36 Hours in Paris
One thing that you can alway plan for in the military is for the plan to change. Originally we had planned for our Olympics trip to be a 10-ish day road trip from Naples up to Marseilles with stops in Cinque Terre, Monaco, and along the French Riviera. We only had tickets for Olympic events that were happening in Marseilles (sailing and football matches) so we never planned to go to Paris. Well, things happened and my partner’s leave was cut short because he was needed at work. We restructured our trip but couldn’t make it work to drive so we had to find flights. We were able to fly into Nice and drive over to Marseille but the only flight we could find back to Naples in the date range that we needed was out of Paris. This gave us about 36 hours in Paris and while I originally was dreading being in Paris with the chaos of the Olympics, our entire family absolutely fell in love with the city. Here is how we spent 36 hours in Paris during on the craziest times we could have possibly visited for the first time.
Saturday
Drop off the rental car off at the train station in Marseille
Take the 8am train from Marseilles Saint-Charles to Paris Gare du Lyon
Arrive in Paris 11am
Drop bags at Maison Astor Paris
We stayed here using Hilton points, which was our saving grace considering we found out 2.5 weeks before our trip that we had to rework everything and hotels and apartments in Paris for the Olympics were either sold out or very pricey. We wanted to stay as close to main attractions as possible since we were there for a short amount of time and this location was perfect for us.
Head out to walk around the city, using the Louvre as a destination
Stop at Ladurée for macarons
Walk towards Trocadero for views of the Eiffel Tower (great photo spot, even though it was blocked off for the Olympics)
Go back to the hotel to rinse off and get ready for the evening
5-6:30pm Seine river cruise with My Paris River, depart from Pont d’Issy
They were fantastic to work with to come up with a custom itinerary and route that worked with our schedule and plans for the evening. I told them where we were going for dinner (Montmartre) and they made sure that we would get off at a pier that made the most sense to get to where we needed to go in terms of public transportation. This was definitely a splurge in that it was a private boat tour versus one of the many available group tours or hop-on-hop-off boats, but we knew the city would like be mobbed during the Olympics and wanted a calmer experience. We would absolutely do it again.
One of my favorite things was seeing the nearly finished and restored Notre Dame cathedral from the water
Take metro line 12 to Monmartre
Sit on steps of Sacrecoure
Wander around the neighborhood and make our way to dinner
7:45 dinner at La Maison Rose (I highly recommend making a reservation)
Slowly walk home and pass by the Moulin Rouge
Realize you can see the sparkling lights of the Eiffel Tower and drag your partner and tired toddler back out and literally run across the bridges so you can catch the last sparkles of the night (yes, it was in fact worth it)
Sunday
Get up early and head out in the city to walk around
Head to Gallerie Lafayette and go to the rooftop for a beautiful (and free) view of Paris including the Eiffel Tower and Palais Garnier, the Paris opera house. They even sell gelato on the roof so you can sit and enjoy the view with a treat.
If you have time, start at Gallerie Lafayette and walk to Arc de Triomphe then walk Champs Elysses towards Tour Eiffel
We didn’t have time for this so after Gallerie Lafayette, we lived out my Phantom of the Opera dreams and explored the inside of the opera house before heading to the hotel to pick up our bags
Head for airport at 2pm
5:20pm flight to Naples from Paris Orly (take an Uber from the hotel to the airport)
