Belly's Paris Itinerary On The TSITP Finale Is Possible, But Hectic
Girl, why you running around France like that?
The Summer I Turned Pretty on Prime Video is an adaptation of Jenny Han’s book series, which I’ve read. I understand it’s fictional, and I’m able to suspend my disbelief when no one (other than Anika) thinks it’s strange that Belly has only ever been with two brothers.
I’m also cool with the crew driving back and forth from Boston to Cousins Beach with zero traffic. I will even let editing errors slip, like when Conrad’s leg scar flipped directions.
The one thing I can’t get over? Belly’s tour of Paris.
When Conrad (Chris Briney) visits Belly (Lola Tung) in the series finale before he’s supposed to be in Brussels, Belgium, for a conference, she shows him some of the touristy parts of the French capital. They take the Big Bus Tour, stop in a museum, quickly visit the Palace of Versailles, and still have time to freshen up before going to a pre-birthday hang and dinner with Belly’s Parisian friends. Let’s not forget, according to her outfit, this is all the same day Belly gets a haircut.
This had me wondering, how realistic is Belly’s Paris itinerary? After mapping out just how long it would take to follow Belly’s tour of the city, I feel like Conrad might need a wellness check.
Belly Starts Her Day At The Salon
~6:10-11:20 a.m.: At the end of Episode 10, Conrad is at the airport in California, switching his flight to the 10:45 p.m. to Paris. In my search, I couldn’t find any direct flights from Northern Cali to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, but there is a 10:25 p.m. Delta option that has a 10-hour connection in Atlanta before landing around 6:10 a.m. This is already a huge red flag, but I’ll accept it since it does give Conrad and Belly an earlier start in the day than if he landed in the afternoon.
At the same time that Conrad is flying to Paris, Belly is at the salon. Let’s say she has the first appointment of the day. The earliest a salon would typically be open in the morning is around 9 a.m., and for a full-service haircut, it would take about 90 minutes to two hours. That means she’d be done and headed back to her apartment on Benito’s scooter around 11 a.m.
Belly’s new place is at 23 Rue de Chevalier de la Barre, which is about a 30-minute drive from the airport. So all this time, Conrad would be waiting outside for *hours* before Belly returned.
11:20-11:30 a.m.: Belly makes Conrad wait downstairs while she goes up to her apartment to freshen up. (She still keeps her wedges on, even though she’s about to embark on a full day of walking around the city. It’s not something I would ever do, but to each their own.)
Belly’s Big Bus Tour Around The City
11:50 a.m.-2:05 p.m.: Belly decides to take Conrad on the Big Bus Tour of Paris, which has a stop to get on about 20 minutes away from her apartment. During their drive around town, they see places like Champs-Élysées, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and Hôtel des Invalides, according to the What’s Hot blog. The full tour takes about two hours and 15 minutes.
2:05-3 p.m.: After the bus tour, Belly and Conrad visit the Louvre. (While it is possible you can get lucky and score day-of tickets, it’s highly recommended to get them in advance.) According to Reddit, you’d want to budget at least two hours to see the highlights, but Belly and Conrad are on a mission to see it all, so let’s say they only perused for about an hour. Conrad looks more at Belly than the actual artwork anyway. Très cute.
4-6:30 p.m.: In a truly confusing jump, Belly and Conrad end up at the Palace of Versailles next — which is about an hour away in a car. Most guides will tell you to spend most of your day here, walking through the gardens and palace, but it’s only open till 6:30 p.m. If they were there until closing, Belly and Conrad probably walked around for about two and a half hours before heading back into the city.
7:10 p.m.: Belly decides to take Conrad to one of her favorite spots in Paris after Versailles, which is a rooftop near her apartment with views of the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre. They have a heartfelt conversation about Belly finding her own in a new city and Conrad compares Paris’ layout to organs in the human body, which took about five minutes and that’s probably all the time they had because Belly’s pre-birthday dinner was at 8 p.m.
7:20-7:35 p.m.: Once Belly and Conrad get to her apartment 10 minutes away from the rooftop, they have to rush to get dressed for dinner. The actual filming location of her intimate pre-birthday party isn’t known, but it likely happened near the restaurant she worked at, the Coquelicot Bistrot in Faubourg Saint-Antoine.
That area is about 30 minutes away from her apartment, so even if Belly took 15 minutes to change clothes, reapply her makeup, and give Conrad enough time to look around while putting on a new ‘fit as well, she’d still be five minutes late.
Belly’s Pre-Birthday Dinner And Walk Along The Seine
8:05 p.m.-1:30 a.m.: Belly’s birthday dinner with her Parisian friends must have been very fun for it to last over five hours. Afterward, she and Conrad end the night with a walk along the Seine at Place Louis Aragon. The park is about 20 minutes away from the restaurant area.
At one point, Belly says she’s only been 22 for “about an hour and a half,” so that puts their stroll around 1:30 a.m. Just a reminder, since Conrad appeared to not sleep on his flight at the end of Episode 10 — and we’re factoring in a 10-hour connection — he would’ve been awake for more than 40 hours straight at this point. And that’s not even including how much time he was awake prior to changing his travel plans. I guess when it comes to reuniting with the love of your life, you don’t need caffeine.
1:40-2:20 a.m.: Belly and Conrad’s dancing by the water quickly turned steamy when the two get in a cab to head back to her place, which is 40 minutes away from the park. That’s quite a long makeout session to be happening in the back of an Uber — no wonder they start going at it in the stairwell.
2:20-4:10 a.m.: Belly and Conrad’s bedroom reunion lasts about two hours, because her phone reads 4:04 a.m. when she checks her birthday messages while on the toilet. After a roughly six-minute discussion, Conrad then leaves to catch the 5 a.m. train to Brussels.
4:11-5 a.m.: It takes Belly approximately one minute to realize she wants Conrad, and runs out to chase after him. Despite the train station, Gare du Nord, being a 12-minute ride from Belly’s apartment, she just barely makes it on the train as it was supposedly scheduled to leave at 5 a.m. IRL, the first train that leaves from Paris to Brussels is actually at 6:17 a.m., so Belly would have had plenty of time to find Conrad before he left.
TL;DR: Conrad Deserves A Nice Long Nap
Fans on TikTok may argue that Belly’s Paris itinerary makes no sense — especially with a mid-day Versailles visit — but it’s still technically possible if all goes exceptionally well. You would just be spending most of your time running from one place to the next.
It would also be miserable for someone like Conrad, who was awake for basically two full days. Let’s not forget the emotional roller coaster he went through with Belly sleeping with him, rejecting him, and then confessing she loved him. It was a lot.
This experiment taught me that Belly’s Paris trip is possible, but if I were Connie, I would need to sleep for days afterward to recover from it.
