All about Paris...

I'm getting back to reality, slowly recovering from jet lag, and still reeling over the most amazing vacation ever, I figured I'd share our Parisian experience with everyone...

Day One:

I flew from Bham to ATL on Wednesday morning. I had a 9 hour flight from ATL to Paris (to arrive at 6:30 in the morning - middle of the night Bham time). So...my goal obviously was to sleep on the plane. Well, 9 hours on a plane ALONE when the person sitting next to you is a 9 year old that doesn't speak English is SO boring. I attempted to sleep, but I was anxious, so I spent a majority of the flight watching movies no one has ever heard of. Upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle airport, Chaz and I had planed to meet at baggage claim (you know...the typical place to meet someone at an airport). He was scheduled to take a train from his hostel in the city to meet me. Well, no one informed either of us that Charles de Gaulle is HUGE and complicated. There are 3 terminals, each with A-G gates, where EACH GATE at EACH TERMINAL has it's OWN baggage claim. That's 21 baggage claim areas...I got my bag and waited. And waited. And waited. Almost an hour and a half later he practically ran into my baggage claim area. I screamed his name and ran across the terminal to him - and in good fashion burst into tears hugging him. I have never (literally in my entire life) been so glad to see someone. Oh - did I mention that Charles de Gaulle doesnt have free wi-fi? So...I had NO way of getting in touch with Chaz, nor do I speak French. So I was stranded and was praying...praise the Lord he figured out where to find me.

We took the train back into the city and headed toward our flat. That's right - flat. We rented an apartment for the week. Definitely the way to go - that way we didnt have to drag our backpacks around with us everywhere and we could have a place to call home for a week (See picture above of our kitchen table - full of wine, cheese and bread). First thing on the agenda - find food! My mom had recommended a Croque Madame...and we got just that. Ham sandwich - topped with cheese and a fried egg. YUM!

After our snack and finding our flat (which was a 5th floor (86 stair) walk up), we headed to Musee de Orsay - a few blocks walk from our flat. The building was built in 1900, originally as a train station. I know everyone goes to Paris and makes a big stink about The Louvre (which was awesome and I'll talk about that later...) but this museum was our favorite. After we left the Musee de Orsay, it looked like the bottom was about to fall out, so we decided to head to The Louvre and make this our official museum day. As we crossed one of the covered bridges, it started monsooning, so we took a seat on the steps under the overpass and listened to a random chick play the violin for about half an hour. It was very relaxing listening with the sound of the rain on the river right beside us. The rain started to clear so off we went to The Louvre - we had almost made it to the entrance and it started to crazy rain again. We took cover under a tree, looked like little drowned rats and made a sprint for the museum door...only to find out they were closing in an hour. Well, crap. You just cannot do The Louvre in an hour.

So, we took off towards home. On the way home we found an awesome pastry/bakery shop near our flat...and naturally had to stop for a treat. I had a raspberry macaroon. SO amazing. After leaving the shop, we noticed there was a pizza place right by our flat. After ducking into the local grocery store and picking up stuff for salad and a bottle of wine...we got a pizza and headed home for a dinner at our "house".

Day Two:

The next morning, we started the day bright and early - knowing it was going to be our longest day. We also agreed that we would NOT take the metro - we were going to see Paris on foot...the whole time. We walked to Hotel des Invalides first. There we saw the Armory museum, the World War I and II museum (which Chaz LOVED - ask me sometime how obsessed he is with political figures), then we went to Napolean's Tomb. After walking through Napolean's crypt, we headed for the gardens to enjoy a snack (primal packs - yum!). Every garden we went to had gumdrop trees - I was obsessed. :) From there we headed West toward the Eiffel Tower. Chaz (poor boy) is scared of heights - but because he loves me...he agreed to climb all 700+ stairs to the second level of the Tower. We waited in line and I could tell he was getting anxious, but once we made it to the top, he was so glad he'd made the trek. You could see ALL of Paris from the top, down the Seine river and all the way to Sacre Coeur - which we knew we'd be visiting in two days! We left the Eiffel Town, crossed the river and headed North towards the Arc de Triomphe. On the way we decided to swing past the American Cathedral (which sadly, was closed for renovations). As we were strolling up the Champs Elysees, we got caught in a fireman's parade...which stopped traffic from all 11 streets connecting to the Arc. We were not allowed to go up close to the Arc, but it was cool to see it across the round-about without any cars blocking your view. We stopped for steak and fries after doing some window shopping - no, we cannot afford Cartier, Louis Vuitton, or Armani...so I didnt bring back any gifts for anyone. We also stopped for gelato - all that walking was wearing me out...and I needed a treat to wash down my french fries. :)

