Everything I Wore in Paris

Back again with another Paris post, this time sharing the details about everything I wore on my trip last weekend!

It may come as a shock (to literally no one) that I was a bit last minute pulling together my outfits. I purchased a couple of things for the trip, but for the most part, I just kind of winged it! I usually find outfit planning to be so stressful, but when I think of Parisian style, it's so simple and effortless, and I really tried to channel that energy. I think it worked out well- I was pretty happy with what I came up with!

Let's recap the outfits:  

4-Day Paris Itinerary Recap

Welcome to the official Paris recap! If you're curious about where we stayed, and general Q&A regarding the current scene in Paris, highlights of the trip, and more, check out yesterday's post here! 

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I never skimp on the details, so sit back and relax because this is a long one! At the bottom of the post is a map with all of the places we went!

Be sure to come back on Monday for everything I wore in Paris!

Paris Q&A: Where We Stayed, The Strikes, Shopping Haul, and more

Bonjourrrr! This past weekend in Paris was absolutely lovely. My friend Katie and I decided to do a quick trip for her birthday / Easter weekend, and we had a great time. We really didn't do anything crazy, just explored, shopped, ate and drank, and enjoyed our vacation. We'd both been to Paris twice before, so it was nice not feeling pressured to do a lot of the touristy things. We did a lot, so I think I'm going to break up the blog posts into (1) this Q&A post, (2) day by day recap, and (3) everything I wore!

The first two times I visited Paris were actually within a few months of each other, in 2015. I studied French all throughout middle and high school, as well as half of college, and always planned to study abroad in Paris, but unfortunately, after transferring colleges, it was off the table. Additionally, my last trip to Paris was canceled due to Covid, so just a long way of saying I really was excited to get back! 

Because it had been about eight years since my last trip, I didn't really remember much of the city. I was so shocked this time around to realize how big Paris is. It felt like every day we explored new neighborhoods and all of them just felt huge! I mean, New York feels so small once you live here, so it makes sense that anywhere with a little breathing room feels giant. But four days ended up being a great amount of time, and I'm just so grateful for the time we got to be there. 

Let's get into the Q&A!

What To Do in Paris

I miss Paris. This entire summer I've had extreme wanderlust, particularly for Paris and Martha's Vineyard, and I can not make the desire to travel go away! I think this is in part because it's the first summer of my life I'm not heading out to the East Coast, and I miss it more than I can describe! There really isn't any reason why I'm not going, I just never got around to planning anything earlier and now it's a little too late. I am going to Palm Beach at the end of August for my golden birthday (20!) with my dad, but until then... a girl can dream, and plan her next trip to Paris ;)

Paris Recap

Paris was the city I most looked forward to for my vacation. After visiting in the spring, I was excited to return to a city where I would actually know a little bit around and feel more confortable in. Unfortunately, we were greeted in Paris with overcast and rainy weather, but by far the best food on the whole trip.

Day 1 in Paris was a Sunday, because we had arrived the night before just in time for a late dinner (we're talking 10 PM after a beyond stressful situation that included driving halfway across the city in back to retrieve the key for our apartment) at the best pasta joint. We woke up on Sunday, headed to mass at Notre Dame, went out for crepes, and then began on the longest, but most beautiful and scenic, walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Back in the spring I went up the Eiffel Tower at night, so going up the tower during the day was a totally different experience.

Day two in Paris we went out to Versailles, where I'd gone back in the spring. Not too much had changed, and the palace was gorgeous per usual. Our final day, we went the Montmartre area to do a little exploring and to see Sacre-Coeur.

The view from the top of the hill at Sacre-Couer is one of the most beautiful views I've ever seen. Hands down one of my favorite places in Paris!

xoxo

Paris Recap: Part 2

I feel like I'm dragging out this vacation for far longer than I should be, but this is the last post about my trip to France (I promise!). I've already talked about the first part of my trip here, and then my first two days in Paris here. Today I'm wrapping up the recaps with my last two days in Paris! These last two days were probably my favorite of the whole trip, and definitely an amazing way to wrap up the vacation.

Thursday was another busy day following Wednesday, but I think it may have been my favorite. We began the day by visiting Notre Dame Cathedral and the area surrounding.

We then left Notre Dame and went to the area around the Centre Pompidou for lunch. Let me just say that until you experience the pastry shops like the ones around here you have not lived. 

oh. my. gosh.

We also had a chance to explore the gardens of the Musee Rodin, but unfortunately the actual museum was closed, so we didn't get to go inside.

Finally, the best part of the whole trip, the Latin Quarter!! The Luxembourg Garden was fabulous and it's my new favorite place, for sure. We explored the garden and the town and stopped for a snack before seeing a play followed by an amazing dinner.

Friday was our last day, and it was surprisingly pretty laid back. We started off the morning by exploring the Tuileries garden where we were spotted and invited by a funny PR kid asking us to come participate as the audience for a french reality TV show at the most famous studio in all of Paris! Of course, opportunities like these don't come everyday, so we couldn't say no. It was such a fun experience and honestly so hilarious because we had no idea what was going on. After the show, it was hitting lunch time, so we walked over the bridge to the Musee D'Orsay.

