This is the story of my first time exploring the famous city of Paris. This was the last stop of a two week long tour around Europe with some peers from my college. This is how I found a macaron shop, and how I included eating macarons on my journey.
The evening before our full day in Paris, the bus rolled into the city, everyone eagerly awaiting to explore the city of love and see as much as they could. Our tour manager gave us a mini history lesson on the city, and sent us some recommendations of places to check out the next day. One caught my eye: a macaron store called Ladurée. I had never heard of it before, but knew I wanted to check it out.
We hit the ground running the next day. The bus stopped in front of the Eiffel Tower for 5 minutes. We all frantically took pictures and soaked in as much as we could before running back to the bus. We were dropped off at Place Saint Michel. Two of my friends and myself walked across a bridge to The Louvre. It felt surreal walking through a city I’ve only dreamt of seeing. It was a cold and rainy morning, but that didn’t stop us from throwing off our jackets to take pictures in front of The Louvre.
We found a shopping strip with a few souvenir shops and cafes. I stopped in my tracks when I found a bookshop. It was called Librairie Galignani, and it was a magical place, floor to ceiling with books. There was even one of those rolling ladders like the one from Beauty and the Beast. And I did feel like Belle in that French bookshop. It’s a miracle I didn’t buy anything.
A few stores down, we had lunch at a small cafe. I had a ham and cheese sandwich. We knew we wanted dessert, and knew it was time to find the macaron shop. Lucky for us it was just a few stores down. Ladurée was small, and very pink. There was a glass window case where all of the macarons were. There were many flavors to choose from, but I decided to play it safe and get flavors I know I’d like. I bought six macrons, and the cashier put them in a nice bag for me. Then an idea struck. We would be seeing Paris’s top highlights. What better way to saver in the moment, then eating macarons at every place we stopped. To count for the bookshop, cafe, and Ladurée, I ate a vanilla macaron right after I bought them.
Champs-Élysées
Next, we walked down the Champs-Élysées. The sun was finally out which made for a beautiful walk. What a better place to be eating macarons, specifically a chocolate one on our stroll down. It was a delicious milk chocolate one, with a creamy chocolate filling. We saw many beautiful shops, but one in particular caught my eye. It was the majestic Disney store. As a huge Disney nerd, I had to stop in. It was two stories tall, all themed to Disney. I found a Beauty and the Beast sweatshirt, which I thought was an appropriate purchase after visiting the bookshop. I ate a celebratory birthday cake macaron on our way out.
Arc de Triomphe
After a long walk, we saw the Arc de Triomphe. Taking in the beautiful arch, eternal flame, and bewildered by all the cars swirling around us, I ate a chocolate macaron standing next to the Arc.
I ate another vanilla macaron as we walked back down the Champs-Élysées, and towards Place Saint Michel. We found this cute marketplace there filled with many pop up shops. One of the pop-up shops was a macaron one. I decided to buy some more since I was thoroughly enjoying the ones I’ve already had. We decided to sit outside a nearby cafe where I enjoyed some of the macarons. There was even a birthday cake flavored one that looked like the French flag!
Notre Dame
Then we walked over to see Notre Dame which was nearby. With all of the construction going on, we sadly couldn’t go inside. Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful sight. We got to read a few of the signs they put up and saw pictures of what it looks like inside. I decided to eat a chocolate macaron here.
We then decided to sit down and rest on Pont Neuf bridge. The air was still cool, and the sun went behind the clouds for a little which gave us some shade. It was a special moment as I called and Marco Poloed my loved ones to tell them about my day, and ate the last of my macarons.
Eiffel Tower
As the evening settled, we had a very nice dinner. Some of us decided to go see the glowing Eiffel Tower. It was truly a sight to see. Standing there, in front of that iconic landmark, I reminisced about my wonderful day in Paris. Everything was so wonderful, and I knew I would want to come back one day.
My only regret is I didn’t have any macarons left to end the night.