Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 3: Cruise Down the Seine River, Christmas Day and Macarons Galore!)

As excited as I was to spend the Christmas holiday in Paris, I was a bit concerned that we might not find places open for business, but we were fortunate that this wasn’t the case.

Cruise down the Seine River

We purchased tickets for a scenic river cruise down the Seine River for only 11 Euros per person, and found out that the cruise was running every 30 minutes as usual on Christmas Day.

The cruise was about 45 minutes long, and we got to see Paris from a different angle. It was very windy and cold that day, so we stayed inside the boat most of the time looking out the windows. However, when the captain announced that we were passing Notre Dame, we ran upstairs to get a few photos! On my next visit, I want to tour the inside of the cathedral, but I was happy to see the outside this time around.

Photos of Notre Dame!

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cruise ended, we went back to the hotel and got ready for Christmas dinner. We had gone up into the Eiffel Tower, but had not yet seen the view from Trocadero Park. We decided to head to the park and eat at a nearby restaurant.

Eating French food was one of the highlights of our trip. The first night we arrived we enjoyed a wonderful creperie just steps from our hotel, and went back for a late breakfast our last day after we checked out.

After our trip to the Louvre on Christmas Eve, we found an amazing little restaurant while walking around the city. We were able to enjoy escargot, French ravioli with duck, and creme brulee. The food in Paris was everything we dreamed it would be. Scarlett said she wants to move there but I quickly reminded her that if we lived in Paris we wouldn’t be able to eat out like this everyday as it would get very expensive.

Our last day in Paris

Check out time at the hotel was noon, but our flight didn’t leave until 8 p.m. the day after Christmas. Our hotel graciously offered to keep our bags locked up in order for us to use the extra time to look around Paris some more. There was one more thing we wanted to do before leaving. We wanted to visit Laduree, the famous macaron shop.

Laduree

This place was exquisite! From the ornate decor to the scrumptious tasting macarons and variety of teas, it was a fabulous ending to our Paris trip.

   

 

 

 

We ordered four macarons, but the waitress accidentally gave us the wrong one in the original order and allowed us to keep the extra at no additional cost.

My favorite is the one pictured to the left, the Rose. The aroma of floral rose coupled with the flavor of rose petals and sweetness was just how I imagined a macaron from Paris, France to taste. The hazelnut, pistachio, vanilla and orange blossom were equally delicious.

Scarlett and I ordered tea for our goodbye Paris “tea party.” I ordered the Cherie and she ordered the Mathilda. The teas both had a light flavor and didn’t need any sugar whatsoever.

I’m unsure if it was the ambiance of this fantastic establishment, or the quality ingredients, but this was some of the best tea I have ever tasted. For some reason Scarlett really wanted an order of french fries, so we got those as well.

Laduree isn’t cheap. For five macarons, two orders of tea, and french fries, it cost a little more than 30 Euros. It was well worth it!

After our afternoon tea, we still had a little bit of time left before our taxi would arrive at the hotel to take us to the airport, so we decided to walk around the Seine and visit the Eiffel Tower one more time. I have no complaints for our first trip to Paris, and we are looking forward to a future visit in this beautiful city!