Next up was The Louvre (take two). Yes...by now, it's 7pm and we are just entering (and we've been walking ALLLL day) - but it worked out perfectly because this was the only night the museum was open until 9:30. We headed for the Mona Lisa first, then we tackled the French paintings. That boy...he loves him some French paintings. I think we saw a million painting about Napolean, Louis XVI, etc...but he was happy, so I went with it. I wanted to see the marble sculptures and the Egpytians. We literally covered 2/3's of the museum and were one of the last peeps out of there - that's right we closed the place down. Nerds.

And for a night cap? We headed home picking up baguettes, cheese and wine...staying up way too late reminising about the day.

Day Three:

Another LONG day ahead of us, I decided my Toms were more appropriate shoes than the ballet flats I had chosen the day before. And...I was going to dress in layers. The mornings start off around 60 degrees, but it got up over 70 by the afternoon.

First things first...we headed to "Lovers Bridge". I had seen something on Pinterest (!!) about this bridge in Paris and to bring a padlock with you to "lock" your eternal love into the bridge of the most romantic city in the world. So of course we had to do it. :) We locked the lock, kissed the keys, made a wish and threw them into the river. Then off we headed towards Norte Dame. All I can say about the architecture of this building is WOW. It was so intricate and beautifully hand crafted. It's crazy to think they didn't have the machinery that we have now and they were able to create such a unique cathedral. We agreed, sadly, there was nothing special about Notre Dame besides the outside, but we had to cross it off the list. We headed across the street to St. Chappell - a chapel originally commissioned to house the Crown of Thorns and other relics of Christ. Now days, this cathedral is home to the most stained glass in ANY one location - it had over 1300 images on 15 large windows. Just breath taking!!!

We left St. Chappell and headed towards the Latin Quarter - making a pit stop at Shakespeare &  Company book store. Of course Chaz bought a Shakespeare book. This boy is as obsessed with reading as I am. Yes - we have everything in common. Book in hand, we found the street we were looking for - Crepe vendors!! :) We both enjoyed crepe #1 of the day - cheese, mushrooms, ham and egg while strolling the other shops and heading towards the Pantheon. We got side tracked at a local market - walking down isles and isles of fresh veggies, fruit stands, meat, cheese, wine and of course LOTS of yummy pasteries. We decided our feet needed a rest and stopped off at a cafe in the southern part of the Latin Quarter. We drank cappuccino's and people watched for almost and hour and a half. We created a fun game..."Are they American or not?" Very amusing in Europe - I recommend trying it. :) St. Etienne-du-Mont was next, followed by the Pantheon. After the Pantheon, we had crepes on the brain still, do we headed back for round #2. This time: Nutella and banana. OMG - that was heaven in your mouth. Literally the most delicious thing I've probably ever tasted in my life!! After crepe #2 we headed for Jardin de Luxembourg. This was an amazing park - and the place to hangout on Saturday afternoons. People literally bring their families, books, food, and camp out around the fountains and just enjoy the weather. It was very relaxing and very picturesque - see below.

On the walk home, we passed St. Germain and stopped for a visit. We hadn't heard much about this church, but we agreed it ranked up there on the list of our favorites for the trip. If you go to Paris, dont miss this one! Naturally, on the way home we got more baguettes, cheese and wine (this was becoming a normal evening occurance for us) and headed down towards the river. We drank wine and watched the sun set over the Seine. It was absolutely perfect weather and fun to watch all the river boat cruises bumping down the river.

Day Four:

We awoke this day and decided we should do a travel WOD in our flat to make up for all the bad food we had been eating up until this point. 50-40-30-20-10: pushups, situps, chair dips and squats. Took us almost 20 minutes (and yes, Chaz beat me by almost a minute)...nice way to start off the day until we looked outside and realize it's raining. :( Boo. Well, rain or shine, we decided to tackle our day trip to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur.

