Paris Travel Guide: Eiffel Tower, Seine River, and Gourmet Delights

Paris is quite amazing. I totally get the hype of this city. It is beautifully laid out and full of history. There are structures from the Roman Empire, medieval and world fair eras, so I thoroughly enjoyed walking around this city.

My accommodations were nothing fancy but the location was perfect for me. It was about a 10-15 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower. When I got to my room, I changed into more comfortable walking attire and went out to check out the park next to the Eiffel Tower.

I quickly realized that most the park was closed off since they were still taking down the structures from the Olympics. I walked towards the Eiffel Tower. The tower has pretty tight security, like an airport, so you can’t get near it without a ticke. I immediately booked my ticket to the top of the Eiffel Tower the next day, which included an hour walking tour beforehand. Perfect!

Sightseeing on the Seine River

I crossed the street to check out the Stein River and saw they had riverboat tours going on. The next one was leaving in 15 minutes, so I grabbed a ticket and got onboard. It was a bit chilly and cloudy – we lucked out that there was no rain though. This tour was very informative and I realized that a lot of the main attractions of the city are along this river. I was already plotting my walking route for the next morning 🙂

First Dinner in Paris

After the river tour, I walked through the Eiffel Tower park again and down a main boulevard before getting dinner. I had dinner at a wonderful restaurant near my hotel, called Bistro Saint Dominique. I had chicken liver pate for an appetizer and salmon with vegetables for my main course. The food was delicious.

I was kinda full and had no reason to seek out a dessert but I saw this patisserrie across the street that I just had to check out. I got a cookie croissant, Le Crookie, that was basically life changing. It was buttery, chocolately and had an amazing texture. After eating it, I was beyond full and rolled myself back to my hotel room.

The next day I woke up bright and early and went for a long walk around the Stein River. There is such beautiful architecture and old monuments in Paris. I walked past the Grand Palace and saw a bunch of people wearing black suits. I assumed there was a funeral going on, but apparently it was the Chanel Show for the beginning of Fashion Week. Silly me 🙂

What are you guys here for a funeral?

I walked all the way to the Louvre, which was quite beautiful but I didn’t go inside. After that I hopped on a bike and cruised around for a little while. That was great fun, I was able to cover more ground than by just walking. I rode by some giant castle looking thing with a golden dome from the Roman Empire – super impressive building! There was a giant fountain that was drained – I believe because of the Olympics but not sure.

For lunch, I decided to go with a French classic – Beef bourguignon . I ate outside at a good looking bistro in the same neighborhood as my hotel. The dish was rich in flavor and super delicious. The beef was so tender and the vegetables were perfectly cooked. It comes out in a dutch oven – definitely plenty for two but I took it down myself ;). Afterwards I had some french cheeses and an espresso. I went back to my hotel to rest for a bit feeling very satisfied with myself.

The Eiffel Tower

The walking tour for the Eiffel Tower starts a few blocks away and across the river. Our group was small, which is great for me because I like to ask a lot of questions to the tour guide 🙂 She told us the history of the Eiffel Tower and how it was built. We stopped on the bridge at a good spot to take pictures with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

As we get closer to the tower, she tells us about the construction of the Eiffel Tower and it’s quite an unbelievable story. The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 International Exposition, which celebrated the French Revolution’s centenary. The tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel, a leading bridge engineer at the time, and was intended to be the entrance to the exposition. The tower’s construction was a marvel of precision, with 18,038 pieces of metal connected by 2.5 million rivets. And this was all built in 2 years!

Our tour guide took us past security and then gave us our tickets to go to the top of the tower. It is such an impressive structure when you are standing underneath it. There are three elevator shafts open to the public but only two were in operation. These are not normal elevators that you might be used to. The elevator cars are massive, they have two levels for people and probably 15-20 people on each level.

The first elevator takes you to the second floor which is 377 ft above the ground floor. The views from there are great but I didn’t spend too much time on that level because you need to get on a line to get on the second elevator to the top. I was able to enjoy some views while waiting on line. The next elevator is also big and goes to the top very quickly. It’s quite exhilarating to be honest with ya!

Wow the views of the city from the top of the Eiffel Tower are incredible! I didn’t realize how big the city of Paris was until I was up there. It’s a pretty massive sprawl of a city and no building is taller than the Eiffel Tower. There were a lot of people at the top and you can walk up to a second deck. I took many photos and it was great people watching as well :). Lots of people were drinking champagne and I saw a wedding proposal as well. It was a very great vibe at the top!

There was a bit of a wait to get on the elevator down to the second level. Once on the second level, I did some souvenir shopping and got some nice things for the family 🙂 I saw that there was a very long line to get on the next elevator so I opted to take the stairs. This was actually pretty wild and scary at first haha. You are pretty high up and it feels like the wind might blow you off the stairs but it’s a caged staircase. I was able to get down swiftly since I was the only one on the stairs.

I felt really great about the whole Eiffel Tower experience and would definitely recommend doing it if you are visiting Paris. My only advice would be to by you tickets ahead of time and give yourself a couple hours at least to go to the top and back since there is always a crowd. If you are being more spontaneous and want to see some good high views of Paris, i would recommend going to Montparnasse Tower. It’s not as tall as the Eiffel Tower but still has great views. Unfortunately, I was there on a very cloudy day and couldn’t see much.

Second Dinner in Paris

After spending a couple hours exploring the Eiffel Tower, I was getting hungry. The type of hunger that can only be cured by amazing french cuisine! There are lots of options in that neighborhood and most restaurants were packed. I ended going to a great restaurant called La Fontaine de Mars. The place was packed but I was able to get a small table right to the side of the bar.

Some bread, meat and butter was brought over to me promptly and I got myself a nice bottle of mineral water. The appetizer I got was escargot – a classic French dish. This was my first time eating escargot and I thought it was delicious. The snails were tender and come out covered in the garlic herb oil that it’s cooked in. Nicky Likey.

For my main course I got roasted chicken with morel mushrooms. The chicken was cooked perfectly and juicy with a crispy skin. The mushrooms has a nice nuttiness that complimented the chicken well. Really delicious and satisfying dish. I would highly recommend you experience it for yourself!

Dessert was something special… Strawberries and Pistachio Sabayon with Fresh Cream. Whoa whoa whoa stop the clock! This was my first time having sabayon and it was like a silky smooth pistachio cream custard. The sabayon paired so perfectly with the strawberries and the fresh cream takes it over the top. I enjoyed this dessert so much and was probably my favorite dessert in my whole trip to Europe. Even better than the cookie croissant!

I walked away from that meal a changed man. I now know what the classic french fine dining experience is all about. The service was great too – I know there is a reputation for french servers to sometimes be rude, especially to Americans, but that wasn’t my experience at all. Even though I don’t speak a lick of French, everyone was very accommodating and nice to me. After dinner I went back to my hotel for some much needed rest after a long day.

The next morning, I walked around the neighborhood a bit more. I sat outside of a cafe and had a french breakfast, which was coffee, fresh orange juice, croissant and an omelette. The eggs were just ok but the croissant was amazing. The french bread in general is just incredible. I went back to my hotel to get my things together and took the bus to the Montparnasse train station.

The train station was very busy and it’s like a mall with lots of shops and places to eat. I got another croissant ☺️ and some snacks for the train ride. If you want to find out where I went to next, you’re gonna have to check out the next blog post 😉

Thanks for reading this far! If you like this kind of content, please consider subscribing 😊