On Saturday morning, we bundled up and headed out for a big day in Paris.

We started our day off at Notre Dame. When I studied abroad in 2000, this was the first place my friend Laura and I went on our first day in Paris. So of course Addie and Millie had to recreate my picture.

We were fortunate that they had just reopened Notre Dame a few months before our trip after the devastating fire in 2019. And the amazing thing is that it looked even better than when I had visited 25 years before. In the restoration, they cleaned off centuries of candle smoke and debris, making the limestone look almost white, and the artwork even brighter and more colorful. It was so beautiful! Of course, pictures never do it justice, but I’ll put mine here anyways.

After touring Notre Dame, we made our way to the Musée d’Orsay, taking in some sights and shops along the way.

This museum has the largest collection of Impressionist and post-Impressionist art. So if you want to see original Monet, Degas, Renoir, Van Gogh, Cézanne… you need to go to the Musée d’Orsay.

After the museum, we split up for lunch. The girls wanted Asian and the boys wanted pizza, so we found some restaurants on the same street.

After our late lunch, we took the metro up to the northern side of the city to the Montmartre neighborhood. We started at Sacré Cœur.

We happened to be in the basilica while the nuns were singing, which was a treat. We also had to to stand still for awhile and wait while a priest walked around and blessed us all, which was a unique experience since we’re not Catholic. After touring Sacré Cœur, we sat on the steps and enjoyed the lovely view of Paris from up high and the music of an artist.

We then walked around Montmartre and enjoyed some more street music, some colorful buildings, and the artist market.

Soon we were tired, so we headed back to our Airbnb to rest a bit and then walked down the street to the Arc de Triomphe where earlier in the day we had reserved a tour spot. I recommend doing this because it didn’t cost any extra and it allowed us to cut in front of a very long line.

The Arc sits in the middle of the Place d’Étoile, which is one of the busiest roundabouts in the world with 12 streets intersecting here. But thankfully there is underground access to the Arc so you don’t have to try and cross the busy roundabout, unless you like the idea of a live game of Frogger.

It is a long, winding, steep climb to the top of Arc. There is a floor you can rest on close to the top that also has a little museum and souvenir shop.

From the top, we enjoyed the breathtaking views of Paris at night and snapped a few pictures. But it was pretty cold and windy, so we didn’t stay too long. Going down the stairs was much easier than going up!

After the Arc, the girls talked me in to taking them to the Caveau de la Huchette where we met up with Addie’s friends Esther and Abbi. The Caveau is a famous Parisian jazz club with live music of course and swing dancing. The outside looks normal, but once you enter, you realize it’s set back in a medieval cellar, so it feels like you’re in a cave. It has become quite popular on TikTok after being featured briefly at the end of LaLaLand, so we had to get there early and wait in a long line to get in.

The girls got to dance with this gentleman below who they recognized from TikTok. He had them swinging all over the place. So fun!

What a great way to end our first day in Paris!