A few quick pictures.
Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower - Lit up.
November 21, 2011
November 20, 2011
Paris, je t’aime
Today, I fell in love with Paris. We were able to almost forget about our pickpocket experience and really enjoy Paris. I think we walked around 9 miles today! And such beauty we saw…
St. Chapelle & Notre Dame
First stop was St. Chapelle Cathedral where we also acquired our Paris Museum Pass- this is a must do! It gets you admission into most of the major Parisian museums as well as line-skipping privileges- this saves so much time and Euro!!! The outside of the cathedral wasn’t anything special, however the stained glass inside the main sanctuary is amazingly beautiful. After a quick few in St. Chapelle we headed a block over to Notre Dame, we were there just in time to tour the inside of the cathedral as it opened. It was HUGE, and so surreal to see such a famous landmark in person. After touring the inside we headed out to get in line to climb the Notre Dame towers (covered by the Museum Pass). We have been climbing a lot of stairs in Europe, Notre Dame was extra special though because there were Gargoyles to greet us atop the towers along with a birdseye view of Paris. Seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance is indescribable. Onward to the Archeologie Crypt (another Museum Pass stop) where we could see the foundations of ancient Paris- cool but skippable- nothing super special, we were in and out in under 10 minutes.
Museums- The Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Musee l’Orangerie
The Louvre was up next (Museum Pass again- long line skipped too with this!), we made a beeline for Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, we wanted to see these items first before the museum got even busier. I liked Venus de Milo most, it’s such a beautiful statue. The Mona Lisa was awesome too, but if it weren’t the most famous painting in the world I probably would not have thought as much of it. It was also extremely crowded and loud around her. You have to fight/push through a crowd to get a front row view. It also surprised me that the Louvre allows photographs everywhere- including the Mona Lisa. After viewing the ‘must-sees’ we ducked into a low-key African Art room, we had fun taking some goofy pics and enjoyed the quiet and peaceful setting as compared to the busy areas of the Louvre.
Musee l’Orangerie was next up- a museum devoted to Impressionist art- meaning lots of Monet. Those of you that know me well know my love for Monet! There are two huge oval shaped rooms that are devoted to Monet, the ceiling is natural sunlight, providing a natural glow for 4 Monet canvasses in each room. Each oval shaped room is lined on each side with a canvas from about 6 feet tall to 20ish feet long. For a Monet lover it was heavenly. To be so immersed in his work left me speechless. It also provided us with some great ideas for future decorating 
Musee d’Orsay was our last stop of the day, and it was a quick one. We were a bit art-ed out so quickly beelined our way through the Van Gogh section and onto the massive Impressionist Gallery. Another bit of heaven for this Monet lover. Dozens upon dozens of Monet’s work. Love!
Champs-Elysses & Arc de Triomphe
In between l’Orangerie and d’Orsay we took a break from the museums and walked the Champs-Elysses, ending at the Arc de Triomphe. Champs-Elysses was fun to window shop, people watch, and see cars that cost more than I make in 5 years. The Arc de Triomphe (another win for the Museum Pass) was pretty sweet (we’re really getting into shape with all of the narrow and winding stairways we’ve been climbing!), it provided another great viewpoint of Paris. It’s also so much bigger than I expected! An the way back down the other side of the Champ-Elysses we noticed a very large crowd gathered in a winding, long line outside of a building, the air was also perfumed. We were immediately curious as to what all of these people were waiting to get into- Abercrombie & Fitch was the answer. Nathan and I could NOT believe that soooo many people would wait in such a long line just to enter an A&F store! The line to get into A & F was longer than the line to get into Louis Vuitton’s flagship store- another surprise. Crazy people.
Dinner
After a few hours respite in our hotel room we ventured out for dinner. We ended up at a nice little restaurant near the Pantheon. We shared Cote de Boeuf- beef for two, and our first French Creme Brulee. It was all amazing delicious, but I have to admit our friend Megan’s creme brulee was right up there with the French stuff. In fact, I might even prefer hers! It was still pretty amazing to eat Creme Brulee in France though
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- St. Chapelle Cathedral – more intricate carving and sweet architecture
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- St. Chapelle Cathedral – more intricate carving, detailed stained glass, and Roman Catholicism
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- The Museum Pass – Posing with Amy.
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- Notre Dame – Looking good for its age.
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- Notre Dame, Hot dame in front of.
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- Notre Dame – Im in.
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- Notre Dame – Yo dawg I heard you like Notre Dame, so I put a Notre Dame in your Notre Dame.
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Notre Dame Bell Tower –
In walks Amy…
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- Notre Dame Bell – Ding dong!
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- Notre Dame Bell Tower – Nathan exiting dramatically.
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- Notre Dame Tower – Amy smiles as she reminisces about her childhood.
