget one of the movie posters from Passport to Paris (you know the Mary-Kate and Ashley hit) featuring the Arc in the background (attaching below for everyone and possibly aging myself here lol). You can pay and book tickets to go to the top of the structure, or you can view it from the street for free. We did just that, we took pictures and walked around and did not buy tickets but I’ve heard it boasts a beautiful view of Paris! Linking the website for more information here!

After, I was told by a girlfriend of mine that we HAD to go to Carette for their viral hot chocolate! We google mapped the closest one to us from the Arc and walked to it! Both kids sat in the stroller and we cruised! I took about a million photos of the Eiffel Tower peaking through just about every alley way along the route! I don’t think it’s possible to get sick of seeing it honestly. There was a bit of a wait for a table at Carette, so definitely expect a bit of a wait, it’s a very popular place! It was about 5:20 pm when we were seated. We ordered two hot chocolates and then asked the waitress for their most popular menu items to compliment the hot cocoa- she brought us 20euros worth of strawberries and then two brioche buns! Everything was AMAZING! It’s definitely a MUST VISIT if you’re in Paris and I recommend you order the same things! The left over strawberries we actually took to-go and ended up eating in the grass underneath the Eiffel Tower!

We realized we were super close to the Eiffel Tower so after leaving Carette, we walked to the base and sat in the grass! It was here that we ended up seeing a street vendor with a vintage camera taking pictures of people and giving out printed copies. We got in line! It was the best, most spontaneous little souvenir! Also, the guy was like a college kid and when we asked him how much, he said he just takes donations! That was even more shocking because I was certain he would ask for like 100euros lol. We ended up “tipping” him 20 euros for our print!

I think I mentioned this in my posts about London, but it also didn’t get dark in Paris until like 9:30 pm. When we were dancing and playing around in the grass under the Eiffel Tower, it was 6:30 pm and bright as could be! When we were ready to get going, we loaded up the stroller and walked behind the Eiffel Tower towards the Seine River and then followed it back to our hotel!

The same girlfriend of mine told me I had to stop by a store called Merci, and as luck would have it, there was literally a location across the street from our hotel. We stopped in and I bought myself a little tote bag and then got one for my girlfriend as well for being basically my little trip advisor along the way lol (thank you Sara!!) We made it back into our hotel room at 8:30 pm, everyone ran to the bathroom, and then we called an Uber to take us to dinner!

We went to dinner at Libertino. So in Paris, there’s a famous restaurant group called Big Mamma Group, they own a handful of different locations- I was told about them by Sara when we were in London because there were a few locations there also under the same ownership. The food is the BEST we’ve ever had! So we decided to stick to eating at Big Mamma locations whenever we could! Definitely make a reservation ahead of time! It is possible to get a reservation same day, just make sure you check their website early in the day! We booked our 9 pm reservation at like 2 pm and the 9pm-11pm was the only available window.

After eating, my husband called another Uber to take us to a gelato spot! We made it there at 10:15pm, right before closing time! We ate our gelato right outside the shop with plenty of other people also out! It was so crazy to see the streets like just coming alive at 10 pm lol.

Because it was late and we didn’t have our stroller, we called an Uber to take us back to the hotel. By 11 pm we were back at the hotel, did quick baths for the kids, took turns in the shower and then it was lights out!

It was honestly just the best day top to bottom and a lot of the day was kinda improvised. Like I knew where I wanted to go, but we didn’t have actual reservations for anything (other than the 10:30 entry to The Louvre), so the whole day we just went around at our leisure. It was wonderful and just seeing Paris in that way, just taking in the city and soaking in the culture, made me love it all even more than I already did!

Stay tuned for our last and final day in the city of Paris- spent at The Palace of Versailles! Another HUGE pinch me moment for me!