Belgium is really conveniently located to travel around Europe. Taking a spontaneous trip to Paris this weekend.Taking a train from Leuven to Brussels, and Brussels to Paris Nord. The train we are taking is Thalys. It took 1 hr 30min(about) from Brussels to Paris. The speed of the train is around 170mph. Wow. Milo, our dog, is with a dog sitter who we found from pawshake.come (very similar to rover.com). A little nervous since this is the first time for us to use a sitter..Okay. Let’s admit. Pretty much everything here is the first time for me..

Day 1 Itinerary:

Eiffel Tower: The Eiffel Tower was much bigger than what I expected. Although I did not know what I was really expecting. Very impressive and very touristy… Heard a lot of scamming and pickpockets. Just need to be careful. We did not have a chance to go up since the security line was too long (please avoid Saturday if you can!). When we tried to get online tickets, they are already sold out. We managed to go in the area of Eiffel Tower on Sunday evening.. It was a quite a view and we will definitely try to go to the top next time!

Under the Eiffel tower

1. Cruise on Seine River: This is a must to do in my mind. It will give a good view of Paris and why Paris is such a popular place for everyone around the world. The cruise goes along the Seine river and passes every important places you want to visit along the Seine river. Truly enjoyed this ride. But don’t expect much of guide during the cruise. Just enough in my mind!

3. Les Invalides: War museum and the tomb of Napoleon inside. As usual, the building is worthwhile to see. Surely the exhibition was good. One thing I did not know. You will spot some nuns or monks but not sure whether they are real monks or just for the tourists.. But interesting to see them walking around with tourists in such a historic place.

4. Cathedral of Notre Dame: Although some part of Notre Dame got burned down, I found this is such a remarkable architecture to visit. I don’t know what it is. But when you are in front of the building, you feel its presence and history!

5. Arc de Triomphe: Good view overall. Claimed up about 220 stairs to go to the top. Definitely worthwhile to climb but the building itself is quite a view as well. We got the tickets for skip the line summit and it worked out well. Barely any wait! The picture is the view from the top!

Ok. We are done for today. Wrapping it up, this was the view from our apartment we rented from airBnB. We love the location of the apartment and its convenient access to metro. We were on the 7th floor, totally 140 steps up and 140 steps down every day at least once a day!!