Spending less than 50 euros in Paris

Let me just start out with saying that Paris is amazing! Paris on a shoestring budget? Well I imagined it was going to be a challenge. However, sometimes things and situations turn out in our favor when totally unexpected. Keep reading to see how I spent less than 50 Euros for the entire weekend in Paris.

Our Eurostar Train  fare was part of our class trip. All of our class activities were covered on Friday including a museum pass and Metro tickets through the weekend. Everyone in our group planned on staying through the weekend. We all booked rooms and paired up with one another in our group. We were treated to a lovely lunch on a river boat that cruise up and down the Siene River (the boat was air conditioned - Praise the Lord).

After the 3 course meal and wine we had a walking tour. The  guide took us to the homes of VanGough and other famous artists, as well as seeing various architecture and ladmarks around Paris. Sweltering heat and never ending stairs and hills (as it seemed) were a kicker in nearly 100 degrees temperature. We found a water fountain that we could fill up our bottles for free! 

Moulin Rouge Theater

We had just enough time to check into our hotels before heading to the Eiffel Tower. My buddy Heide invited me to stay with her at the hotel she booked; which was super awesome because she used her Mariott Points. 

After we checked into THE finest hotel I have ever been in, which had air condition and a lift (elevator) I was ready to crash. Fuzzy robes and slippers like clouds...ooohhh so divine.

                                       Selfie on the lift 



However, it was off to see the Eiffel Tower! Our group all met up and went up! It was so exciting. Many of us opted to go up to the highest point (an extra 6 Euro (approx $8) but so was worth it.

After the Eiffel Tower, we bought some overpriced, not so good food from a street vendor – but at midnight you got to partake  what you can. On the way back to our hotel fireworks were going off. It was really magnificent seeing the fireworks with the Eiffel Tower in the back ground. We decided to take  the Metro, (underground subway). which can be a bit confusing, luckily Heidi  is an excellent map navigator so we made it back to our hotel not to our destinations throughout the weekend. 

The pillows and duvet cover were so comfy.Sleeping in felt great on Saturday, and the breakfast that was part of our stay was amazing, We had a ton of choices and one of my favorite things was “traditional tomatoes and peppers” It was crushed up tomatoes, spices, onions and bell peppers; yum, so good! Did I mention that there was fresh squeezed orange juice?

We visited Notre Dame. 
 

On our way we walked across a bridge that is nicked named Love Locks Bridge. Visitors from all over the world place a lock on the bridge and their significant other throws the key into the water and they are suppose to be together forever. 

We spotted a crepe vendor along the Siene River. I had my doubts about their sanitation grading. I just handed Heide my money and kinda looked the other way. I selected a crepe with Nutella, it literally melted in my mouth, it was one of those things that if a lot of backtracking had not been  involved, I may have gone and got another. We came back to the hotel to rest a bit and were able to help our self to the coffee/tea/ and hot chocolate bar! Not to mention a huge container of gummy candies (free souvenirs for a certain gummy bear fan coming their way!). Saturday evening we decided to take it easy and find a local supermarket and just have a light dinner in our room, Selecting items was a bit tricky trying to figure out the kind of cheese or kind of sandwich as everything was written in French. We were going to chill out in our hotel slippers and watch a movie but at 16 euros ( $21) we said no way!

Throughout the weekend, Heidi's mission was to recreate photographs that her mother took while she visited Paris in 1970. It was fun to share some of the excitement with Heide as she found the landmarks.

After another stuff our belly’s full of French food for breakfast (yes, there were croissants too) on Sunday we headed to the museum must see list. We used our museum passes that where purchased for our program which allowed us to visit nearly 60 museums and enter through a special gate not requiring us to wait in the que! We checked out the Louve and Musee d’Orsay (I really enjoyed the d’Orsay as many Monet paintings were on display).

Hundreds of people swarmed around the Mona, but I saw it and was good to go!

A little souvenir shopping was done to use up our euros. I had been scouting out some of the souvenir peddlers and knew what I wanted and put the exact change in my pocket and was ready. The vendor tried three different prices and I just shook my head no and he finally gave me the price that all the other vendors were charging. I haggled the local whew yoo! -another shoestring tip.

How time flies, it was time to head to head back to London. We all met up at the train station and took the Eurostar back to London. It would be nice if I could say that we all went back to the flat and chilled out. However, that’s not what happened, I had a little visit to the ER. I will be sharing my adventures in the ER in a future blog.