DUBLIN // To Do: Guinness Storehouse

My dad grew up in Dublin and my mom grew up about an hour south of the city. I've grown up going there to see my family. Because of this, I don't tend to do a lot of sightseeing anymore when I'm there. But bringing my Californian friend to Dublin from Paris seemed like a good opportunity to do a lot of things I'd meant to do for years.

First up was the Guinness Storehouse. The tour begins on the ground level and you work your way up. You first learn about barley, which is one of the fundamental ingredients of Guinness, and about the history of the company, which was started by Arthur Guinness in 1759. Arthur signed a 9,000 year lease with St. James's Gate, which is where the brewery is located. Thus, we'll never see it move to another location in our lifetime!

The tour is quite interactive, with exhibits ranging from old advertisements to the proper way to taste Guinness to pouring your own pint! The highlight is at the end, when you can visit the Gravity Bar, a top floor all-glass bar with 360 degree views of the city. This is where you can redeem your voucher for a free pint, which is included with the ticket price. This tour was something I had wanted to do since I turned 18. I think you can do it if you're younger, but you won't get to try any Guinness, obviously. The whole tour is very reminiscent of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory - you feel like you're being let in on some pretty cool secrets. It's a self-guided tour so you go at your own pace. There are a few cafes inside, and I recommend eating something before going up to the bar!

Information

St James's Gate Dublin 8, Ireland
Phone: + 353 1 408 4800

The Storehouse is open seven days a week from 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, with the final admission at 5 pm. The most updated information and ticket info can be found here.

PARIS // To See: Eiffel Tower

Growing up, I had an Eiffel Tower poster on my bedroom wall. This carried over to college, where one poster turned into three. I guess it makes sense that I went to Paris after all :)

Seeing the Eiffel Tower in person was incredible. On the first full day in the city, after a lot of struggle to buy metro tickets and navigate our way while avoiding the men who aggressively sell Eiffel Tower trinkets in the vacinity (little did we know we would have to continue this avoidance for five months), we saw the tower in all its majesty. Read more about my first impressions here.

The pictures above represent almost every time I posted the tower on my instagram. At the time I felt like maybe I was aggressively instagramming it, but the sight of it grounded me to where I was and made me realize how lucky I was to be there. In May, it finally got warm enough to have picnics in the grass, an absolute dream of an activity. I didn't climb the tower until my last week there. It was perfect, because I was able to recognize major buildings - a true testament to how much I'd learned. My last night in the city, I went back to the Eiffel Tower, this time to Trocadero, and this time with different friends. We ended up staying over an hour, saying goodbye to each other, to the city, and to its biggest symbol. I miss it every day.

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Ticketing information

The view from the top of the tower is gorgeous, but the Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris, why go to the one place you can't see it? On a quick trip to Paris, I recommend visiting Tour Montparnasse instead for an equally cool view - this time with the tower.

PARIS // To Do: Versailles

The Palace of Versailles is well known as a symbol of the absolute monarchy of France and for the role it played in the French Revolution. When the palace was built in the late 1600s, Versailles was far enough out of the hub of Paris to be considered the country. Now, it is a suburb easily accessible from the city. You've never seen opulence like the opulence on display at Versailles - it is absolutely crazy. I can't even imagine how much everything must have cost. Try not to imagine the millions of starving people who were allegedly told to "eat cake" and picture yourself living there instead, otherwise you'll think it's insane. It's one of the coolest places I've ever been because of the history and how much has happened there.

Tips for visiting Versailles:

1. Get there early. As early as possible.

2. Maybe don't make other concrete plans for the day. Give yourself plenty of time for the palace, the gardens, Marie Antoinette's hamlet, etc. 

3. You must, must get some Angelina's hot chocolate (pictured below). The greatest, richest hot chocolate you will ever have.

4. Watch Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette before you go if you're feeling fancy!

Accessing Versailles:
Take RER Line C to Versailles (make sure the train is going to Versailles, some trains don't stop there!)
From the stop, follow the signs (or the crowd!)

Tickets:
18€ for adults
Free for students/under-25s

Hours:
1 April to 31 October
Tuesday to Sunday: 9:00 am to 6:30 pm
*closed Mondays!

1 November to 31 March
Tuesday to Sunday: 9:00 am to 5:30 pm
*closed Mondays!

PARIS // To Do: Palais Garnier

Growing up, I was a huge Phantom of the Opera fan. Actually, that's putting it lightly. I was obsessed. I browsed Phantom-themed message boards, read Phantom fanfiction, watched the movie constantly, and even tried my hand at writing Phantom fanfiction. I woke up every morning to the song "All I Ask of You." My seventh grade birthday present was a family trip to see the play in Providence, Rhode Island. So you could say that when I realized I could visit the place where the story takes place, I was pretty excited.

The Paris Opera House did not disappoint. The Palais Garnier was built between 1861 and 1875 by Charles Garnier, a Parisian architect who won a design competition instituted by Emperor Napoleon III. It was built in the Beaux-Arts style. Statues feature prominently on the facade, as well as many gilded elements. Inside, there are a number of levels, all with different things to see. On one, the grand foyer is reminiscent of the Louvre or the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. On another, there is an old library filled with books and scripts. Costumes from shows stand in glass cases in the lobbys. For the self-guided tour, visitors enter from the ground level, then go up behind the grand staircase to see it from the front. The auditorium can sit nearly 2,000 people. The famous "Phantom's Box" is marked with a plaque: "Loge du fantôme de l'Opéra." Access to the auditorium is included, but on the day I went it was unfortunately closed. So you'll have to go and tell me what it's like! 

