Last year I went to Paris on my own to really discover the city for myself with no opinion or judgement from others. This was not my first time though, since I visited Paris back in 2008 with my family and friends for a short weekend. Immediately I fell in love and I promised myself I would go back to explore and enjoy more of Paris. After seven years I finally did! But this time I stayed for four nights (by accident) instead of two and I was very excited.

As the title and first paragraph said I went solo, but I was not entirely on my own there. Last year I made a new friend who is Parisian, but was in the Netherlands for an internship of a few months. We stayed in touch after she left, so when I decided to go on my Paris adventure, I contacted her as soon as everything was final. My trip was by bus and I booked a simple hostel close to the heart of the city, because for me it was not about a fancy place to stay but about exploring the city itself.

A warm welcome in Paris

“The croissant is very important in the morning in France”

My friend, bless her heart, came to meet me at the metro station and took me to her house to shower and clean up. Meanwhile she went to the bakery to get us some French goodies for breakfast. As she stated: “The croissant is very important in the morning in France”. Personally I wouldn’t have it any other way on my first day. Of course no day of mine starts without my morning coffee, that goes without saying.

Here are some pictures of our Petit Déjeuner on my first day in Paris:

After this lovely breakfast, where I learned that what we call a ‘chocolate croissant’ in the Netherlands is actually called le Pain au Chocolat and that they like to dip it in hot chocolate, I took a two hour nap before we went out for the day. That afternoon we went to drop my bags at the hostel and hit the town. We walked the streets of Le Marais and ended up having dinner at a lovely Chinese restaurant where every bite was delicious.

Some pics of that day and my cozy single hostel bed:

Little did I know that what started as an exciting trip would end with a terrible memory for life. A tragedy that I mentioned a few times before, as my regular readers know, which is the exact reason that I can finally write about that Paris trip now after 15 months. But I am not going to talk about that in these Paris posts, because I want to give you the nice and fun experience I had without throwing sadness all over it. Just know that I am healing day by day.

Stay tuned for what I did and wore during my Paris adventure.

XX Fashion Diva