Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 1: The Eiffel Tower)

Paris, the city of light (La VilleLumière), has been a dream destination for as long as I can remember. Portrayed in endless movies and described flawlessly in novels, the allure is very real.

Since Madrid is only about a two hour plane ride from Paris, we decided that this year we would give the gift of experiences and fulfillment in lieu of an abundance of material gifts by spending Christmas near the Eiffel Tower. Scarlett was more than happy to do this since she has been begging to visit Paris ever since she first saw the movie “Barbie, A Fashion Fairytale” when she was only six years old.

Expectations: There are moments in life when the expectations that are built up in your mind don’t fall in line with reality, and this can leave you let down for one reason or another. However, our Paris experience was happily not one of these times! Paris was exactly how I’ve always imagined it to be. The city was a beautiful mix of lights coupled with gorgeous European architecture that is symbolic in most European cities. The food was exquisite, and for all the hype about how “rude” Parisians are, I never experienced this. I found people in Paris to be very friendly and helpful.

The Eiffel Tower: My first view of the Eiffel Tower was on our taxi ride from the airport. As we rode past, and I saw the majestic tower in lights for the first time, my eyes began to well up with tears of joy. I turned to Scarlett and she was grinning with excitement. In that moment, I felt blessed and completely grateful for this opportunity.

Our first view of The Eiffel Tower from the taxi!

The next evening was Christmas Eve, and we decided to go into the tower. I debated on purchasing the skip the line tickets, but decided against it since I had read that the lines weren’t that long this time of year. The line to get into the Eiffel Tower wasn’t that bad, but the line to purchase tickets to the top level was about 30 minutes long. Apparently a thirty minute wait is not even comparable to the lines in the spring and summer though.

After we got our tickets we had to wait for the lift to get to the second level. We then had to get into another thirty minute line for the lift that goes to the very top of the tower. I wanted to try this once just to see it. Since it was cold outside, the best part of this experience was the actual ride to the top. I would suggest experiencing the top level once but on our next visit, I will most likely only purchase tickets for the second level since the view was actually better than the top in my opinion.

Here we are looking at the view from the second level.

The view from the second level is amazing! 

 The top view is majestic as well, but I didn’t really want to chance my phone falling down in order to get a photo without the safety wires, so there you have it!

 

After we had spent our time gazing in awe at the city of Paris, we decided to warm up a bit and check out the souvenir shop.

Believe it or not, the souvenirs weren’t completely overpriced. I purchased one of the white Eiffel Tower Christmas tree ornaments for 7.99 Euros. The hanging ribbon on the ornament has Merry Christmas and Joyeux Noel written on each side. This was a perfect addition to add to our Christmas memories. Before heading back to the hotel we ate a couple of macarons. All in all, we had a fabulous Christmas Eve in Paris! Check out this article to get some tips on how to enjoy Paris in a day.

Here is a quick video that I took going part of the way back down the Eiffel Tower. 

Stay tuned for my post on our visit to Laduree, the Louvre, and our cruise down the Seine River. 

 

54 thoughts on “Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 1: The Eiffel Tower)”

  1. Christmas in Paris sounds divine. And what a wonderful way to spend Christmas eve. Great idea to get the ornament too. You created a beautiful experience. Thanks for sharing.

  2. What a great trip! I’m glad to know that Paris didn’t disappoint. I’ve often wanted to go on a trip instead of doing the gifts.

  3. I’ll never forget my 9th grade French teacher advising us, whenever we would travel to Paris, to get drunk, stand directly under the tip top of the Eiffel Tower and look up. He said we would fall flat on our butts, completely besotted and in awe. Times were different in those days! LOL! Looks like a magical Parisian Christmas was had!

  4. oh my gosh This looks amazing! My five year old has been nagging me to take her to see “the Eiffel Tower in Paris France.” haha. I’m certainly motivated.

  5. I spent a day in Paris a few years ago and remember thinking that the people were not rude at all, just like you expected. It really is a magical city.

  6. Many years ago I walked up the Eiffel Tower. What a view! It was very high, exhausting, but just beautiful. A once in a lifetime experience.

  7. Your excitement does shine through your words. It is interesting that you found the best view to not be at the peak. Your pictures of the tower are lovely, and that ornament with both English and French on it is an apropos souvenir. Thank you for sharing.

    1. Thank you for your kind words. Yes, I thought the best view was the one underneath the top level. Of course, we were freezing by the time we got there, so perhaps that had something to do with it!

      I’m glad to know that my feelings about the trip are conveyed in my writing. Since most of my blog posts are written in first person, I often wonder if the writing quality might be suffering. Thank you again!

  8. What an amazing experience! I’ve been to Paris but was only there for such a short time that all I remember seeing was the Eiffel Tower and 2 paintings in the Louvre. Looking forward to hearing more about your Paris trip!

  9. Wow, Christmas in Paris. Way to spend a holiday in this lovely city. I also like the view in second level of Eiffel Tower, I didn’t go to the top though. And I used the stairs, because the lift has a long line. 😀 You had a great Christmas last year.

  10. I am glad you had such a wonderful experience! I also found Parisians to be very friendly. I remember being told if you can’t speak perfect French don’t even try. I tried anyways, and I was met with smiles and questions and zero anger or annoyance. Funny how stereotypes really impact us!

    1. Definitely! Honestly, I was so excited to finally get to Paris, that it probably wouldn’t have bothered me even if they had been rude. LOL!

  11. The views from the Eiffel tower are amazing! I haven’t been up there for years and I have promised the kiddos that next time we are in Paris we will go 😀 haha – I just always forget to book the tickets in advance and I can’t bothered to queue up haha.

  12. Don’t you love that feeling when you’ve been anticipating seeing something for so long, then you finally see it for the first time in person!? I had a similar reaction when I went to Machu Picchu. The tower looks so beautiful all lit up.

    1. Those are our winter coats! 🙂 The weather was a bit cold and cloudy. We were prepared for rain every day, but luckily it didn’t rain while we were there!

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