Happy Friday everyone! If you follow me on Instagram (or checked out last Friday’s post), then you may already know that I’ve been in Florida for the past week visiting my second home, Disney World (for the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival!). Traveling is definitely my FAVORITE hobby (who doesn’t what to explore this beautiful Earth of ours?) and I’m so fortunate that I’m able to do it so often. Speaking of traveling, I am having SERIOUS Paris withdrawals (I really wish I could jump in a time machine and magically go back to two months ago when I was still in Paris!). Although I’m having a BLAST at Disney World (this has actually been one of my FAVORITE Disney trips thus far), I’d give anything to be back having a picnic in front of the Eiffel Tower. Oh the Eiffel Tower, what a beauty. I’ll never forget the first time I saw it in person back in April 2016 (the first time I visited Paris). I remember thinking “wow, it’s way smaller than I thought it would be!”. During my two trips to Paris (in April and December), I saw the Eiffel Tower (and even went inside) multiple times, close up and from a far but nothing could compare to viewing the the Eiffel Tower from the Arc de Triomphe! 
Not only is the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile one of the most famous monuments in Paris, it’s also the world’s largest triumphal arch. 
Can we all just stop and take a minute to appreciate how gorgeous this architecture is? I think one of my favorite things about visiting Europe is its amazing architecture (although to be fair, I’ve only visited Paris and Amsterdam so far!).
The line to enter the Arc de Triomphe was so long when I first visited Paris back in April that I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to visit it. Luckily, when I went back to Paris in December there was almost no line (I think a lot of that had to due with how cold it was that day).
The top of the Arc de Triomphe can ONLY be reached by climbing up its 40 stairs (that’s 284 steps to be exact!). Talk about a workout (but SO worth it!).
One of my favorite things about the Arc de Triomphe was this little “history of the Arc de Triomphe” film that was playing when you got to the top of the building. It was mostly different slides about how the Arc de Triomphe was built and the history behind it.
Gosh, what a view. I just can’t get over how lovely the view of Paris (and the Eiffel Tower) was from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. I HIGHLY recommend braving the climb to the top to see this gorgeous view of the city. Although I miss Paris terribly (I still can’t believe I got to visit it TWICE in one year), I’m definitely planning on visiting either London or Rome (or just Italy in general) next time I travel to Europe (which is hopefully SOON!).