During the month of August, I was in Paris three separate times, but I’ve decided to combine all three brief visits into this one post.
The first time I arrived in Paris, on August 12, I walked to the Jardin des Tuileries for the Fête Foraine. This is a summer festival set up in the garden with rides, food and games. I had so much fun walking around and going on the swings to have a great view of the city.
On my second day in Paris, I saw two friends from my study abroad experience. I hadn’t seen them since leaving France to go back to the U.S. in March 2020. One of them now lives in France, taking dance and French classes. The other was on vacation like me. The three of us got lunch at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants and then went to Bisou, a bar that I had seen influencers posting about. We also walked by the yoga studio that we took our yoga classes at to reminisce. After that, we decided to try to go to several pharmacies to get the French vaccination pass (read my passe sanitaire blog here), unfortunately with no success. It was so nice to see familiar faces and it’s great to have friends internationally to reconnect with.
The second time returning to Paris after traveling to Lyon, Cassis and Marseille, I was able to see another friend from study abroad, Nathaly. I know Nathaly from the French courses we had to enroll in during my semester abroad. Nathaly and my common language is French, so during dinner we spoke French the entire time. Even though our lives are completely different, it’s crazy to be able to connect with someone who is simultaneously learning French with you (even though now that she lives with her French husband she is much better than me!) I was so glad to have made such a good friend in the language classes while abroad.
The next day after seeing Nathaly, I visited Montmartre. It was nice to have no plans and be able to go wherever I wanted to; I was able to go to the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, too, which I had been wanting to do for a while.
The next morning before heading to Caen, I had one of the best experiences taking a commercial dance class from Loriane Cateloy Rose, one of my favorite young French dancers. She is so talented and I was starstruck having a private dance lesson from her for two hours. I’ve taken her Zoom classes at 5 a.m. in the past and learned her choreography from YouTube, so it was absolutely crazy to finally meet her in person. She has an aura that just makes her seem talented before she even moves.
After spending a few days in Caen, I was so lucky to return to Paris to spend my final night in France with my boyfriend, Thibaud. We went out to dinner at this pizza place called Papacionu in the 9th arrondissement (it was so good, thanks Sarah for the recommendation!) After that, we went to the Eiffel tower just in time to see it twinkle at midnight. I am so grateful to have spent my last night in Paris in such a fun way!
This solo travel experience definitely taught me a lot about being independent (and comfortable doing things alone), surviving in a foreign country and the power of persistence. I am so beyond grateful and fortunate to have been able to travel this summer and see so many places and do things I’ve only dreamed of doing. My 17 days in France were nothing but surreal.
That’s all for the travel series (for now at least!) Hope you enjoyed:)
Julia's Journey in Paris 