A European Honeymoon: Paris

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In October, Jason and I were lucky enough to travel to Europe for 3 weeks. Celebrating our 3 year anniversary and checking out some amazing places you lovely GWS readers might want to visit for your honeymoon! Our first stop was Paris – the city of love. Ever since I saw Midnight in Paris earlier this year, I’ve been dreaming of Paris. I wanted to share some of our favorite memories and advice for those interested in traveling to Paris for their honeymoon, anniversary or just for fun! I’ll also be sharing our stops in Belgium, Berlin, Tuscany and the Amalfi Coast in the next few weeks. :)

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Montmartre paris

For us, our don’t miss was the area of Montmartre. This is where Moulin Rouge is, Amélie was filmed, lots of artists lived (and still live) and Sacré-Cœur provides magical view of Paris. We took a tour of the area with discover walks. The tours are free, but you can tip what you’d like at the end of the tour if you enjoy your tour. Local Parisans lead each group, sharing personal stories, history and local trends. We enjoyed our Montmartre tour so much that we went on second tour with them to see the Left Bank.  It was super interesting too.

Montmartre paris

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notre dame paris

apartment to rent in paris

Big thanks to Katie at Ever After Honeymoons for her help with our lodging! She really knows her stuff and found us some great places for us throughout our trip. Since the hotels in Paris are so expensive (and most are pretty small) we decided to rent an apartment. We booked our apartment from cobblestay.com and stayed in the lovely (and one of our favorite areas of Paris) the St. Germain area. It really was in the perfect location (not too touristy and lots of great restaurants nearby) plus it had a washer and dryer which was super convenient when traveling for a long period of time.

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I have two favorite memories from Paris. One was our first day there, when we happened to walk over this hill and were looking right at the Eiffel Tower! It really is so amazing in person. Photos just don’t do it justice. We loved the view on the hill. We also walked back at night and took a ride on the river to see it lit up. Stunning! Another favorite memory was just the two of us walking around the city and exploring. So much to see and take in. Do plan on doing lots of walking and bring comfy shoes though! My feet were exhausted from our first day since we walked everywhere (we did Montmartre, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe and the area around the Louvre)! Eating breakfast on the sidewalk cafes every morning was like a dream. Eggs, coffee and the most delicious croissants – such a perfect way to start the day. :)

eiffel tower paris

locks in paris on bridges

Honeymoon tip: For all you couples in love out there! Bring a lock (or you can buy one there) and write your names on the lock. All the bridges by Notre Dame are full of locks! You write your name’s (ours is in white and green above…if you visit and find our lock, share a pic with us on Facebook or Twitter, we’d love to see it) and date, then lock the lock on the bridge and throw the key into the river below. :) The love locks symbolize everlasting love. Such a fun Parisian custom to participate in. We plan to go back in a few years hopefully and see if we can find ours. :) Also, if you go and place a lock, share your photo! We’d love to see them. :)

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paris food

Foodie Pick! YAY! For us there were two in Paris: the macarons and the baquettes! We checked out a few macaron shops (there are so many there!) and our favorites were from Gérard Mulot and Laduree. And of course our favorite lunch was a lunch on the go: a baguette with ham, cheese and butter. We never had a bad sammie – they seemed to be good everywhere; at the bread shops, airport and train station. We just loved our time in Paris and can’t wait to go back! Stay tuned for our next stop in Belgium

eiffel tower

all photos by green wedding shoes

 

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