Ronkeslens

France, I believe, will always have a special place in my heart, and I’ll explain why. This was my first trip out of the country in a long time, and it felt liberating. So when I think of Paris, it will always represent freedom to me. I took this trip in October of last year, and while it was one of the shortest trip I’d ever taken, it left me with memories that will last a lifetime. Yesterday, I was reminiscing about the trip and remembered that I promised to write a post about it. So here I am, fulfilling my promise and smiling about my Paris memories.

On a Friday evening after work, I took the Eurostar train from London to Paris. I arrived in Paris late and did not do much sightseeing. I met up with my host, we ate dinner, and then called it a night. The next day was the most eventful day I’d had in a long time. Our day started around 12:30 p.m. Before beginning our tour, we stopped at a small coffee shop for some pastries. Everyone knows that Paris has incredible pastries, so I had to try one. The city tour was very interesting. As a tourist, I would say 2 to 3 days is sufficient but I was short on time so I had to condense all of my sightseeing into one day. As you can imagine, it was a stressful day but I just filled with gratitude.

I visited popular landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe and walked down the Champs-Élysées. It has a lot of luxury shops and places to visit all along the way. I also went to the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids du Louvre, the Monrmatre church, and the Eiffel Tower at night.

Everyone says Paris is filthy, but it wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be. It was quite decent or maybe I was lucky. There were some street hawkers around the Eiffel Tower at night, which reminded me of Lagos. Some people were selling meat that resembled Suya in Nigeria. Others were selling roasted corn and keepsake ornaments, among other things.

I took the train, or Metro as they call it over there, for transportation. I took bolt and local cabs over there at night. It’s also worth noting that uber operates there, if that’s your preference. I recommend wearing comfortable shoes if you want to enjoy your tour of the city. I switched from my trainers to a pair of boots at night, which was a big mistake.

Many places were closed early that Saturday night, but I found a nice bar on the Champs-Élysées to have some cocktails. That concludes my journey to France. I arrived in London the next morning. When I return to Paris, I plan to do less sightseeing and more museum-going. Paris is known for its art, which is something I would like to do next.

You can’t talk about Paris without mentioning the beautiful architecture of the city’s buildings. It reminds me a lot of some central London buildings. The big question is whether I prefer Paris or London. London will always have my heart, but Paris is undeniably worth the hype.

If you ever plan on visiting France, keep in mind that it is a non-English speaking country, though some people do speak English. If you know you won’t be accompanied by a local, plan ahead of time to account for the language barrier.

Thank you for reading.