#WheresNiaNow: Paris and Versailles

I took the Eurostar from London to Paris and immediately got on a tour bus. Near the end of the tour, I took the above selfie. I saw La Tour Eiffel and would see her nearly every day of my stay.

I got to the hotel in the late afternoon, and for the first time, struggled to communicate with a language barrier. No one spoke English in my hotel’s area (and they didn’t have to; they’re in their own country); and of the 23 French words I knew, maybe three were useful. I said merci a lot. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so a few of us walked down the street to find food. We saw a restaurant with the word BURGER in big letters and opted for that. After a comical interaction and French mispronunciation, I ended up with this beautiful veggie burger. It was amazing, and indubitably the best burger I’ve ever had in life.

We ended the night with a cruise on the Seine River.

The next day, I visited the Notre Dame Cathedral. Afterwards , I saw the Ponts de Arts bridge (what used to be the love lock bridge). Since Paris has removed the locks because of them weighing the bridge down, people have started putting locks on surrounding bridges.

I was also privileged enough to visit Musée du Louvre, one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen with equally beautiful things inside of it.

The next day, a group of us took a quick excursion to Versailles. Along with some hot chocolate and shopping, we stopped by King Louis XIV’s Château de Versailles and his Jardins Royaux. It was stunning. Touring inside the palace was incredible. Not only was each room beautiful, but they each had a great deal of history. I couldn’t decide which photos of the inside to post, so I may save those photos for another day.

Later on, a few of us had a picnic by La Tour Eiffel. Afterwards, we went to the very top of it.

I also spent a lot of time in the Latin Quarter, known for its student life and bistros, and even bought a couple of paintings! Paris was a dream. The architecture is grand, the history is rich, and I can’t wait to visit again. The very next day, my phone spazzed out and lost all of my photos from France. You’ll hear about that later.

Stay tuned for the next city, and make sure to check out #WheresNiaNow on Instagram! I’ll always have my current location in my bio @nialangley.