This blog post is 100% images from our Instagram feeds. You can follow us @lyndsaycurtis and @tonycphoto
If you’d like to see the images taken with our DSLR’s on this trip check that blog post out here.
DAY 1: We left Catania in the morning and had a direct flight to Paris. Once we arrived it was straight to Starbucks for a pick me up and much missed Caramel Macchiato. One of my most missed food groups while in Italy is Starbucks. Yes, it’s a food group. My favorite thing when traveling abroad and visiting Starbucks is seeing just how wrong they can get my name. On our first stop I ended up as “Linsey” (not the worst spelling and Cody became “Kolly”. We called him that for the rest of the trip.
After checking into the apartment and meeting up with our friend Molly, we were off to pick up Tony’s race packet. From there it was a quiet night of dinner and heading back to the apartment relatively early so that Tony and I could get up early to get him to the starting line.
Day 2: Marathon Day! Tony ran his first marathon today and we were there cheering him along. Molly and I walked 9 miles that day as we zig-zagged all around Paris trying to see Tony on as many point of the run as possible. Before the run I asked Tony what he wanted at the finish line and he said Starbucks and a baguette. So we of course had to make that happen. Afterwards, we went to a bar for some celebratory beers and then grabbed a Domino’s pizza to eat in the park.
Day 3: Tony and I woke before the sun to take sunrise photos of Notre Dame! It was gorgeous seeing the sunrise over the river and light up those gorgeous trees and architecture. After we finished up with photos we walked over to a cafe and stumbled upon some sidewalk art that said “Paris is Beautiful”. In that moment, I could not agree more!
After our pals woke up we were off to do a bit of shopping and of course eating. We found the most amazing burger place: Blend. If you’re in Paris, go there! It sounds silly to have a hamburger in Paris, but seriously I have talked with dozens of other travelers who all agree that France has insanely good burgers! After that we took a taxi to Champs Elysees to shop some more. We stopped at Laduree for macaroons. Our friends thought it was a bit outrageously priced compared to macaroons at the corner bakery, but once they tried them they realized the difference. My favorite is and probably always will be vanilla bean. Pistachio is also wonderful.
Once we were all shopped out, we hit up a crepe stand. Tony and I split a banana and chocolate crepe which we ate in the park. There were dozens of other people there lounging, tanning and napping. We all laid down for a bit and eventually snoozed for a few minutes. My new favorite thing about Paris is how peaceful and gorgeous the parks are. The weather is in the spring is so inviting and you can’t help but completely relax and enjoy the atmosphere.
That evening we went over to Trocadero garden to take sunset and night photos of the Eiffel tower. We hung out for a solid 2 hours taking selfies and photographing the tower from various locations in the park. Once the sun began setting we made our way down by the carousel to do some long exposure shots of it. The trouble is, the carousel only spins and lights up when there are people on it. The ride operator waits until the ride is relatively full before making it go. We must have sounded crazy cheering for the ride to start going when the tower sparkled at the top of the hour. The fact that both of those two things happened at the same time felt like a miracle to us after our long wait!
After a few photos at the base of the tower. Including a selfie of us standing directly underneath it! We headed to a wonderful restaurant called Cafe Firmine. Our friend Molly had been there before and remembered enjoying their pizza and wine. I had an insanely good Caesar salad with chicken and everyone else got pasta. If you head there, I’d recommend the Caesar salad without question. From there we called it a night because Tony and I planned to wake up as early as possible to photograph the Eiffel tower yet again!
Day 4: Tony and I woke LONG before the sun to take some night and sunrise images of the Eiffel tower. Since we arrived so early we were able to photograph it in complete darkness as well as all stages of the sunrise. It sucks to wake up early guys, but it is so so worth it to have that time to dedicate to getting the exact travel photos that you want! We had exact shots in mind and went out with the intention of nailing those and we did. They’ll be hanging on our walls soon!
(Tony had to climb into a fountain… which may or may not have been legal)
Once the sun was up we headed to a cafe to grab a fresh baguette and some coffee. We walked back home through the park and grabbed Molly to have some breakfast at a restaurant next to the Pompidou Centre (near our apartment). I had an amazing omelette with Molly and Tony got breakfast crepes. From there we did a bit of souvenir shopping before saying bye to Molly so she could get back home to Germany!
We were completely exhausted at that point and took the afternoon to nap. When we got up Tony, Cody and I headed out for sunset and night photography. (Do you catch a theme here?) We stopped by a park on one of the islands that was FULL of young Parisians out having a picnic dinner, some champagne or beers with their friends after a long day of work. Then it was off to one of Paris’ most photographed bridges to watch the sun go down and the Eiffel tower light up at sunset.
Day 5: We slept in a bit this morning since we had been out until around 2 am taking photos the night prior. We visited Sacre Cour and the Montmartre district. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, the warmest that we’d had so far. We walked all over the district and explored the open air art galleries that lined every street and filled every piazza in this neighborhood.
That evening was filled with even more Domino’s pizza. (It’s seriously the little things that you miss when you’re stuck on a little island y’all). From there we enjoyed the last bit of sunlight in the park and photographed the Eiffel tower once more at sunset and night. We stayed there until the stroke of midnight to ring in my birthday!
Day 6: An early early wake up call and private car to the airport. Our flight was one of the first out this morning and we were heading back home. Fortunately for us, Starbucks was open at 4am and we were able to get one final cup of coffee before heading through security.
