 The biggest surprise about going to Paris was that I think people tell you that Parisians don't like Americans because they're trying to keep Paris to themselves because Paris was incredible and I have to tell you all about it, okay? So keep watching. This is Kyla Denigno and this is a different kind of video. On this channel I talk about law books and life and so this video is about life. So I just came back from six days in Paris, France. I went with my law school roommate so there's a slight tie into law. My first time in Europe, my first time in Paris, my first time using my passport in five years. Five. Five years. But let me tell you about eight things that really surprised me in Paris. So the reason my law school roommate and I went to Paris is because we were celebrating her 40th birthday. She did give me permission to say that. Let me show a picture of us. We look great, okay? And so the first thing that really surprised us was the four hour meals. So the trip was myself, my friend and her younger sister and because it was her birthday trip we let her plan most of it because we didn't want to be like, oh I really want to do this. I really want to do that, right? It's her trip so we let her plan it and so she's apologizing like, I'm so sorry. The dinner reservations are at 8.30 or 9.30. Sorry, sorry, sorry. And we're like, oh it's fine. Well also it's very Parisian. They go out to eat at 8.30 and you will leave the meal at 12.30 or one o'clock and that happened all of the time. And so the first two days we weren't expecting that. You go out to brunch. Okay, you know, we're expecting a 45 minute American meal. Let's go. We got something planned next. We're missing deadlines. We're missing the openings of things because Parisians like to enjoy. It was a very laissez-faire type of way. We did not anticipate how long it would take us to eat a lot of our meals, right? We're like, okay, we're going to go out to lunch at 2.30. Great, then we're going to go do this at 5. Well it's 4 o'clock and we're like, can we, can we get dessert? Can we get a check? Can we, we got to go because not only do we have to leave here, we got to get to the other place. Like, let's wrap it up. But let me say the laissez-faire way of meals, once we got into it, it was incredible. We weren't rushing to eat our food like someone was going to take it, right? You're savoring your food. You're enjoying. You might be sharing with your friend across the table. The waiters are taking their time. They're walking by to see if anyone has food still on their plate. And if you did, they weren't going to come over to you. They weren't going to bring you more food. And so that was really cute the first night because we went to La Trame Bleu. And so we're there. And it was a 10 course menu. We were there for five hours. We literally left at one o'clock in the morning, but there were other people still there. Like we're leaving and people are still there. So we were like, did we rush? Point number two is that you have to pay attention to the locations, okay? Paris is set up with different arrondies months. And so we were staying in the 11th arrondies month, but we would choose a restaurant that looks great. And we're like, oh, let's go. Oh, it's over in the seventh. Okay, we, we were choosing things based off of what we wanted to do, not based on of its location to where we were staying. The good thing about traveling with friends is that you can make the most of it. So I cannot emphasize enough how much location is important because it really affected our schedule. It really threw off a lot of things. The third biggest surprise to me was fashion and clothing in Paris. So I watched all these videos about how to not look like a tourist, how to dress like a Parisian, how to do this and this and this. Listen, Paris has tourists. The Parisians don't care. They don't. The tourists certainly don't care. I don't know if there was a tourist that I was, I don't know because Parisians look differently. It's not like they're all this one ideal of a woman or a man that you're going to see. And so I am so happy that I decided to pack clothes that were cute, things that I wear, which is a lot of dresses and skirts. And I'm glad I did because who cares? Like maybe the videos where people say, don't wear this, don't wear that. That was the trend for that year, right? They're selling berets. Are they only selling them for tourists? I guess. But like, where would you want to wear? And to that point, Paris is a walking city. Absolutely. If we had more time, we probably would have walked more. But again, we were there for my homegirl's birthday. It was a celebratory trip. We knew we were going to be Ubering and taking taxis around and budgeted for that, right? But also we're in heels and we had a great time. Like we were wearing heels to the museums as well. And the only time we had trouble with that was when we were in the Louvre because the stairs