Bonjour! Little me back from Paris!! (name that show)

I loved Paris so much on my last trip that I knew I needed to see it one last time before going back to the States so I booked a flight and hotel and everything all by myself to meet my friend, Katie, there – she studied in London so she got to take the train instead.

We stayed at the lovely Hotel Cecilia – decent price and it was a great location – right near the Arc de Triomphe and a shuttle stop that goes to the Charles De Gaulle airport as well as the metro. Not to mention, free breakfast with fresh bread and croissants! I definitely recommend it if you want to do some shopping since it is right near the Champs Élysées, a crazy long street filled with store after store.

The first day I got in early in the morning, but sadly Katie’s train kept getting delayed so we had to cancel our initial plan of taking a train to Reims for a Veuve Clicquot tasting but we were pretty tired from traveling anyway so it worked out! We ended up going to Galeríes Lafayette and having lunch at the same restaurant we did last time we were in Paris: Bistro Romain. We had creme brulee there last time as well as good food (I forgot to take a picture of my meal – oops) but the price was right on budget and the service was great too! This time, I loved my meal even better than my previous one so I’m glad we stopped there again! We continued walking around the city and saw the Eiffel Tower once again and then sank into bed.

For the second day, we both really wanted to go to Disneyland Paris so we made a day out of it and hopped on the train that takes you right to it. It was beautiful! I loved the little Ratatouille part – so cute and the ride was cool too! However, the park itself was a lot smaller than the ones at home – we rode most of the rides at both the Magic Kingdom part and the MGM studios part at least once and Space Mountain a million times since it was our favorite. Now I can successfully say I’ve been to both Disney parks at home as well as one abroad – next on the list, Disney Tokyo! Kidding (kinda).

The last day we continued to walk around more again and visited the Arc de Triomphe but sadly I couldn’t go up it because I had to catch a shuttle to my flight. It was a quick weekend but was so much fun and I was proud to be able to successfully plan an entire weekend with flights and hotels included all by myself – never done it before and it was my third (and forth) time flying alone ever!!

As for the sights, check them out below:

The hotel we stayed at!

A pretty department store in Paris – the name means “Spring” in English like the season!

Another famous department store in the city – so gorgeous inside!

The owner used to work for Laduree but then went out on his own to start his namesake macaron shop – some say his are better! I thought they both were good so it was hard to say.

Disneyland Paris Studios

They had a Dory roller coaster that was really fun! I forgot to take more pictures – oops!

This is the park reserved for all things Ratatouille, so cute!

We didn’t get a chance to go inside but this restaurant makes you feel rat-sized with the decor being all small objects like a drink umbrella lamp and a button for part of a booth.

This was the Ratatouille ride! You spun around a few times and was in 3D so you’d wear glasses that made you feel like you were running through the kitchen.

Made it to the Magic Kingdom section! From here we went through the entrance and Main Street to go find Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

We’re here!

Off to the next castle!

Our favorite ride there!

This was from the Toy Story ride – it was so funny to hear him speak French instead of English!

One of my favorite rides in the park – so pretty!

So interesting to see their interpretation of us since we don’t have this in the other parks at home!

This ride is still creepy here in Paris – you could definitely tell it’s one of the oldest rides by the fact that they use mannequins and some animatronics for some of the characters versus CGI like in Ratatouille.

Still one of my favorites because of the effects!

For Einstein Bagel lovers out there, this tasted EXACTLY like a chocolate chip bagel from there and it was so cheap too!

Sad to leave but definitely loved the trip and hope to come back soon.

See you in the next post!