I have dreamed of going to Paris ever since I was little, so obviously when I found out my program would include a day trip to Paris, I was stoked. The problem – so much to do and so little time to do it. We took the train for London to Paris and immediately purchased day passes for the metro upon arrival. I wanted to make it to as many sights as possible. We started at a cafe that was close to the Eiffel Tower to pick up some breakfast and get our day started. From there, we hit the Arc de Triomphe, the gardens outside the Louvre, Notre Dame, Le Sacre Coeur and even managed to get bite to eat before we had to be back at the train.
While my French from high school was definitely rusty, I recommend learning a few of the basics before going to any country that speaks another language. If you need a starting point, figure out hello and thank you and go from there. Knowing some of the words definitely helped in securing metro passes and having a general sense of what was going on. I was impressed with just how much we were able to see in such a short amount of time, but I have found that if you set your goals high, you are bound to get more accomplished.
While I definitely want to visit France for longer, I appreciated getting a glimpse into the city I have dreamed about for so long.
