I had low expectations for Paris.

The common descriptors of the city were dirty, crowded, and sprinkled with rude Parisians.

All of which hold some truth.

But if you make an attempt to speak French, and alter your Tokyo cleanliness standards, you’ll have a great time.

Eats

• La Mia Pizza (19 Rue Mouton-Duvernet, 75014 Paris, France) – I was traveling with a friend who is gluten-free and they really enjoyed this pizza. The kind gentleman behind the counter will ask if you’d like a ‘salad,’ which means a layer of fresh arugula on top. My margherita pizza was unremarkable.
• Blé Noir – Very close to the Versailles Palace. They had an amazing galette, the Andouille, which included Camembert d’Isigny with calvados, cooked apples, Andouille de Guémené, and honey. The stuff of food inspiration.
• Positive Café – Catered to health conscious tourists, (what was I doing there?) they served pad thai that was remarkably bad, gluten-free banana bread, and falafel balls. Save yourself.
• Boulanger Pâtissier “O Des Lys” – Fantastic pâtisserie where I had an incredibly decadent chocolate cake with maybe seven layers of varying chocolate goodness and an okay beignets!
• Bachir – The most remarkable ice cream experience I’ve had. They serve Lebanese ice cream with pistachios all over. I got Achta, which is the classic orange blossom flavor. Absolutely delightful.
• The Butcher of Paris – Located within Marché des Enfants Rouges, a market dating back to 1615, I found this sandwich spot through social media I was very disappointed. I’m a finish everything on my plate kind of person and I couldn’t bring myself to finish this sandwich it was that bad. The bread was stale, the meat was flavorless, the avocado was warm and unappetizing, the onion was completely flavorless.
• Big Mamma – East Mamma – This was hyped up, and I was honestly disappointed. To me, a good marinara sauce is flavorful, and I felt like this was quite watery. You could tell the pasta was made fresh but it didn’t blow me away. Their truffle one I didn’t like, but I’m also learning that I may just not like the taste of truffles.
• Saigon Shack – If you’ve never had a banh mi in Vietnam it’s okay. I thought it was lacking pate and butter which should be a crime in Pari.
• La Poutinerie – Good poutine. Now, why you would be eating poutine in Paris, I do not know. I refrain to comment on that myself.
• Fête à Crêpe – We’d been searching for the lemon sugar crepe and this spot had them. It was good but doesn’t beat Nutella for me.
• La Crème de Paris Notre-Dame – Ham and cheese crepe that was stellar.
• I also bought some African street food that was really flavorless but fun to experience!

Sights

• The Palace of Versailles – The palace is massive, ornate, and sprinkled with real life history, Napoleon portrait I’m looking at you. If you like art, interior design, and learning that people back then slept on really small beds sitting up – it’s fascinating. The gardens are so enormous you feel completely consumed by them. They place classical music throughout the gardens so it feels like you’re walking through the set of pride and Prejudice.
• Eiffel Tower – Really fun to walk around, magical to see it light up.
• Fontaine des Quatre-Parties-du-Monde – Fantastic park to walk around. There were a group of school kids playing in the fountain which was lovely to see.
• Luxembourg Gardens – Truly lovely grounds.
• Panthéon – You’re walking down the streets of Rome and suddenly you see a Dome. This area had so many incredible, very romanesque style, buildings.
• Place Sainte-Geneviève – Wonderful little church.
• Church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont – Really stunning church.
• Notre Dame Place – So intricate, and massive. They’ve also made great progress on the repairs post fire.
• Centre Georges Pompidou – Fun shopping mall feel that houses a collection of stores and museums; you can also go up the escalator to view the top, which is cool but not amazing.
• Église Saint-Eustache – Beautiful gothic church.
• The Louvre – The most visited museum in the world, it was in fact insanely busy. The preemptive warning about the Mona Lisa being underwhelming and very small were very accurate. I was surprised by how much I didn’t enjoy this museum. The old palace it’s displayed in also makes for a lot of backtracking.
• Sacre-Cœur Basilica – Incredible view from this church. When you walk out the descending stairs are occupied by groups at all hours of the day. There are locks all along the fences that are marked with hopeful initials.
• Musée d’Orsay – Stunning collections of art, specifically Impressionist and post-Impressionist pieces. Plus the building as a former train station was so cool. I enjoyed this museum a lot.
• Hillsong Paris – Wonderful service and welcoming body of believers!