My ongoing obsession with Paris
and why Paris still feels like magic even after my third visit
I was 22, broke, and blissfully clueless the first time I went to Paris. It wasn’t just my first time in the city, it was my first big solo trip! Call me crazy, but it was one of the most memorable trips I have ever taken.
At the time, I was an au pair (nanny) in northern Italy. I knew I wanted to do some solo traveling around Europe and Paris was at the top of my list.
When I say I was broke, I really had close to zero dollars. In Paris, I couch surfed (sorry mom!), meaning I stayed on a strangers couch for free—which actually turned out to be a great experience—but one I might not do again 😂
I subsided on mostly bread and cheese, and pan au chocolat, and crepes. I went out for dinner once and was so stressed about the €20 bill for something like a quiche! I took the metro everywhere, didn’t pay for any attractions, and just marveled at the icon that is Paris. Even on an extreme budget, this place was magical to me and I knew it wouldn’t be my last time there.
I remember sitting under the sparking Eiffel Tower with a sleeve of macarons and thinking about how grateful and proud I was to have made it to that moment, all by myself.
Fast forward to 2022 in the post-COVID travel craze, I decided to go to France with a friend for my 30th birthday! Some people do normal things like have their friends over for cake, I admittedly probably went over the top with a trip to FRANCE but you know what, you only turn 30 once!
I think that 10-day trip to France in 2022 is one of my favorite trips I’ve ever taken. It’s when completely fell in love with not only Paris, but the rest of France, and this country has since put a spell on me that will no doubt last until the day I die.
Armed with a little bit more cash I was excited to experience Paris a little bit differently this time. My friend and I stayed in the Latin Quarter where we ate delicious food, walked along the Seine, rode bikes around the city, walked around the Jardin du Luxembourg, went on the fanciest boat ride on the Seine, and had champagne under the sparkling Eiffel Tower.
We spent the next few days in Bordeaux, and I finished out the trip solo in the Loire Valley—which, obsessed 🤩
As chance would have it, losing my job in early 2025 triggered my little travel radar and I knew I wanted to take this period of unemployment as an opportunity to travel. While I had just visited Paris only a few years ago, I will never pass up an opportunity to see this city again.
At this point, going to Paris felt a little bit like a homecoming. A bit dramatic since I had probably only spent a collective week there in total before this trip, but more of a homecoming back to myself.
There’s a special kind of magic in returning to places you have been before—it brings back memories of versions of you that you almost forgot. A snapshot of that person, a moment of life frozen in time through photos, memories, and experiences.
This time, I revisited some of my favorite places, ate in restaurants where I was the only American, bopped around wine bars, explored new neighborhoods, chatted with strangers, and hung out with new and old friends. I also finally took that croissant baking class that I missed out on in 2022!
I stayed in a room in someone’s home on Airbnb out in the 19th arrondissement, which is a bit of a trek away from the main part of the city, but I enjoyed staying out here. I saw a few places I wouldn’t have otherwise, and my hosts were lovely and gave me the absolute best restaurant and wine bar recommendations.
Maybe I love this city so much becuase it reminds me how far I’ve come from being that 22 year old. Ten years later, I still don’t know what I’m doing but I’ve grown so much and I like to think I am on the right path to becoming the woman that I am meant to be.
No place is perfect and so many people love to hate Paris—claiming that the locals are mean and it’s too dirty, crowded, and expensive. But there is so much more to Paris if you choose to go beyond—to sit and observe people living their lives, to go into a restaurant where you know you won’t have any idea what you’re ordering but you do it anyways and have the best burger of your life, to chat with strangers sitting next to you, to stop rushing to check things off your ‘must see’ list. I truly believe that the beating heart of Paris lies on the outskirts—in the quieter corners where locals hang out, and life unfolds slowly.
Paris reminds me that there’s a certain kind of beauty when we choose to see the world through a softer, more romantic lens. No place (or life!) is perfect, but it’s our outlook that will ultimately shape how we experience it.
Maybe we should all try see the world through the lens of our 22 year old selves—someone who still has a sparkle in their eye, who believes that everything is possible, who isn’t jaded by the world, and who learns to find the magic, despite only having $50 in their bank account. (Speaking of my own privledged experiece of being a white woman who has the benefit of supportive family to fall back on but you know what I mean!)
Of course, there is so much more to France than Paris. Might I even suggest that the rest of the country is even more magical?! But Paris will always have a special place in my heart and I know we will meet again.
I feel the same about Paris, as well as the rest of France. I have visited France 5 times and want to return there many more times. Two years ago my husband and I traveled the Canal du Midi on a houseboat for 2 weeks. It was paradise. We followed that trip with a 2 week stay in Paris, and visited many sites I had not seen before. The city is magical to me.