So we just left the beach, and I was handed another cerveza… aka Jacke wants me to write another blog and update everyone on Paris! THE CITY OF LOVE! Well, unless you’ve been on the road together 24/7 for almost 4 weeks straight….JK! Believe it or not, we’ve only been in ONE argument, and it was over mustard. But I’ll save that story for another day.

Anyways, Paris has been our favorite city so far. I know I keep saying that, but this time we actually mean it! Again, the architecture is just out of this world as it is with the rest of Europe. They all posess their own unique style and characteristics that appeal to each individual’s taste, but Paris just has that cafe/bistro/romance/historic/modern  feel like none other. Maybe we were just in a good area, but then again, this “vibe” was down every street we turned our heads to. We stayed off Rue Montmartre, and loved the liveliness that the area provided for people of all ages. Paris is “divided” into approximately 1-20 different arrondissements (subdivisions/districts) and although they each have their own appeal, we stayed in the 2nd arrondissement. A good friend who lived in the area for a year, recommended focusing our stay based off the arrondissements located in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or 11. I couldn’t agree more after our short visit, based off all the sites we were able to see, along with the cafes, restaurants, bars, museums, and safety we felt being in these areas. Which leads me into our next segment.

We felt safe the entire time…Well, until we were walking down an alley the first night, and Jacke stopped to take a picture of some random monument, but accidentally got a couple hookers in it (the only prostitutes we saw the entire trip and she has to get a pic). They thought we were taking a picture of them, and their pimp then stormed over to us yelling in french. We both were yelling back at him “THEY AREN’T IN OUR PHOTO!” He wanted her camera, and thankfully I was in the way, or else I have a feeling that camera would still be shattered all along the ground of Parìssss. … Other than the hooker fiasco, we felt safe the entire time, and I think its time for everyone to revisit this unbelievable city!

There is soooo much to do here, and I feel like we only scratched the surface. Just gives us another reason to go back again I guess 🙂 but some of the “can’t miss” spots we adored were the Arc de Triump, Eiffel Tower (duh), Notre Dame Cathedral, Pantheon, and the Louvre! Of course we saw numerous other places, but these really hit the spot for us and will forever be our first thoughts when revisiting our memories.

The Arc De Triumph wasn’t the craziest spot by any means, but our very first stop fresh off the bus from the airport. Initially, I’m thinking about home and how the Mayor of Carmel, Indiana would probably lose his mind in jealousy if he saw an 8 lane roundabout, but then the monument and all the different roads leading off of this area leave you in awe!

We then visited the Eiffel Tower later that night. This was a sight to see considering as we were walking up, it actually brought tears to Jacke’s eyes. And by “brought tears to her eyes”, i mean she actually cried for a good 5 minutes. She liked it so much that she made me take her back two more times to see this magnificent wonder 🙂 The next time we visited, we came prepared with champaign and a picnic, and were blessed with the most perfect weather we could have asked for! We spent hours here, sitting in the grass and reflecting on life. This was our favorite day and one of our favorite moments we’ve shared in the 3 1/2 years we’ve been together.

The next day we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral. The church flaunts two unbelievable towers with stainless glass murals out of this world, that can be viewed inside or out. The inside took our breath away, but it wasn’t until later our eyes feasted on views of the entire city. You can either book online or grab a ticket while there for later, but you can actually go atop the Notre Dame Cathedral at different times throughout the day. We visited right at sunset (only available on Saturdays and Sundays during July and August) for the most breathtaking views in Paris. Dare I say it… but we thoroughly enjoyed this view 10 times more the than Eiffel Tower view and only 20 visitors are allowed at top per a time vs. the thousands on the tower. Yea… I just went there. We recommend heading over to the Pantheon, as it is within close walking distance to the cathedral. There, you start your adventure in the basement with some of the most famous French influencer’s tombs in the world before heading upstairs to some of the most beautiful domes created since the Roman Pantheon some 2000 years ago!

WARNING TO MEN: on the way to the Notre Dame Cathedral… Apparently there is this bridge with locks that uses some type of witchcraft to make you spend your life with whomever you are with. Jacke had me buy some cheap lock, write our names on it, throw our locks into the river (I don’t advise littering, but she made me), and then says to my face “Now we are together forever!!!!” Thankfully for me, it was Jacke, but just be careful who you go here with boys!

Last but not least… the Louvre!!! This is seriously the biggest building we have ever seen and the largest museum in the world. The British Museum was my favorite museum of all time, and this was over three times the size! Even if you aren’t a fan of ancient artifacts and paintings (probably leaves all of you still listening besides Jacke), the architecture inside was absolutely stunning as well. We visited a “floor” and a half in about 3-4 hours. I would definitely recommend a full day if you are into museums, although it may take a week to see it all!

So there you have it for Paris! We started our days slow and took the time to walk everywhere to experience as much as possible. If you have any questions, just email, call, text, comment, etc as usual. We are now arriving in Barcelona where I’ve been attempting to finally upload some pictures. In the process of doing so, I realized my computer ran out of memory somehow and noticed almost 70 GBs was dedicated to videos…. So here I go on a crazy binge of deleting old pics, rave videos, and GoPro videos from over time, that were garbage… that provides about 3 gigs of free storage. So I asked Jacke to delete some videos…. which was basically 1000 videos and 2 gigs worth of Jacke and her sister-in-law Christina using snapchat filters, gone. I have to be missing something…. then on the train she all of the sudden starts watching The Kardashians. “Babe, how are you watching the Kardashians without wifi?”, when she replies “Oh I’ve downloaded all of the seasons.” So after dropping close to 100 Euro on a external hard drive, she then tells me she has all the Kardashian seasons downloaded and saved to my computer. I about threw her and the laptop through the window, but instead asked her politely to delete that “amazing” show off my computer… exact words 🙂

Takeaway from Paris:

1.) Watch your surroundings to ensure prostitutes aren’t in any pictures

2.) Paris is TRULY the city of love.

3.) Don’t create a profile on your laptop for your girlfriend

4.) If for some reason you can’t avoid step 3, I did at least find out that you can break the love lock bridge spell, since Kourtney and Scott have broken up since the episode “We’ll always have Paris!”