Self Made Babes Itinerary: Full On Guide to South of France

On August 15, 2015 two wild blondes arrived at 9am with no sleep from jet setting from Knoxville TN and Dallas to Paris, France and still managed to kick Saturday’s ass…. (This was our first stop amongst the many beautiful places we visited in Europe). I took a free walking tour and tipped 10€. The Parisian woman took me on a hour walk around Notre Dame. She showed us the gargoyles and explained the individual statues on the cathedral. We walked down some narrow roads and she pointed out the area where it flooded badly along time ago and showed us the building that inspired the movie Sweeney Todd, apparently it happened in Paris; Pointed out the real Ratatouille restaurant and she told us a love story that wasn’t about Romeo and Juliet. Our tour guide then took us across a bridge where we saw the love locks. One of my favorite things about that adventure was that the back of Notre Dame, it was extremely beautiful. By the time I got back everyone was gathering around the front doors of Notre Dame. The doors swung open and they began mass with lots of beautiful music playing. Mimi (aka my maternal grandmother) and I eventually ate dinner later that day and there must’ve been some special holiday going on because people were walking in the streets with Church banners, the priests were dressed in white and music was blaring out of the white vans following them. We continued to sip our wine and champagne, we took in the moment. We even met a young woman who was traveling alone named Crystal from Vancouver, Canada . One more thing, I forgot to mention Mimi and I couldn’t get into the subway because our passes hadn’t been activated and there was no one working at that particular hour. So basically we broke the law by sneaking in underneath the turn steals. It was actually really hilarious. We are definitely pros at using the cities subway transportation system because we know how to “work the system.” I bet God can forgive our mischief at least one time otherwise we will be raising fun in hell! haha

We stayed our first few nights at Hotel Le Relais Saint Charles. It was considered a 3-star hotel near the Eiffel Tower in Paris but I felt very safe and comfortable.

Located just a 10-minute walk from the Eiffel Tower in the heart of Paris, we enjoyed a contemporary and welcoming atmosphere for our stay in the capital. They also served a free breakfast that included all my favorite cheeses, meats and croissants!

I bought a pretty shirt for 10€ at a French market that was across from our hotel. There was so much fresh food. We went into a grocery store the day before and they only sold frozen foods, we thought that was odd but now we know the Parisians fresh food secrets…. They buy local and cook with the best of ingredients. 8/16/15

Although we did not eat here, we walked passed it on the way back to our train route. We were one stop away from our hotel and we had just left the Eiffel Tower… It was a “Kodak moment”