I’ve been wanting to take our children to Europe for many years. The goal was to go the summer before our oldest’s senior year and spend two weeks exploring several countries. COVID delayed all our trip plans so we went this summer just after she graduated. Due to a change in my husband’s job, we only had 7 days so we decided to just pick one city. We narrowed it down to London, Paris or Rome. Everyone agreed Paris would be the best choice.

We splurged just a little on our airline tickets so we could fly directly from Cincinnati to Paris. It saved us so much time on either end making and waiting on connections and then we also didn’t have to worry about our luggage missing a connection. It was worth the splurge – we all agreed. We flew on Delta and really had no issues. The food was decent. We were toward the back of the plane and on the way there we sat on the window side (separated into groups of two). On the way home we sat in the middle seats (groups of three) and I think we had more leg room in the middle.

We left Ohio in the late afternoon and would land in Paris in the early morning. The goal was to get some sleep on the plane but that really didn’t happen much for any of us. So after spending two hours leaving the airport via shuttle, customs and baggage claim, we got our taxi to take us to our hotel about 45 minutes away. We let everyone rest for about two hours and change and then we were off to see Paris.

We got on the metro and headed toward Notre Dame. Rick Steve’s has a walking tour of the area and the only thing we had at a certain time that day was to see St. Chapelle around 5 p.m. I just wanted us to walk around the area and start taking in the atmosphere. We got out of the metro at Hotel D’Ville and we all took in a deep breath. We were already standing by history and seeing the beauty of Paris. We found a bakery and got croissants and ate them by Notre Dame. (It’s still not open to the public.) We wandered through the streets, stopping in churches and finding Shakespeare & Co bookstore. My youngest and I each bought a book, which they stamped, and I bought a tote bag (which ended up coming in very handy every day of our trip).

We walked along the Seine and found a fountain that had a statue of St. Michael the Archangel. We then headed to see St. Chappelle. It’s a beautiful church that was built to house the crown of thorns. It’s no longer an active church, but the stained glass is breathtaking and my heart wished I could attend mass there. We ate dinner right across from St. Chapelle after our visit and then headed back to the hotel to sleep and get on Paris time.

(Our hotel was a small building less than a block away from a metro stop. There wasn’t any tourist attractions nearby. We had two rooms on two different floors to accommodate the six of us. No air conditioning, but open windows and a breeze kept us fairly cool. American-style hotels are hard to find in Europe unless you are willing to pay top dollar. Space is at more of a premium.)

Hotel Le Twelve: https://www.hotel-twelve.com

Click here for Paris in Summer, Days 2 and 3