Strolling Around the 7th arrondissement | Paris, France

In Paris, there are 20 arrondissements and we barely scratched the surface of even one. On our second day, I made a reservation at the only Michelin starred restaurant still open in August. All the other restaurants were boarded up for the summer holiday or were ridiculously expensive. I know that it's a once in a lifetime to eat at a French Michelin starred restaurant, but it doesn't have to be thousands of dollars. Do you know how many shoes and sweaters I could buy with that money? No thanks.  I'll share more about our incredible meal in a future post.

Before our lunch reservations, we left our hotel a bit early so we'd be able to explore the 7th arrondissement. I honestly couldn't tell you how we got there, but we passed all these beautiful storefronts and buildings. We even came across the Assemblée Nationale and the Hotel Matignon, which I just found out is where the Prime Minister of France lives. It totally makes sense why all those people were staring at me strangely when we were taking photos. They must've been like, "Look at this strange person taking photos in front of the Prime Minister's house." What can I say? I can't pass up a pretty door, especially if it's a big, beautiful and blue! 

Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries | Paris, France

One thing that I knew that I did not want to do in Paris was go inside the Louvre. As someone who really likes art and museums, I tend to get annoyed at museums, especially if they're popular ones. They tend to be overflowing with tourists who want to get that obligatory photo in front of "that famous painting". Also, I kept reading that I should avoid the Louvre at all costs. So that's what we decided to do. We didn't even plan on being in the area but on our first day we somehow found ourselves at the Jardin des Tuileries at dusk. As we walked through the garden we realized that it led to the Louvre. Since we didn't know when we would ever get the chance to see the Louvre, we walked over. It was probably one of the best decisions we made because there were barely any people around. Walking around the courtyard and seeing the glass pyramids without the crowds was a pretty cool moment. I'm glad that we decided to skip the lines and just "happened" upon the Louvre.   

Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, & Champs-Élysées | Paris, France

On our first official day in Paris, we did way too much. In the morning, Markus and I trekked all the way to Montmartre and visited Sacré-Cœur and the Cafe des Deux Moulins from Amélie. Then we decided to try head over to the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Élysées and the Eiffel Tower since they were sort of close together. In all of my research on France, I was led to believe that the entire month of August was the dead season and that the streets would be empty. Whoever said that was a liar, the entire city was swarming with tourists and made it sort of impossible to linger anywhere for long. We wanted to go into the park outside the Eiffel Tower, but the lines were impossibly long. I think if we had more than three days in Paris, I probably would've pushed for it more.  Unfortunately I didn't get my touristy photo in front of the Eiffel Tower. C'est la vie, maybe we'll make it back to Paris one day! 

Giant's Causeway: Part 3 | Northern Ireland

As I've stated in previous posts, the hike through Giant's Causeway is quite stunning. The end of the hike led to a suspension bridge, but due to the strong winds it was closed. We didn't learn of this till we go to the end, but there was a silver lining. As we approached the bridge area, the clouds parted just a bit and a rainbow slipped through. I kid you not, I couldn't write this stuff. It was such a great moment at the end of a long trek, and one that I won't soon forget.

Giant's Causeway: Part 2 | Northern Ireland

The walk to Giant's Causeway was absolutely breathtaking despite the weather not cooperating. The weather wasn't the best and it was one of the coldest days during our trip. Some people would describe it as miserable, cold and rainy, but it added to the grandeur of the scenery. Surprisingly, you can trek all over the basalt columns. There were some guards looking about, but people could climb as high as they wanted. Since we weren't really wearing hiking shoes, we decided to stay in the safer and less slippery areas. Didn't want to trip and fall into the tumultuous ocean. 

Despite the weather being terrible and the holiday season, there were still a lot of tourists. I didn't love the amount of people, but Game of Thrones is filmed in the Belfast, so there were a lot of tours geared towards lovers of the series. I love the show as well, but we went for a tour specifically focusing on the Causeway, which I think is the smart way to go. So if you ever make it there, skip the Game of Thrones tours and focus on the good stuff!