The Palais Garnier isn't necessarily top of the list to see in Paris just because there are so many other things to cram in as well, but if you are there for more than just a few days and/or have an interest in ballet, architecture, or are as obsessed with Phantom of the Opera as I am, you should put it on your list. Or do one better and go see a show! 

Website:
www.operadeparis.fr

Address:
8 Rue Scribe, 75009 Paris, France

Metro: 
Opera (Line 3, Line 7, Line 8)
Chausée d’Antin La Fayette (Line 7, Line 9)

Hours: 
Monday to Friday 9 am to 6 pm
Saturdays 9 am to 1 pm
Closed Sundays

Tickets: 
10€ for adults
6€ for students/under-25s
Free for kids under 10

PARIS // To Do: Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise Cemetery is one of the most interesting places I went while living in Paris. For a city filled with history, beauty and charm, I'd say this is a pretty big statement. Yes, it's a bit strange to think that you might visit a cemetery on vacation or a day off, but Père Lachaise is no ordinary cemetery.

The 110 acre cemetery, situated on a hill at the edge of the city limits, opened in 1804. It is named for the confessor to Louis XIV, Père François de la Chaise, who lived in the 17th century. These days, it's the eternal resting place of legends such as Jim Morrison, Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Gertrude Stein, Honore de Balzac, Frederic Chopin, Marcel Proust, and many "ordinary" people too. There are memorials to world wars and to those who died for their country. There are some truly extravagant graves, some very plain. Some look brand new one hundred years later, and others are falling into the ground. It's a really diverse, interesting place.

I visited Père Lachaise on a crisp February afternoon when I found myself with nothing else to do. I went alone, armed with my camera and a desire to take some good photos. I meandered, taking lefts and rights as I wanted to, stepping between graves and among them, imagining the people whose names I was reading. I walked around for so long that I ended up getting kicked out when the cemetery was closing. In my mind, there are two ways you can visit Père Lachaise. The first is to wander and explore at your leisure, assuming you'll find your way out eventually. There are gates around the border, so you'll never really be "stuck". The second is to purchase a map at one of the front gates (or bring a map from home) and seek out the graves you want to see. There are also large maps at various points within the cemetery. It depends on how much time you have and what you want to see.

No matter how you do it, Père Lachaise is well worth a visit if you have an afternoon in Paris. And with views like this, how could you pass up the chance?

Accessing Père Lachaise Cemetery:

Metro line 2 (Phillippe Auguste or Père Lachaise) or line 3 (Père Lachaise or Gambetta)

The Gambetta stop allows you to enter from the top of the hill and follow the cemetery downward; the other two stops require an uphill climb to get to the other end. There's no right or wrong way to do it. The Gambetta stop is closest to Oscar Wilde's grave, but the other stops are closer to the main entrance.

Opening hours:

From November 6-March 15

Monday to Friday: 8:00 am - 5:30 pm

Saturday: 8:30am - 5:30 pm

Sunday and holidays: 9:00 am - 5:30 pm

From March 16-November 5

Monday to Friday: 8:00 am - 6:00 pm

Saturday: 8:30 am - 6:00 pm

Sunday and holidays: 9:00 am - 6:00 pm

PARIS // Street snaps

One of the things I miss about Paris is how pretty everything is there. The buildings are gorgeous. The gardens are incredible, especially in the spring. The metro is always full of interesting characters. There is always something to do, yet there is still time for relaxation. You are surrounded by history genuinely everywhere you look. From the Eiffel Tower (which was never intended to be a permanent structure!) to Napoleon's tomb to the most obscure pieces in the Louvre, from Notre Dame Church (the construction of which began in 1163) to Luxembourg Gardens, everything is so much older than most of what we are used to in the United States. There isn't really such a thing as "new construction" in Paris; most buildings look the same, and they're all beautifully old. 

This is thanks mainly to Georges-Eugène Haussmann's renovation of Paris beginning in 1853. This project, which continued until 1927, well after Haussmann was dead, revitalized the center of Paris. He widened avenues, added fountains, sewers and parks, demolished ancient and unsafe buildings and put new ones in their place, redesigned the Etoile area around the Arc de Triomphe (including the Champs-Élysées) and created an entire network of avenues and boulevards that made Paris easier to navigate. His projects, initially commissioned by Napoleon III, fell under a decent amount of criticism, but they did create the Paris we know today. Haussmann architecture is very distinctive; I can look at a picture on Pinterest and recognize right away that it's a photo of Paris.

I found photographing Paris to be incredibly easy. The hardest part might be avoiding the glares from the Parisians rushing by, but after a few minutes you get used to it. After that, you can spend all day photographing; there's so much to see. I couldn't put a number on how many photos I took for the five months I lived abroad, but the fact that I took nearly 1,000 in a day at Versailles tells me the number is pretty high. Below are a few of my favorite "street snaps" from the prettiest city I've ever been to.