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- Notre Dame – LULZ
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- The Crypt – Boring. Oh and there is a weird Basement like smell.
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- Crypt – There is nothing interesting about the Crypt. Amy is in this picture in an effort to make an interesting Crypt picture.
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- The Crypt – Frenchie
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- The Louvre – I am smiling because sweet ancient antiquities await inside.
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- Venus de Milo – No joke here, this was just awesome to see.
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- Stone heads – If you cannot see it, I am not even going to mention it.
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- Lion: …and I was “RAAARRRRR”. Nathan: “RAAARRRR” like this?. Lion: Lulz, you got it right on Nathan.
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- No need to lose your head over a good antiquity.
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- Mona Lisa – In a last minute smiling contest Amy beat out the Mona Lisa.
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- Senior pictures
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- Amy nailed it!
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- Stone head – He won.
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- Lunch in the park. These baguette sandwiches are amazing. Someday I may even be able to say and spell their French name correctly.
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- Crepe – I just told the crepe a secret.
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- FDR Street – France recognizing.
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- Arc de Triomphe – I learned about an hour earlier you can actually go to the top of this.
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- Arc de Triomphe – Yes the streets are really lined with trees.
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- Arc de Triomphe – Don’t mind me, I am just telescoping.
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- Arc de Triomphe – Going down the stairs from being on top. Hi Amy!
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- Abercrombie & Fitch Paris – There is a long line to get in. Oh and the sidewalk outside the gate, which is at least 30+ yards from the door, you can smell that trademark A&F smell. That is not a compliment.
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- French Creme Brulee – Excited to hear the “crack” of the crust!
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- French Creme Brulee – Moment of impact caught on an SD card.
November 18, 2011
First Day in Paris
After getting past the attempt at pickpocketing, we decided it was nap time. After a couple hours of relaxing it was clear that we needed to get out of the hotel and get the bad taste of our first Paris experience out of our mouths.
We left the hotel in pursuit of two things: lunch within view of the Eiffel tower and to spend some time to see the Eiffel tower. And we accomplished both while regaining our trust in Paris. We found a lovely little cafe where we had a hot Ham and Cheese sandwich(cannot remember the French term for this sandwich) and a Pork loin with a nice decanter of Gewürztraminer. This cafe was about a block from the Eiffel tower, although it was still within view. For our first meal and encounter with speaking to the French, it went well. As always Amy did a great job speaking and communicating.
After lunch we headed to the Eiffel tower to look around. Since the weather was so nice we decided it would be a good day to go to the top. We took the stairs for the first two levels and the elevator for final ascent, which can only be done by elevator. The first two levels were a serious amount of stairs. There were many people who had trouble with the stairs. I encouraged Amy by reminding her of the 67 miles we hiked but 3 weeks ago that included many inclines. She laughed. Once at the top we enjoyed a great 360* view of Paris. Despite the clear day there was a smoggy haze that seemed to take the splendor away from any long distant photos not to mention put a few dings on the perception of beauty of Paris.
After spending a decent amount of time atop the Eiffel tower, we headed back to our room. Due to how tired we were we decided dinner in our room would be fun and relaxing. We stopped at a market and picked up a baguette, cheese, tomatoe, and a few other assorted items. They have some very delicious tomatoes in Paris. Combine this with a tasty baguette and you have an amazing light (plus cheap) meal.
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- Hot Ham and Cheese sandwich
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- At lunch in a cafe
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- Eiffel tower
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- Amy climbing Eiffel tower stairs
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- Nathan scaling Eiffel tower stairs
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- Amy atop the Eiffel tower
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- Nathan atop the Eiffel tower
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- Amy enjoying the Eiffel tower
Pickpocket, pick another pocket…
We had just exited the Eurostar in Paris and easily followed the signs to the Metro line 4 that would take us to our hotel. As we were pulling our luggage onto the train a girl was trying to block me and jostle me. Immediately my radar went off because this is a key sign that you are being targeted by a pickpocket (read tons of info on pickpocketing and signs of it online before our trip), sure enough I glanced down and this 14ish old girl was trying to get into my purse (my purse for traveling is a cross-body strap that hangs on my body). I immediately stepped away and tried to shoo her off. Meanwhile, another man- who we are unsure if he was in league with them or not because he brushed up against Nathan- boarded the Metro and shooed the girl and her friends off.
A Parisian onboard the train who looked about my age struck up a conversation in broken English about how lucky we were and we need to be on the lookout. I enjoyed talking with her, but at the same time was watching her like a hawk- I had no idea if she was another pickpocket or not…
Anywho, we’re safely at our hotel now and the internet here is absolutely fantastic in comparison to our London hotel so hopefully we’ll be able to blog a bit more