The Best of Paris! Churches, Towers & Crepes
We woke up to another beautiful morning in Paris. The sun wasn’t quite shining, but the city still looked gorgeous. Our first stop was a church that absolutely blew us away.
We headed to Sainte-Chapelle, a chapel originally built in 1248 under the reign of Louis IX, who later became Saint Louis. This incredible place has two chapels. The lower chapel was for the palace’s common folk and workers. The upper chapel was exclusively for the royal family.
Both chapels are equal in size, but the upper chapel is definitely more beautiful. We think it might be one of the prettiest churches in all of Paris. Entry costs about €13, and it’s absolutely worth every penny.
Sainte-Chapelle isn’t as crowded as some other Paris attractions, but you should still book your tickets online in advance. We recommend booking a couple days ahead rather than the day before like we did. We got lucky and still got in, but we missed some other sites because they were completely booked.
The Iconic Eiffel Tower
Next, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. It was pretty busy near the tower, but we found our way. We tried to get tickets the night before, but all the prepaid ones were sold out. We hoped we could still get up without waiting too long.
While we stood in line, we learned some cool facts about this famous structure. Everyone knows the Eiffel Tower, especially when it sparkles at night. It lights up the entire city with a gorgeous view.
The tower was originally built for the 1889 World’s Fair and later became a radio tower. The height is over 1,000 feet. To be precise, it’s 1,083 feet tall. That’s the same height as an 81-story building. It was the tallest building in the world until 1930.
Thankfully the line went pretty quick and they had plenty of availability. You can take the elevator up or you can walk if you really want to tackle all those stairs. We got to go all the way to the very top. Well, almost to the top. Technically, there’s another 30 meters above where tourists can go, but only technicians can access that area. The views from the top are impressive. You get great views of the entire city of Paris, even though it was quite smoggy that day.
Basilica of the Sacred Heart
Our next stop took us to what might be our favorite view of Paris. We made it to Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, or the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. This beautiful church was completed in the 1900s and stands about 280 feet tall. It’s made of travertine stone and the inside is very pretty. We weren’t sure if we could take video or pictures inside since we weren’t allowed to the last time we visited about 5-6 years ago. We headed inside to see if anything had changed and indeed it had. We got a few shots of this impressively beautiful church.
McDonald’s France Experience
After all that walking, we needed some energy so we stopped at McDonald’s. Yes, I know, “how very western” of us! But McDonald’s is very different in other countries and often it has some surprising menu items. We wanted to see what French McDonald’s offers.
One of us got a Croque McDo, which is basically a croque monsieur sandwich. It’s quite small and unfortunately stuck to the paper pretty badly. Despite the paper situation, it actually tasted really good. It’s basically a ham and cheese sandwich, but McDonald’s style.
That quick snack was just what we needed to keep exploring. Just down the hill on the west side of Sacré-Cœur is the area known as Montmartre. This area is historically known for its artists, and there are still tons of them displaying their artwork on the streets today. There are lots of restaurants and bars here as well. It’s a great place to hang out, have a bite to eat, and grab dessert.
This area is also famous for the Moulin Rouge, which was actually the birthplace of the can-can dance. The can-can started as a very seductive dance. We’re definitely not experts on this kind of entertainment, but people still go to shows there. It seats about 850 people inside, and apparently it’s a very dressy affair because we saw people waiting outside all fancy and dressed up.
Dinner at Le Grizzly
We headed to our dinner spot, a restaurant called Le Grizzly in the Saint-Martin area near Montmartre. When our food arrived, one of us ordered the traditional burger, or technically the Grizzly Burger. The other went for the Beef Bourguignon with mashed potatoes.
The burger had really good flavor. The bun was crunchy and the meat was perfect. The Beef Bourguignon was good too, though we’re not exactly connoisseurs of this classic French dish. We’d rate it about seven out of ten. You can’t beat having authentic French food in France itself.
For dessert, we had a very traditional French treat in mind, but we had to get ourselves over to the Eiffel Tower first! You can never go wrong with macarons or crème brûlée, but tonight, in front of the sparkling tower we had to find a street vendor to freshly make us a Nutella crepe. We kept it simple with just Nutella, even though bananas would have been delicious too.
There’s nothing quite like enjoying a warm crepe with that magical view.
The Champs-Élysées & Arc de Triomphe
The next morning, we found ourselves on Avenue des Champs-Élysées, one of the most famous streets in Paris. It’s also probably one of the most expensive places for food and souvenirs. Everything costs a lot more here than in most other parts of Paris. Our tip would be to go off the main streets to find your food and souvenirs if you want to save some money.
Down to the end of this incredible street, we slowly made our way to our last stop in this amazing city. Can you guess where we went? That’s right, the Arc de Triomphe.
Napoleon commissioned this arch in 1806 after the Battle of Austerlitz, which was fought in what is present-day Czech Republic. The arch is still used today in numerous military parades. The most famous is the big Bastille Day parade held every July in the center of Paris. It closes down the entire Champs-Élysées and turns it into a pedestrian-only zone. We’ve both been here for that parade, and it’s pretty wild.
This ended our trip in the wonderful City of Light, full of culture, amazing food, and incredible pastries. Paris never fails to amaze us with its blend of history, art, and culinary delights.
Every corner of this city tells a story, from the medieval stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle to the iron lattice of the Eiffel Tower. The artists of Montmartre keep the creative spirit alive, while the grand boulevards remind you of the city’s imperial past.
Thanks for traveling the world with us. Until next time, au revoir from Paris!
Want to see all these amazing Paris sights in action? Watch our full Paris adventure on YouTube:
