{Travel Tuesday} Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower, and Seine Cruise

Today we’re spending the day walking the streets of Paris and cruising down the Seine River!

Our first stop of the day was Notre Dame Cathedral. The cathedral is currently celebrating its 850th anniversary! 


I know I say this about every place every week, but get there early! We showed up just after they opened and we able to walk right in. When we left there was a huge line of people waiting to get inside. 


Of course the inside is beautiful, but I loved all of the details on the outside of the cathedral. Just look at all the intricate details around the doorway!


Plus there are gargoyles around the building! America definitely needs more gargoyles! 


Around the back of the cathedral is a beautiful garden. Definitely a great photo op! 


Behind Notre Dame and through the garden is Pont de l'Archevêché. Both sides of the bridge are completely covered in padlocks aka love locks. 


I bought a pair of locks ahead of time and packed them in my suitcase. Surprisingly, I actually remembered to bring them along with us that day. I added a lock for my boyfriend and me and my mom added a lock with our last name and year. Both of them are in the picture. We kept the keys to locks and I plan on framing them.


From there we had planned on visiting Sainte-Chapelle, but the line was massive and hardly moving. So we just walked around the area, slowly making our way back to the Metro. 


Our next stop was Luxembourg Garden, so we hopped on the Metro and headed to Odeon Station. The garden is a short walk from the stop and is worth a visit. It’s full of beautiful flowers, greenery, water features, and statues. 


As we walked through the garden we found a restaurant and decided to stop for lunch. I ordered a cheeseburger, but regretted my decision once my burger was served medium-rare! Don’t get me wrong, I love a good medium-rare steak, but hamburger? Not so much. Regardless, I ate it and it was good (and I didn’t get sick).


After resting in the garden, we headed towards the Eiffel Tower. 


We had wanted to take the elevator to the top of the Eiffel Tower the day we arrived in Paris, but the lines were crazy long…even the line to climb the stairs! Luckily, Tuesday afternoons are not as popular as Sunday afternoons - we were able to buy tickets and walk onto the elevator with very little wait. There’s another elevator that’ll take you all the way to the top (for an additional fee), but that line was pretty long and the second floor was high enough for us!

The view from the Eiffel Tower is stunning! Here you can see down the beautiful Champ de Mars. 


And here’s the famous Arc de Triomphe:


After we got down from the Tower, we walked to the river front to board a Seine River cruise with Bateaux Parisiens. The weather was perfect so we sat on the outside deck of the boat. 


It’s a fun way to see the city and I definitely would recommend taking the tour. I hear it’s amazing at night too. 


After the boat ride, we walked down Champ de Mars towards our hotel (we were staying 5-minutes away from the Eiffel Tower) and stopped at a nearby café for dinner. We ended our day sitting at a sidewalk café whilst eating French onion soup (my favorite) and drinking wine.  Yes, it was as amazing as it sounds!


Next Week: The Louvre





6 comments

  1. Lucky lucky you!!! I'm dying to go to Paris! I love your idea to frame the key that goes with the lock you left on the bridge!

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  2. Fabulous pictures Sam! Love the locks idea, cant wait to see it all framed!

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  3. I agree with you on the gargoyles. I am enjoying hearing about and seeing pictures from your trip!

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  4. I'm coming to you from The Tablescaper linkup ,and the funny thing is that my post is also about Notre Dame. It's a beautiful place, isn't it? Your day in Paris looks wonderful. I am envious that you were able to take the elevator up the Eiffel Tower. When we were there, the elevator line looked hours long, but the stairs one was short, so we took the stairs to the second level and the other elevator from the 2nd to the top.

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  5. Sam, everything is beautiful. I enjoyed this post again.Glad you linked up to The Places I have been. I gave out of steam and haven't finished our Italy trip yet on my blog. Maybe after New Years I will settle down and finish up our trip. I need to check your blog and see if you had done any other posts I haven't read. It has been so crazy I have not finished all the blog visiting I usually do.

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  6. In love with Paris. I had to stop and take a look at your lovely photos.

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