The City of Love

When I lamented to my parents that booking a spring break trip that stopped in Paris even though I was already going there over Valentine's Day weekend would mean seeing fewer parts of Europe, they put things in perspective:

"Are you really complaining about spending more time in Paris?"

They had no idea how great their advice would be.

Paris just might be my new favorite city, and I probably would have come home disappointed in all we missed if I didn't know I'd be returning soon. Being in the "city of love" (with two friends) for Valentine's Day was the perfect way to spend the weekend but also meant incredibly long lines. By the time we got into the Louvre, it was practically closing time. Knowing general consensus is that the Mona Lisa is disappointingly tiny in an overcrowded room, we opted to prioritize the Napoleon III Apartments exhibit instead. A friend had called it the museum's "hidden gem," but I still wasn't prepared for how incredible it would be. The huge, extravagant rooms were comparable the Palace of Versailles, which we'd seen the day before.

Napoleon's rooms were unexpectedly lavish.

Anyone visiting Paris should stop at Versailles, if only to daydream about what it would be like to live in a huge palace.

The Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles was gorgeous, with its enormous mirrors facing equally large windows.

As cliche as it is, there's really no better word for Paris but "posh." In theory, the fact that most of the buildings look very similar with their Haussmannian designs sounds like a boring architectural plan. But the uniformity in means the entire city is just lovely.

Napoleon hired Georges-Eugene Haussmann to redesign Paris.

The Luxembourg Gardens have Haussmann's designs.

Unsurprisingly, one of my favorite spots in Paris was the Eiffel Tower. We saw it at night, Nutella crepes in hand to create the perfect Parisian experience. On the strike of midnight, a light show started, covering the structure with twinkling lights. Normally I would find that sort of thing cheesy, but I was entranced seeing it on the tower that's considered a symbol of love.

The lit-up Eiffel Tower is breathtaking at night.