were real marble. So they were worn down from people just walking on them in traffic. Okay. And even if you had that issue, just hold the rail or the banister when you walk down the stairs. Like where would you want to wear in Paris? Because it is a city just like any other city. There'll be people wearing flats. There'll be people wearing boots. There'll be people wearing heels. Where would you want to wear? Okay, because I wore what I wanted to wear. And I think that really helped me to have a good trip. So another surprise for me was how modern Paris was. Now I was preparing to go and to see all this, you know, wonderful architecture and stuff, which was there, but they had tap to pay absolutely everywhere. Their Uber apps actually include the option for taxis, which was really cool. I did take euros with me in case I needed them, but I was just using my credit cards for absolutely everything. Most of the stores had the option for me to pay in the American price or to pay in the European price and then get the exchange fee on the back end. So Paris was really, really modern and I was not expecting that. So that was a really big surprise to me, but I really enjoyed it. So if you enjoyed this video, subscribe to the channel. This was a new thing for me to talk about an international trip because I haven't been anywhere in five years, but thank you for watching and let's get into the next point. Okay. And so this is a good time for me to get into our schedule. December 6 was a complete travel day. We were coming in from three different states into Paris. We all landed at different times. We get to our hotel room, we get settled in, and then we went to La Trameble. So we were there that night. So then the next day was super, super busy. The next day we got up and we went to the Louvre first thing in the morning. We were definitely there longer than two hours and we only saw a third of it. Then we went to lunch at Kong, which is this gorgeous restaurant. And in Sex and the City, season six, it was considered to be so taboo and so rungard for you to go there because they have these see-through chairs and it's all this, but it was beautiful. So then after Kong, we went to the Dior Museum, which was a really big surprise for me because I didn't know anything about Christian Dior. I didn't even know if it was a man or a woman. So the museum was so much fun and we were there for a really long time. And then we were beat. We were so tired. By the time we got back to the hotel room, we were like, let's just google the place and find it. And we just found a little dive bar, went there, had some food, and then went back to the room. So then the third day, screw it, no schedule. We cannot have a schedule. We were like, we need to sleep. We woke up at 12 o'clock, slowly, slowly get ready. We eventually leave the hotel room around three. We get there. The sun is setting. We're starving. So we end up eating. Oh my gosh, this place we found was so good. We felt like we were at a hole in the wall, but because it's around the Eiffel Tower, it probably was mostly tourists and stuff. We didn't even care. We end up getting to the Eiffel Tower at 430. My home girl was afraid of heights, but we were like, we didn't get tickets. Let's just see if we can show up. Well, you can show up, but it's really cold while you're there waiting. But we go up to the second floor, beautiful shots, beautiful views, and then we go back down. Okay. So then we were like, oh, let's go to the Chanel store. We're on our way to the Chanel store. We get there. It's closed. So it was closed. So we had a whole photo shoot outside of the Chanel store. Oh my goodness. This entire square, we didn't even realize we were at the Rude Honoree, which is like Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Illinois, which is like Madison Avenue in New York. It's this block of all these high end luxury stores. All of the decor was incredible. And so then of course, we start to get hungry. So we end up in this dark, beautiful restaurant, incredible food. I had this lemon tart, which unbelievable. So the fourth day, again, no schedule. And we said, let's go to Gallery Lafayette. So we go find some gifts and stuff for our family members. We don't have to be at Versailles until 2.30. Look at the pictures. It was absolutely beautiful. Then we went to Versailles. Now Versailles, we had set up well, because we were there for the rest of the day. Absolutely wonderful. I'll show a couple pictures here. But again, location, location, location. Oh, we'll do this. Then we'll do this. Then we'll do this. Like we were all over the place. Again, underestimating how much time it would take to get places, underestimating how much time we would want to spend at the places when we got there. So you have to pay attention to the locations. Okay. So another thing that was surprising to me was how many children we saw out really late. We will be leaving our restaurants