You know what, I think this is the most blog posts I’ve published in a long time now. It’s been fairly consistent for the last couple of weeks. I’m proud of myself, lol!
The other thing is, this is the first post that I’ve ever written for any of my trips to Paris. I literally have an old draft for my first visit to Paris in Fall of 2015 that I never started! Maybe one day I’ll finish it and also write about the second trip, ha. Anyways, I’m going to just jump right into the post now.
We had been planning a trip to revisit Paris again, but mostly because I wanted to go to Disneyland Paris. I had no clue there was a Disneyland park so close to where I live! Might as well go check it out, no? My plans were confirmed when I found out that a good friend of mine was also going to be in Paris that same weekend that I wanted to plan my trip. That made the trip official.
With train tickets and the hotel booked, we set off to Paris early Sunday morning of September 15, 2019. We arrived by noon time, checked into our hotel, and of course the first thing we did was look for food.
Right across the street from our hotel was a Chinese hotpot restaurant. It looked pretty decent, so we decided to give it a try. To our surprise, the food was legit! Love when things work out like that and we don’t need to spend hours on our phones searching Google maps for the perfect next meal (yes, we do that sometimes while laying on the hotel bed).
After lunch, we headed out to explore parts of Paris that were less touristy, but still new for us.
First stop was the Centquatre. This is a wonderful place to visit if you like art, dance, and people watching. It’s a cultural center for the local community to meet up at for various collaborations. Basically a free space to freestyle, practice dance routines, and chill out.
Within the building were also various galleries that had lots of interesting art pieces.
During our visit, Michelangelo Pistoletto’s The Labyrinth (1969-2010) was also on display, as well as various other art installations. These works of art are all free to access throughout the year.
Within the premises, there are also places to grab food and drinks. I was feeling coffee and something sweet.
Our next stop after the cultural center was Parc de la Villette. It’s a little far out from Paris city center, but so worth it if you’re looking to just hang out where all the locals are.
Btw, I love love love these types of tile art. I see them all around Lausanne, and also around Paris as well.
The park is probably most identifiable by this huge shiny dome. But there are so many other cool landmarks in the area. It’s super huge, and you’ll have fun exploring and finding things along the way.
The park is also bisected by water, which you can actually rent little boats to hang out on. Next to the water, there are also many bridges and paths to travel, making it feel like a adult sized playground.
This is thee spot to be if the weather is sunny. Have a picnic here, hang out, enjoy the sun and relax.
The day we were visiting, there was also a vegan food festival happening. We had a great time there as well.
Towards the late afternoon, we made our way back into the city. I love the golden hour lighting across the buildings.
By now, our friends have arrived in Paris. We met up at the hotel, then set out to venture around town.
It was great being with our friends, especially because Erick and I would look at a building and say, “what’s that?” and our friend would read out the internet description of the place for us, lol. Our personal Googling tour guide.
More tile art pieces (sorry I turned it sideways). I need to make some of these, it’s too cool.
We walked around for a bit, and also got some happy hour drinks here and there. Eventually we had dinner at Le Petit Pontoise.
I would recommend this restaurant. The vibe is so cute, and the food on point. Just make sure to have a reservation, because the restaurant is small.
Above was my main course, and below was my appetizer. The cheese plate was actually a dessert cheese plate.
Once we finished up dinner, the light outside had completely set and it was night time.
We made our way back towards our hotel. But before calling it a night, we shared a bottle of wine outside of another restaurant near our hotel. Wine is so cheap in France, less than $20 for a bottle, so why not.
While we were sitting outside sipping on wine, we kept seeing people go in and out of a unmarked door across the street. Eventually we decided, when it Paris, why not approach the shady entrance with the dude guarding the door. Turns out that it was a beautiful speakeasy. The inside was lavosh, nothing like the exterior. I guess that’s usually the point.
On Monday, Erick and I did our own thing while our friends played tourist. We went to visit Disneyland Paris! I thought this would be the best time to visit since Monday was a Swiss holiday, but not a holiday in France. My hope was that the park would be less crowded. I think it probably was?
Oh and ticket prices for Disneyland Paris are so cheap in comparison to the US! So sad that I’ve become accustomed to the high theme park ticket pricing.
It was pretty easy to get to the park. We went by train. Within the stations and on all of the screens, they had a Mickey symbol to help guide you to the right destination. There was really nothing to it.
We arrived at the park 30 mins.+ before the official opening, because the park actually let’s you in early, they just don’t advertise it. If you’re a hotel guest, you can get into the park up to 1 hour before.
The first place that we ran over to was Star Wars of course. And I got my photo with Darth Vader. I’m not really a fan of how my photo turned out though, the photographer wasn’t really thrilled to be working there and take a photo with my personal camera.
For lunch, I got the BB8 meal, which came with a cheese burger, fries, dessert thing, and a drink. Of course it didn’t look so good, or taste that great, but nonetheless, I was excited.
I gotta admit, I had fun at Disneyland. Especially seeing the differences between the other parks that I’ve been to and having to experience all of the rides in French, it’s cool.
This is one of my favorite photos that we’ve taken stolen.
Oh, and I never really had a thing for castles before, but this castle is DOPE. I love how it looks and that you can actually explore parts of the castle. It’s not like the California one where it’s just a tunnel and you walk through to the other side. This one has a dungeon, lol.
Such a cute place. Here’s a photo from the top of the Alice in Wonderland maze. Worth it!
We left the park early and didn’t watch the show. Did we miss anything?
Back in Paris, we savoured the last of the day together with our friends hanging out by the water. This must have been at least one of the highlights from all of my Paris trips combined. You just can’t beat a view like this with good company. There’s something magical about being in another country with friends, isn’t there?
Dinner time was funny, because we had it outside of a restaurant in pitch dark. We used our cellphones as lights whenever we needed to see. At that point, it probably didn’t matter what I was eating, because I had no clue.
It was a great way to end our short trip to Paris.
The next morning, we had breakfast with our friends, went on the wrong train, and then abruptly had to say our goodbyes.
Until next time!
x Sarah