Thoughts on Paris-‘7 Day Blogging Challenge’ Day 1

Hi friends, hope we’re all keeping well.

I’m going to try something new this week, where I’ll challenge myself to write 7 whole posts within 7 days. Recently, I haven’t been writing a whole lot and it’s been pretty demoralising.

So, obviously the most logical way to combat this writer’s block/laziness/lack of discipline is to force myself to write. These next posts are probably not going to be the best quality (are any of my posts ever high quality?), but that’s not really the point, since I’m just trying to force myself to get back into routine.

Anyway, in this first instalment I want to talk about some insights I’ve gained from a recent trip I had with my course mates- Paris!

Yep, as the destination for the annual mystery tour my course holds every year, we went to Paris for a whole 3 days. Pretty amazing experience, considering the only time I ever was in Paris was when I was 5 and had completely forgotten most things about it. So, here’s what I thought about it:

• Absolutely stunning city. From the architecture to the design of everything, the whole city just screamed grandeur and magnificence. We saw the Notre-Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and a good few others and I can honestly reassure they definitely deserve the great reputation as sights to see in France. 🤩
• The traffic in Paris was absolutely wild. And I say that having visited China often, where the majority of motorbikes couldn’t care less about traffic laws. Cars, buses, cyclists, and everything else in between were breaking red lights left and right. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been crossing a road with a green pedestrian light, and a taxi would come straight at me and then brake right in front of the crosswalk. Wild stuff, definitely be careful if you plan to visit⚠️
• Disneyland in Paris was pretty fun too. The queueing and waiting was a pretty torturous experience, but what can you really expect. Honestly, I think if you go to Disneyland solely for the rides and coasters, you’ll be pretty disappointed. Instead, I recommend going just for the experience. Because it was the 30th anniversary of Disneyland Paris, there were these musical parades every few hours with various Disney characters, which was unironically a magical experience. The vibes, atmosphere, and mood of everyone just laughing, smiling, and enjoying the show was pretty surreal. And I say this as a 19 year old teenager. Be there to just enjoy the experience of being in Disneyland, and I think you’ll come out having had a pretty good time. 💫
• Yes, it’s true. Paris is pretty expensive. And a bit dirty but I suppose most capital cities are. Oh, I even managed to witness those notorious scam artists on the side of the streets playing that cup and ball game, where they attempt to hide a cotton ball under one of three cups and shuffle them around, then have someone watching guess which cup the ball is under for a cash prize. Don’t, under any circumstances, play the game. These people will also have helpers act as regular passerbys to play the game and intentionally let them win, in order to attract more people to play. It’s pretty wild stuff, and even more wild to see how the scam operates in real life. 🕵🏻‍♂️
• My God the scooters are so fun. Since I live in Ireland where they aren’t available, it was honestly such great banter riding around the city in these mini electric scooters for such low cost. Especially at night, where there isn’t much people nor cars around, you’re free to roam the streets as you please and your around the place. If you ever go to Paris, I highly, strongly recommend touring around later at night (with a group of people, with the proper safety precautions) on these scooters. They were, completely unironically, a highlight of the trip. 🛴

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So to round it all up, definitely go Paris for the experience, but do prepare a decent budget for it first 😅I honestly had loads of fun there, and I’m sure most people will also.

(That’ll also be the first instalment of the challenge I suppose, so I’ll see you tomorrow for the next one then👋🏼)