Our trip started out pretty great. Our overnight flight from Chicago to Paris was practically empty so we each go our own row of 3 seats to lay across, which worked out well for sleeping!
Upon arrival we met up with our private chauffeur who brought us to our apartment, a lovely two bedroom on the 5th floor with two balconies, perfect location and excellent air conditioning!
After having a snack we were all ready and excited to head out and start exploring Paris! Our Agenda for the afternoon/evening was pretty laid back! We walked to Saint-Chapelle, where we were greeted with the most beautiful stained glass windows. The 1,113 scenes depicted on the 15 different windows tell the story of mankind from Creation to Christ's Resurrection through a series of stories from different books of the Bible.
From here we made the short walk over to Notre Dame and waited in a lengthy line to go inside!
We walked across the Seine River and had dinner at St. Regis on Ile Saint-Louis, our first French dining experience. The French Onion soup was SO good. Nate's first choice for dinner was unavailable, so he took a recommendation from the waiter and ended up with duck liver on his ravioli! :)
We grabbed gelato on our walk back and enjoyed the sun setting on Notre Dame as we passed by.
The next day was our main walking/sightseeing day. The weather was absolutely perfect which couldn't have worked out any better since we walked over 30,000 steps! We started the day by taking our first trip on the Metro over to Trocadero for breakfast at Carette! The hot chocolate was absolutely delicious, nothing like we've ever had!
From here we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and took entirely too many pictures! It was definitely a wow moment and a highlight for all of us! We enjoyed going up to the top, taking fun pictures from underneath and from the surrounding gardens and streets.
We made a stop for lunch at Boulangerie du Champ de Mars and had the best sandwiches before walking to our next site, Arc De Triomphe!
From here we walked down the famous Champs-Elysees, got Starbucks, went in some stores and ultimately ended up at the Galeries Lafayette, a huge department store known for its stained-glass dome, architecture and great rooftop views. The original plan was to do the Patisserie Experience here, but unfortunately I found out about two weeks before our trip that it would be closed for renovations during our visit. The girls were still able to secure Paris themed Jellycats at the popup store.
After a lot of walking, we took the Metro the rest of the way back to our apartment. We freshened up had delicious pizza at Peppe for dinner. The paper menu was only in French, and the restaurant did not have wifi, so we had to do some guessing on toppings.
The next morning we checked out a local bakery for breakfast and had delicious pastries! We took the Metro up to the Montmartre neighborhood to see the Basilique du Scare Coeur, which is perched on the highest point in Paris (and up a lot of stairs).
We tried McDonalds for lunch (which was underwhelming) and the famous Crookie (chocolate chip cookie/croissant) from Maison Louvard, and that was delicious.
Next we spent the afternoon at a baking class where we got to make our own croissants and pains au chocolat from scratch! They turned out so good, and we got to take the extras with us!
We finished the day with some shopping and dinner! The girls each got Paris shirts from the Brandy Melville store and made their own charm bracelets at La Perlerie 22. Dinner at Au Bourguignon du Marais was amazing, we of course had to try their beef bourguignon.
The next day was our Disney day! We spent the entire day in 100 degree heat hitting as many rides in both Disneyland and Disney Adventure World as possible. I think it was unanimous that our favorite ride was Big Thunder Mountain! The Ratatouille ride was really cute and the girls also really enjoyed the Crush Coaster!
Next was slices of pizza for lunch at Joe's!
We had so much fun going up to the 91st-93rd floors in the Summit One Vanderbilt. There were fun interactive rooms and stunning 360 degree views! We also took a ride up the glass elevator on the outside of the building!
We finished the day with the Nintendo Store, a really fun dinner experience at Ellen's Stardust Diner, the M&M Store and a walk through Times Square!
Our last day began with amazing bagels at Broad Nosh (this place was packed) followed by a 2 hour guided bike tour through Central Park!
We ended the trip with lunch at Nate's favorite, Angelo's Coal Oven Pizza, some shopping and cheesecake from Juniors!
A well deserved Starbucks drink at the airport before heading home! So thankful for this special time making memories with my favorite people!
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