weekend in paris • day 2.2

happy monday, my friends. oh, and happy 4th of july, fellow americans!

i’m celebrating being an american on the blog today by posting more about my trip to paris last week. hehe. i mean, it makes since, right? as an expat american, i have the amazing privilege to be able to access europe + the rest of the world in a completely different way than i did when i lived in the states. i am fully aware of my situation, the opportunities that i have, and i vow to not ever take that for granted.

and, i am so proud to be an american – to celebrate the diversity, the free-spiritedness, the volunteerism + community, and the beauty of the fifty states.

wherever i am, wherever i go, i hope that i represent americans well. and i hope that i never lose that carefree, relaxed, spontaneous, everyone is equal, anything-is-possible drive to be the best person that i am, who makes a difference in her community + in the world. not because i am better, but because we are all one. something that i learned because i grew up in the united states.

so, now, how about we continue with the photos + stories from my saturday in paris… the conclusion of our first full day. (you can see the first part of the day here). and, my god, the rest of the day was freaking magical. i literally felt like it was the perfect way to spend an evening in paris. it was the stuff of movies. ok… here we go!

buskers by the river

after leaving le marais, we headed back to the river to cross to the left bank… heading toward the latin quarter/5th arrondissement, where we were staying + where my cousin lived. 

on our way, of course, we just went with the flow. so, when we came across some buskers, playing on the bridge, we decided to stop and enjoy the music for a while. turns out, they were american. southern american, actually, i could tell by their southern accent. hehe.

wine and fries for dinner!

after the music, we headed back toward my cousin’s place. we kind of had a plan now. food. wine. and relaxing in her apartment. you’ll understand why this was our plan in just a minute…

just below her apartment was a little cafe of sorts that specializes in french fries. my absolute favorite food in the whole entire freaking world. and here, the fries were supposedly out of this world. so, it was definitely a place for me to visit. 

lina and i stood in line with tons of others and ordered two huge orders of fries , while kat ran next door to pick up a bottle of wine. it was time for dinner!

a big bag of hot fries + spicy sauces in tow, we met kat with the wine, and headed into her building. 

to access her apartment, we walked through the building and into the back courtyard, then up TEN flights of stairs (i think it was ten. it felt like 20.). but, as we walked, lina and i realized that this climb was going to be so very worth it.

yep. this is the view from my cousin’s kitchen window. u n b e l i e v a b l e.

ok, so you’ve seen the sick view that my cousin had from her apartment window. now, it’s time to see even more…

sunset over paris

after our dinner of wine and fries (you only live once), we headed outside, bottle of wine in tow, to the outside staircase that you use to reach kat’s apartment. the staircase is actually just to the right of her kitchen window, so the view is the same: a stunning overlook of paris and the eiffel tower.

i think it was about 6:30 pm, and we vowed to sit on the staircase together until the sun set, which would be about 3.5 – 4 hours. so, we hunkered down. sweatshirts, blankets, and our wine. chatting, sitting in silence. laughing. videoing. just being. and it was pure magic.

just before sunset, about 9:45, we realized that we wanted more wine. so, my sweet cousin, ran and got her wallet, flew down the 10 flights of stairs, and ran to the wine store just below on the street. she grabbed two bottles of wine, sprinted up the 10 flights of stairs again, and made it back to our little staircase hideout within 7 minutes. she’s bad ass.

while she was gone, lina and i made a little video…

so, we refilled our glasses. toasted life. toasted paris. toasted family. and we watched the sun sink down on the horizon, while the eiffel tower slowly began to light up.

it. was. cosmic. breathtaking. mystical. beautiful. and one night in paris that i will not soon forget.

je t’aime, paris.

xoxo. liz.

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weekend in paris series //

day 1 → here

day 2.1 → here

day 3→ stay tuned!