Eighty-Five days in the land of pasta and gelato: Ratatouille is real!

Second stop: Paris, France

Ok yes, ratatouille is a dish with vegetables and stuff so of course that is real. BUT I saw some rats running around near the Eiffel Tower so naturally I assume that the story from the movie, Ratatouille, must be real, right? :) Somewhere in Paris little Remy is probably cooking up a storm...

As I got closer and closer to Paris on my night bus, I kept thinking to myself, "What the heck am I doing? I am going to Paris alone." The idea is that you go to Paris with a special someone but LOL I guess I am that special someone to myself :) I also kept thinking of the scene from friends when Chandler is talking to Monica about going to Paris and he says something like, "and we will stroll down the Rue de la bla bla bla..." because I can't for the life of me pronounce anything in French besides "bonjour" or "merci" which I still am probably not saying entirely correctly, but those are the important ones anyways right?

So, Paris. The city of lights. One of the biggest and most famous cities in the world.

And I tackled it alone.

This was the biggest and most terrifying part of my trip. Here is when I really began my solo travel and little ole me from little ole Cambridge, MN doesn't have that much experience with big metro systems, speaking French or big cities in general. Not to fear, after quickly figuring out that "sortie" means exit in French, and making it to my first destination through the metro I thought, "Ok Steph, not so bad." and I felt much better about the few days I would spend running around the city eating crepes and cheese.

Where do I even start? Paris is huge. I probably should have planned better because I am just a really bad hardcore tourist. If there is a big line for something, no way I am wasting my time there even if it is probably pretty cool. The small bits I did plan I am glad for. I bought an Eiffel Tower ticket online ahead of time and waited for about ten minutes whereas the regular line was about an hour long. Do this, if you go to Paris and want to do the Eiffel Tower. I also bought a three day pass for unlimited rides on the metro, which was theeee best money I spend in Paris besides crepes (duh). So my best tips for Paris are to plan and buy tickets in advance if you can, buy an unlimited metro pass, and download the Paris metro app on your phone (this was an insane lifesaver for me). You won't be able to see everything so prioritize what will be most interesting/important for you and its better to allow yourself enough time for each place you want to see, rather than dashing off from place to place.

Paris highlights for me were 1) coming off my first metro into the city to see the Arc de Triumph looming right in front of me. The metro stop goes literally right to it and I think I had to stop for a second to pick my jaw up off the ground. My weird sense of humor was like "Woah, Paris just got real." It had finally hit me that I was in Paris. That emoji with the wide eyes was me for three days.

2) My favorite area in Paris was the neighborhood near the Notre Dame and the Latin Quarter. Maybe I just had my best experiences here but the area was vibrant with street side cafes, shops, open air flower and seafood markets, ahhhmazing crepes, and live music on the weekends. I spent two long mornings here (because I liked it so much) just walking the streets, people watching, crepe eating and coffee drinking and listening to live music. Also the Notre Dame is pretty dang cool.

3) Of course, seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time was a highlight. Seeing something like that or Big Ben or whatever famous monument is kind of a surreal moment I think. You've seen it in a million pictures but this time, its for real. I couldn't get enough of the view, especially at night. I spent one evening just sitting on the edge of a fountain, eating macarons and people watching, while gazing at the lights of the Tower.

4) Crepes. I had 4 crepes in 3 days... LOL. Couldn't get enough of those things. Of course I was tempted by the stands so close to all the tourist destinations, but it was always worth it to wait and wander a few streets away where you can watch them make it fresh in front of your drooling face. My fave was nutella, coconut and almond. Unfortunately, didn't try any snails but I did of course try macarons, baguette with camembert cheese (at the suggestion of my friend Alicia who is French), and also the pastries and wine. [triple thumbs up]

5) Meeting people! My host Pierre, who was French, was awesome. I can now say that I have a Parisian friend who also loves nutrition and the outdoors. I also met with another friend of a friend from America who met me for yes, crepes. One of the coolest things, which was actually a suggestion from my host, were these really old covered passageways filled with little shops, restaurants and bars. They were not really by any other monuments so definitely one of the least touristy and super cool historic places I went in Paris.

Wow I have so much more to write but I will cut it off here. Overall, Paris was an overwhelming adventure that was a great experience, and I had a lot of fun even if by myself :)

Yes, Pictures now! Also selfies on selfies because #solotravel.