Paris: Trois Jours

For our third day in Paris we on met up with our friends to spend the rest of our time in Paris with them. Since our friend Megan's parents were leaving Paris and heading back to the U.S. that afternoon, we met them for lunch before they left. We went to this cute Parisian cafe that had the typical street seating, but elected to sit upstairs since we were a large group. When looking at the menu we were pretty sure we wanted get something simple since we had plans to get macarons later that afternoon. Tara and I ultimately both decided on the Croque Monsieur which is basically a ham and cheese sandwich but grilled and then topped in cheese. We knew it was a basic French sandwich so we decided it was something we should try. We actually ended up having it three times while we were in France! 

After lunch, we said goodbye to our friend's parents and thanked them for being so nice to us and treating us to such great meals! We then headed to our new hostel to check in. Since it was only Tara and I before, we previously had a two person private room. Now, Megan was staying with us so we decided to change hostels entirely to get a three person private room in the center of Montmartre. It was cool to completely change the area of Paris we were staying in so that we got a good glimpse of two different places. Montmartre is where Moulin Rouge is located and is really close to Sacre Coeur as well. Aside from being in a convenient location near patisseries and a grocery store, it was on a cute side street that fit a small square of buildings.

After checking in, we got in the elevator which only had a capacity for three people! As there were four of us (our friend Maddy who was staying in Versailles was with us too) with all of our luggage it was funny being squeezed tightly into the smallest elevator any of us had ever seen. 

After the interesting elevator ride, we checked out our room which was really cute with three pink beds in a row, a nice white desk with an orchid on it, a television, and a sparkling clean bathroom. We were pretty lucky getting really nice hostels for low prices in great locations.

After settling in, we were ready to explore more of Paris, but first we needed to eat a Parisian staple... MACARONS! If you know me, you know macarons are my favorite dessert ever and I'll get them from wherever I can, whether it be the Culinary Institute of America near my college, Laduree in New York City, or my favorite French bakery in Saratoga. Except now we were in Paris and able to have the best macarons the world had to offer, from the city they originated in! Beyond excited we headed to Pierre Herme across from the Tuileries Garden to get the macarons we had been waiting for! 

We chose to go to Pierre Herme because besides being featured in Gossip Girl, there are no Pierre Herme shops in the US. Laduree, Paris's other famous macaron shop, is located in NYC as I mentioned, and we also frequented the Laduree in London's Covent Garden. That's why we wanted to try something different and just looking at the flavors Pierre Herme offered, we knew we were going to get it. 

We decided to be somewhat adventurous and Tara chose Olive Oil & Vanilla and Salted Caramel while I chose Venezuelan Chocolate and Gold Dusted Chocolate Ganache. As you can tell, not every place (or any place for that matter) has these flavors! If you're unfamiliar with macarons, have a closer look at them in the picture below! 

As you can tell, it's not like the coconut and chocolate "macaroon" cookie we have in the US. Instead it's made up of two crunchy outer shells with a delicious, creamy filling on the inside. The flavors are endless when it comes to macarons, so they never get boring. Plus they taste great with a spot of tea and don't make you feel guilty after eating them (except for spending the 2 euros a piece!) After all of us picked out our macarons, we found a bench overlooking the Champs Elysees, and stared at the Arc de Triomphe in the distance as we enjoyed every single bite!

After we finished our delicious macarons we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Since the Arc de Triomphe is located in the center of a massive traffic circle, everyone is directed to an underground tunnel to get to it. It was really impressive being right up next to it and it was fun to watch all the traffic whirl around us. 

We then took a stroll down the Champs Elysees, popping into stores and keeping an eye out for possible restaurants for dinner. There are a lot of stores along the Champs Elyeese that were familiar to us in the US. However, they were a lot larger than the versions we see in American shopping malls so it was still interesting to look inside. 

We stopped in H&M for awhile and some of us even bought a few things since the Euro seemed so cheap to us after using the Pound for so long! We also window shopped at some of the more upscale retailers like Cartier. 

By that time we were all getting hungry so we stopped at a little restaurant that seemed to serve a little bit of everything. Being on a budget, we found that no matter where you go, pasta is probably the least expensive thing you'll find on the menu. So most of us got pasta with a large amount of melted cheese on top. The French really love their cheese!

After dinner, it was starting to get dark, so we thought it would be the perfect time to take another visit to the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle from a different vantage point. Trocadero has an amazing view of the entire Eiffel Tower and is a must see if you want to see the tower sparkle in its entirety. I definitely recommend standing right next to it as well, but in order to take the full tower into perspective, the viewing area at the Jardins de Trocadero is great. It was simply magical to watch and we all didn't want it to end.