It was pouring when we arrived in Paris, but we only had a few days to see the city, so we took to the streets. First stop – the Eiffel Tower. Despite the less than ideal weather conditions, this is one of my favorite photos from the trip. My umbrella had blown inside out (it eventually broke completely) and the wind was blowing us backwards.

Throughout this day, we were lost multiple times, one of us (possibly me?) was crying, we were soaked, we were freezing, our feet were bleeding, and I declared that I hated Paris. We couldn’t find our way around, or hold the map and umbrella at the same time, and we were miserable. I don’t think we saw much that first day, but Paris ended up being one of my favorite places in the world.