One fun fact about Paris, the most famous and original lock bridge is called the Pont des Arts, but there are a ton of bridges in Paris because the Seine River runs right through the city, and almost all of them have locks on them. This bridge is just one of the random ones and you can see how many locks there still are.

View from inside the Musee D'Orsay, the modern art museum.

After the Musee D'Orsay, we hopped on a train to Versailles, where we took a tour of the Palace of Versailles and hung around in the gorgeous and abundant gardens. This was such an amazing way to finish off the trip. The weather was amazing and it was so fun to enjoy ice cream cones by the water and watch people boat and bike around the gardens. The actual palace itself is unreal... real gold everywhere, inside and outside, and it's one of the biggest castles in all of France. When I first saw it, I was almost shocked at what I saw! It looks like a tiny village drenched in gold from far away.

Following, we went to a creperie for dinner where I had the best meal of my life. My dinner crepe consisted of goat cheese, honey, walnuts, and salad, which was so amazing I almost cried. Oh, and then my dessert crepe was almost even better. Honestly, I don't know how I've lived since. Caramel, chocolate, pralines.... oh my. I can't even talk about it.

The last thing we did on Friday was a 10:30 PM Eiffel Tower excursion where we went to the top and saw Paris at night from above. incredible.

Arc de Triomphe

Have you ever been to France? What was your favorite place?

xoxo

Paris Recap: Part 1

We arrived in Paris on Tuesday, late afternoon around 5 PM. By the time we left Limoges, of course I was sad to leave my host family, but I was excited to see and do something new. Long vacations tend to have me hit a wall towards the two week mark, so I was ready to go for Paris!

When we first arrived in Paris, I was really shocked with how everything was laid out. Because there are so many monuments and just things in general to see (think Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, etc), I had pictured the city to be pretty spread out. Um, this is not the case. Paris is crowded. Everything is tiny and squished together, it's so funny. After dropping our bags at the hotel, we headed out to la Defense, the business district towards the edge of Paris. This area was surprisingly pretty spread out... it reminded me a little of Chicago mixed with the Capital city in Hunger Games. 

We had dinner on our own and did a little shopping before heading back to the center of Paris for a boat tour on the Seine. If you ever have a chance to do this, it is pretty touristy, but it's amazing for a first trip to Paris. The tour really put into perspective where everything is and how everything is actually so close together! Plus, it was a gorgeous sight at night.

Wednesday was our first full day, and definitely the busiest.

First stop: the Louvre. I was pretty excited to see the Louvre... I had imagined it really secluded from everything and I was always curious what the pyramid was in the middle of the buildings. First of all, it is not secluded at all. Like I said, everything is pretty centralized and the Louvre was no different. However, I was surprised to see how huge this museum is! This picture was taken from inside of the museum in one of the other buildings. The whole Louvre is shaped like an "H". Second, the pyramid is not that exciting, it's just how you enter the museum underground, haha!

After the Louvre we went to the Champs-Elysees for lunch and shopping. The Arc de Triomphe is on one end of the Champs Elysees, and the actual street is so different than how I'd imagined it. It's not actually that big, and the shopping is just the funniest combination of stores. In all honestly, it was like a less grand version of fifth avenue, just with more stylish people! The Laduree though... fabulous. Just fabulous.

After the Champs Elysees, we headed out to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur (or Sacred Heart) church. This was one of my favorite places to visit because despite the extremely touristy streets with souvenir shops all lined up one after another, the view from the gorgeous church pictured above is just breathtaking.

We followed this with some time to take pictures in Front of the Eiffel Tower, back in the center of the city.

For me, I had always been really confused about where the Eiffel Tower actually was. I felt like every picture I saw, there seemed to be a new surrounding! But, what I discovered is that it just appears this way because you can't see the Eiffel Tower from almost anywhere. It's so big.

Post Eiffel Tower was back to the Champs Elysees for dinner and then we returned to the hotel around 10 PM. Now that I'm writing it all out, I guess it doesn't seem like a ton, but this day felt packed with things we saw!

Stay tuned to hear about the rest of my trip!

xoxo

7 Street Style Queens

Paris Fashion Week has come and gone, but the street style pics will last forever. And the queens of the shows were not just the models walking down the runway! From bloggers to fashion editors, to actresses and models, there are a million and one street style queens I had never discovered until devouring Vogue for the last few nights. Introducing...

Who: Viviana Volpicella // What: Assistant Fashion Editor of Vogue, Japan

Who: Maria Duenas Jacobs // What: Accessories Editor of Glamour Magazine

Who: Anna DelloRusso // What: Editor-at-Large and Creative Consultant for Vogue, Japan

Who: Giovanna Battaglia // What: Editor of L'Uomo Vogue (Men's Italian Vogue) and contributing fashion editor to W magazine

Who: Helena Bordon // What: Brazilian socialite and fashion blogger

Who: Hanneli Mustaparta // What: Stylist, photographer, former model, and fashion blogger

Who: Caroline Sieber // What: Stylist and Chanel Ambassador

I'm enamored with every single ensemble in this whole post! The bright color combos, amazing handbags and clutches as accessories to already amazing looks, and the beyond fabulous shoes and jewels form the most genius, gorgeous, seemingly effortless outfits, aka street style. 

From this list, my favorite street style queen has got to be Hanneli or Giovanna! Comment below and tell me, who's yours?

xoxo