We took the train about a 15 minute ride North. Once in the city, it started pouring down rain, so we found a cafe with a huge awning and drank coffee for almost two hours watching people come and go in the rain. We headed towards Sacre-Coeur next. This is a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus. The mosaic on the dome ceiling is the largest mosaic in the WORLD. We took a tour of the chapel, then decided to take the 300+ stair climb to the top of the dome. Despite 25+ mph winds and rain, we braved the catwalk for an amazing view of Paris - we were able to see the Eiffel Tower and other monuments we'd been to in earlier days.

Soaked and hungry we left Sacre-Coeur and headed into the town of Montmartre looking for food - I had a burger on the brain. We went to probably 6 different restaurants before we finally decided on a burger joint called Indiana Cafe. The burger, fries and coke was a little taste of home. :) Finding this restaurant was the ONE time on the trip where I was a brat - I was hungry and being indecisive and I was soaking wet. Bad combo...but thank the Lord Chaz is a patient man. The burger was worth it. After the burger, we headed towards Moulin Rouge, snapped a picture and moved on. No, we didnt want to pay 175 euro to see a show...that's just highway robbery.

We took a tour of St. Pierre (next door to Sacre-Coeur). This church had my favorite stained glass of any church we saw on the trip - it was almost abstract looking. It was definitely designed around the era of Picasso and was very unique for a church. I loved it...dont miss this church either if you are in this part of Paris. When we were in St. Pierre, the bells of Sacre-Coeur started ringing for 6pm Sunday mass. We decided to attend. I cant read Latin, I dont speak French, and I'm not Catholic...but it was a beautiful service. After mass we took the train back home...we were officially water logged from a long day of walking in the rain. So, we got a pizza and had another evening at home with wine (of course).

Day Five:

Last day. :( We reserved this day to go to Versailles. We got to the train station and the guy at the window informed us Versailles was closed on Monday's. Awesome...MY FROMMER'S BOOK TOLD ME THEY WERE OPEN EVERY DAY!! Super frustrated, I decided we should go anyways and tour the gardens. 30 minutes on a train later we arrived in Versailles. The gardens were beautiful and we spent over an hour strolling the different fountains. Afterwards, we found a side street in town that had Turkish, Lebanese, Thai, and Japanese food and settled on a Turkish place. We had donor kabob's - one of the best meals we had all trip. Picture this: french fries, cous-cous, salad, grilled veggies, lamb and a fried egg all mixed together with homemade pita bread. OMG!! After lunch we walked through St. Louis and strolled the streets of Versailles. It was a quaint city, but beautiful none-the-less. On the way back from Versailles, we stopped in a chocolate shop near our flat and got truffles, chocolate/nut park and mini-macaroons for a late night treat. We headed the garden where we first had gelato on day two...we wanted to have one more cup before the trip was over - we sat eating our treat by the fountain. Chaz people watched while I wrote in our journal - making sure to record all the funny stories, experiences, etc. from the trip. We wanted to make sure we'd look back on the trip and remember every detail. :)

After cooking dinner, we took a 2 1/2 mile hike to The Eiffel Tower, of course with wine in hand, and laid on the greens in front of the tower until past midnight. Every hour the tower has a lights show - it was beautiful. We drank wine, talking about our trip - our favorite things, what we would have done differently, how we wished we could stay longer, and dreamed of the next places to travel...and, of course, we enjoyed our chocolates we bought earlier. The walk back from the tower was no fun, being that it was so far away...but it was the best weather the ENTIRE trip - so it was perfect for an evening stroll by the river. We didnt mind that we were only going to get 3 hours of sleep before it was time to head to the train station the next morning.

Final Thoughts...

*You will never get bored in Paris.
*Pack comfortable shoes and walk everywhere!
*Versailles is closed on Monday's.
*Paris is cold in June...pack a jacket.
*Eat the food and enjoy ALL the treats Paris has to offer.
*You will probably only eat protien every other day while there.
*You will drink more coffee and wine than you will water.
*Rent a flat - it's nice to have a "home" while traveling.
*Sit at a cafe for hours and people watch.
*Learn a few choice phrases in French - this will get you far.
*Buy a map - it was a wonderful saving grace to not getting lost.
*Nutella Crepes are the BEST thing you will eat on the trip.
*Charles de Gaulle is a CRAZY airport - plan accordingly.
*Take LOTS of pictures - they are your best memories.
*Keep all your ticket stubs. (I planning to make a shadow box with all of these.)
*Plan for long days!!
*Watch the sun set over the Seine one evening.
*Travel with someone who loves you no matter what...they will see all your personalities. :)