Queuing Our Way Through Galentine's in Paris

February 2025

We all have different travel bucket lists. My guess is, for many of us, one of those includes spending Valentine’s Day in Paris, the city of love. This year, I got to cross this off my bucket list with one of my best friends, Minh.

This was not my first time in Paris - my first time was in 2023 - but it was the first time I decided to go all out. The trip felt very different compared to my first visit two years ago. One thing remained the same: how magical it was.

My trip began with a little crossover. My friend from college, Denis, and I discovered through Instagram that we would be in Paris at the same time. Naturally, we decided to meet up. Minh was still flying in from Prague, so I spent my first evening wandering on my own. After greeting the Eiffel Tower, I braved a freezing 30-minute walk to the Champs-Élysées to meet Amber and Denis at Le Président, a quaint French restaurant in the area.

As many know, French people don’t have the best reputation for being warm to strangers. But our first restaurant experience was exactly the opposite. Our server, a French-Pakistani woman, was the absolute sweetest. We started speaking in Urdu, which immediately felt like finding community in a foreign city. There’s something incredibly grounding about hearing a familiar language in an unfamiliar place, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the trip.

Once Minh arrived in Paris, our weekend was packed with everything - from chasing TikTok-famous restaurants to crossing off all the iconic monuments. We queued outside Chez Janou, one of the city’s most popular spots, known for its viral chocolate mousse. Standing in line in 8-degree Paris weather, we hoped it would be worth it - and it was. French cuisine isn’t usually my favorite, but the French onion soup at Chez Janou, followed by the heavenly chocolate mousse, is something I’ll remember for years. The buzzing restaurant atmosphere, paired with a server who was the most quintessentially French person I’ve ever met, made the experience feel straight out of a movie.

Chez Janou

One of my biggest Paris bucket list items was having a picnic by the Seine with the Eiffel Tower in the background. Minh and I made this dream come true on Valentine’s Day. We sat bundled up with fruits, baked goods, and champagne, waiting for the Tower to sparkle. To pass the time (and distract ourselves from the cold), we played “We’re Not Really Strangers,” my favorite game. The conversations flowed from childhood memories to personal goals to reflections on community. When the Tower finally lit up at 7 pm, I couldn’t feel my face - but the magic was the same as the first time I saw it two years ago.

Our last full day began, unsurprisingly, with another queue - this time for the famous Carette café. But the wait was worth it. I had the most life-changing croissant of my life, dunked into a rich cup of hot chocolate. In that moment, I finally understood why this café has such a reputation.

Carrette Café

Another highlight was our night at a jazz club. Anyone who knows me knows that La La Land is one of my all-time favorite films. When it came out in 2016, I was obsessed, watching it almost weekly. My friends thought I was crazy - maybe I was - but the film spoke to me. To my surprise, one of the jazz clubs featured in the movie, Caveau de la Huchette, was right here in Paris. Of course, we found ourselves queuing yet again, this time for nearly three hours in the cold. I’ll be honest - there were moments when we almost gave up. But stepping inside was pure magic. The atmosphere, the energy, the jazz band - it felt like a dream. Singing “New York, New York” by Frank Sinatra in Paris, surrounded by strangers, was a memory I’ll never forget.

Caveau de la Huchette

Looking back, I realized our Paris trip was defined by queues. From restaurants to cafés to jazz clubs, every line we stood in led to a moment that made our Galentine’s trip unforgettable. It wasn’t just about checking off bucket list items or indulging in Parisian clichés - it was about the laughter in the cold, the stories shared while waiting, and the warmth of experiencing it all with a best friend. Paris gave us love in its own way - not through roses or candlelit dinners, but through friendship, patience, and the joy of queuing our way through Galentine’s.