Living Life With KayLeigh: Postcard from France

"Paris is always a good idea" -Audrey Hepburn

In Sweden, schools have a week long break in February for the families to go skiing before the season ends, this break is called Sport Holiday. Lucky for us, this breaks gives us a chance to explore a little more outside Malmö. The Camp Malmö girls are headed to five different cities over the next 10 days! We started the trip off in Paris, a place we all love! I first went to Paris in March of 2016. It was a very short trip, and besides the tower at night, I left Paris not in awe. The three of us were actually in Paris this summer, on another education based trip. Despite the heat, Paris was magical in the sun. We filled the days with all the touristy things and ended the nights with crepes admiring the sparkle of the tower. This trip is when I fell in love with the magic of Paris. This stop marked the third visit to Paris for all three of us. I guess, you could say third times the charm!

Can you spot the Eiffel Tower?

We had the whole row to ourselves, can't complain about that!

Palais-Royal

We started Friday morning walking around the Musée du Louvre. We took the obligatory tourist picture, before heading to a small area called Palais-Royal. This area has black and white striped columns coming out of the ground at various heights. It's a fun place for jumping around and a fun twist to your average Paris backgrounds. Chandler and Hailey were kind enough to let me walk by the Christian Loubiton store in this area. I was all heart eyes over the shoes in the window.

It's a bird, It's a plane, It's a KayLeigh!

The Tuileries Gardens

We were blessed with the presence of the sun both days in Paris. We walked through the gardens with birds flying overhead and a white ferris real guiding us to were we needed to go next. Camp Malmö girls are all about the #views. We decided to ride the ferris wheel, and it might have been the best money we spent that day! With the sun shining on the city, the view was breathtaking. You could see the Eiffel tower, the Lourve, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and the picturesque Scare Coeur on the hill of Montmarte. The ferris wheel is right next to the Musee d'l Orangeria, home of Monet's Water Lilies. I find these paintings to be beautiful. There are housed in two, all white, oval shaped rooms. The paintings are long and fit the curve of the wall, with four in each room. The colors of the paintings just pop against the stark white background, making it one of my favorite art pieces in all of Paris. After admiring Monet's work, we headed to café for some Croque Monsieur and Coke to refuel.

Notre Dame

From lunch, we headed out to the neighborhood of La Marais. We just took a stroll through on our way to Notre Dame. There were multiple people with falafels and the lines to get one were long! If I ever make it back to Paris, I'll have to try one in this area! The three of us have already seen inside Notre Dame, so we aimed for a little bit of a different view. We climbed to the stop instead! The view was beautiful, especially seeing the gargoyles on the church up so close. The square where the church sits, seemed so small from the top. On the way up we also got to take a peak at the bell inside the church. The view was worth the climb, but I'll never look at a round stair case again without thinking of Notre Dame.

Odette

After the climb, we decided to treat ourselves to a little cream puff from Odette. This shop is not far from Notre Dame and close to Shakespeare and Company. The outside is charming and inviting. It was the perfect, sweet treat before we headed off to do some shopping.

Galleries Lafette

I have seen pictures of this mall decorated for Christmas and it is UNREAL, making it a must to check out while we were there. You can go to the top of the building for a view and there is even a small resterant you can visit. We went to the top during sunset and it was breathtaking. Once the sun went down we headed inside the mall to browse. There was no big decorations, but the design of the building is stunning. I love the color that comes out of the stained glass.

Eiffel Tower
Nothing says Paris quite like the Eiffel tower! I can't imagine living in Paris and seeing that everyday. During our trip, we visited the tower on multiple occasions. It's stunning both in the day and at night, but I have to say seeing it at night is one of my favorite things! I feel like my body glows a little bit like a firefly, each time I see it sparkle! Plus, the chocolate crêpe in my hand doesn't hurt either. In Paris, we stayed at a hotel called Tourism Avenue. We had stayed there this past summer, and it was the perfect place for our visit this time as well. The location is great because it's a short walk to the tower! When we visited the tower during the day, it was packed! We headed to the Trocadéro for the view. Sadly, there was a crane in the way, so we had to get creative with the angles. No crane can rain on our parade!

Peep the crane behind my head!

Champs-Élysées

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to Champ Élysées area for some window shopping! We took an obligatory stop at Laudrée for some macarons. The Arc de Triomphe is a a marvel to look out while in this area!

Montmarte

Sunday afternoon we headed to the area of Montmarte. This is where you can find the Sacre Coeur. We went here this past summer and it was so much busier this time around! There are steps in front of the church you can climb to get to the top, but there is also a tram on the other side of the carousel. A short walk from the church, there is a small square filled with local artist. I love walking around and seeing how each artist portrays a certain area in the city. The paintings are all of the same places, but each with their own flair. It's a perfect spot to pick up a souvenir.

L'Opéra Garnier - Paris Ballet
Chandler grew up doing ballet, and we always take a look around the opera houses where we are visiting. We decided to go in and see if they had any student ticket pricing at the one in Paris They didn't, but they do sell 10 euro tickets for seats with a limited view. After hearing the price, we didn't care how limited the view was, we decided to splurge for the tickets. Besides a pole, the seats weren't too terrible! It was really the tall people that were hard to see over. Good thing it was dark, because we sat in some interesting positions to get the right view of the stage. I would have honestly paid just to see the design of the building because it was jaw-dropping. If we would have planned ahead, it would have been a fun night to dress up! Although we showed up in our jeans and tennis shoes and nothing was said. While the ballet was amazing, my favorite part of the night was admiring the ceiling! So stunning!

Charmonix-Mount Blanc

Paris was dream, and then we headed to Switzerland. On Monday, we took a little trip back into France to visit the ski town of Chamonix. It was the perfect day trip, and i'm so glad we decided to add this to our itinerary. Besides two little excursions, we spent the day wandering around the little town. I loved all the lights strung throughout the place! You could honestly just stare at the mountains all day, and the day would be just as perfect. We decided to take the cable car (gondola) up to the top of the mountains. From the top, the mountains looked too perfect to be real! They have a clear box that is used for a photo opportunity, they even have you put on slippers. You are pretty high up, and the ride up is just as exciting as the view. I didn't feel scared the whole time up, but I won't lie when I stepped into the glass box, my stomach dropped a little. I have never been skiing in my life, but after seeing everyone walk around in there ski gear, I might have to add it to my bucket list. On the other hand, it might be a safer option for me to not too considering my klutzy self. We wanted some action on the snow, so we decided to do a few rides on the luge. It was fun and gave us a little thrill for the day. We ended the day drinking one more cappuccino while admiring the view.