and we will be seeing children out really late or we will be going somewhere at 10 o'clock and we're seeing children and we're like, are they out of school because it's December? Are they on their way to school? What's the deal? But the most surprising thing was how much autonomy these kids had. They weren't wearing those backpacks that we have in America that have the string on them and it's like the leash for the kid. They didn't have to hold their parent's hands. They stayed around the adult or the person that they were with. It reminded me of this book called Raising Baby. But I was like, I got to reread it, especially now that I've been to Paris so I can see, oh, that was what I saw. Oh, that's that. Oh, that's this. I mean, I was missing my daughter. So that's probably why I was noticing the kids even more. I was like, oh, look at the babies. Oh, look at that. Grandlib is definitely a driving city. So to see all these kids out walking and just going places, I really, I enjoyed seeing that. It was pretty cool. So coming in here, second to last point is that the time change was rough. Paris is six hours ahead of us. So we would get back to the room around midnight, 12.30. That feels like 6 p.m. for our bodies. And then we were up talking until like four in the morning because that's 10 p.m. to our bodies. Then we go to sleep. And then the next day, and by the third and fourth days, we were dragging. Oh my goodness. So I know it's going to take a couple of days to get back into my routine. But the time change, it's a combination of the time change and being around good friends and you want to talk. We wanted to be up until four in the morning every day. So now we'll get on to the last point, which is about Paris being very literal. And I think that probably comes off as being standoffish or like they don't care, but they're just very literal, right? There are stores just called undies, undies. And we were laughing, you know, my friend and I were like, we should go in and ask, do you have any bras? They'll be like, no, this is undies, right? And you go to the market on the corner. Hey, can I buy some Advil? Can I buy some face wipes? No, this is a market, fresh produce. You know, Americans were like smiling at people in the street and we're like talking to people in the subway. They don't do all that. That was a surprise to me because I was expecting them to be rude. We didn't experience that. We got tons of double kisses when we were talking to people, you know, the greeting that they do when they see someone. So Paris was actually really friendly and really welcoming to us. And so I got to say, because in terms of accommodations, the hotel room that we had, we thought we paid a good price for it, but it's not an American hotel room. There was no mini bar. There was no safe. There was not all the accommodations we were used to. I don't know if that has to do with the fact that you're not supposed to ask for takeout or leftovers in Paris. I don't know if that's because Parisians are really literal. What do you need a fridge for to eat in your room? You just sleep in this room and then you get on your way, right? So you get to the hotel room. It took us five minutes to figure out how to turn the lights on. You have to actually use your key card to do that. My husband said they do that in a lot of places. This was the second country I've ever been to and the first time I've had to do that. So that might just be why. Then the bathroom, we're like trash can size was teeny, teeny tiny. I'm like, there's three adults here. We can't use this tiny like we're like, can we get a bigger trash can or like, no, just bring it down. It's full. Really? Even the hotel room. Look at this room. We had a room for three and it is literally for three. One bed against the wall, two beds here. You see, there's like a divide through the mattress, but I'm like, man, you got to be traveling with someone you know, because you are in close quarters, right? And as you see in this picture, when you add three females, all of their luggage, all of their coats for winter, all of their hair stuff, it ends up being a lot of things in one room. Okay. I hope this video inspires you to go to Paris and discover for yourself whether or not it is a place that you enjoy. Because just like you, I watched videos to see, is this something I can have fun with? Is this something I can do? I don't know. And I made a whole list. Don't make eye contact. Don't ask for the check. Don't bother the waiter. They don't care. Now, they did appreciate when we would try to use the language, but also every restaurant had a menu that was in English. They expect to see other people. They expect to see people who do not speak French. So please go to Paris and see if you would enjoy it for yourself because we had a great time. So thank you for hanging out with me. I really, really appreciate it. And I will talk to you next time. This is Kyla Danagno.