September 21, 2012. I have been planning to visit Paris
since before I had my plans for Barcelona.
Finally that weekend was here!
Anne was nice enough to be the tour guide and her two Wisconsin friends
(Marc and Justin) were nice enough to host us at their apartment for the
weekend. What a nice change from staying
in a hostel- most excited about not having to wear flip-flops in the shower!
I have become a frequent Ryanair flyer, so everything went
smoothly getting to Paris. I then had to
take a 1-hour bus ride to the city centre to meet up with Anne. We both were running late and luckily found
each other without a phone. How did
people use to live without a phone?! We
then took the metro and met up with the boys. We decided that we first must
have a picnic at the Champ de mars which is the lawn behind the Eiffel Tower;
so we went on a hunt for a baguette, cheese, pastries and wine! All of which were very simple to find.
(searching for the best wine! aka we couldn't go wrong)
After admiring the Eiffel Tower we walked across the Seine
River to the Arc de Triomphe. It is
funny how every city in Europe seems to have an Arc de Triomphe; it is like the
“city’s gate”. It started to rain at
that point and I obviously had left my umbrella at the apartment, I guess it is
a rule to always have an umbrella in your purse while in Paris. Lesson learned!
We continued our walk to Champs Élysées, which is comparable to Michigan Avenue, only more
expensive and exquisite! It was cool to see all the designer stores and then
car showrooms (for the husbands we concluded) along this very popular
street. Afterwards we went back and
freshened up for dinner. Anne wanted to
take us to Les Refuge de Fondues, which is a fondue place where you choose
either cheese or oil for meats. This
place was unique to say the least; it was family style and the ladies had to
step over the table to get on the inside bench seats. The real reason we had to climb over the
table was because the guys working there liked seeing the girls hop over the
table of hot fondue pots; pervs.
Some of
Anne’s au pair friends met up with us and came out to the bars with us
afterwards. It was really nice to meet
all of the people Anne had been talking about non-stop. Everyone we very nice and very welcoming! We decided to go on a bar crawl and went to
Montmartre area to Chat Noir, Cafe Oz, Black Sheep and Moulin Rouge. I will
have to admit I was a little let down by Moulin Rouge, I thought it was going
to be bigger. But it was still amazing!
(Marilyn Monroe steam hole!)
It was at
Moulin Rouge that we saw a man get pick-pocketed by these large prostitutes; it
was a crazy scene and I felt bad for the guy.
We then decided it best to leave the Red Light District. Since it was so late and the metro was not
running everyone came back to the tiny apartment and stayed with us. We had 7 people in a 1-bedroom apartment;
reminds me of Chicago days!
(At Black Sheep with the Au Pairs)
Day 2;
September 22, 2012. We rolled out of bed a bit late and wanted to go on another
picnic to Sacre Coeur (Church of the Sacred Heart). We walked up the hill to Montmartre Square
and there was an art festival going on; it was amazing to see how talent all of
the artists were; I had to buy a painting!
(Sacre Coeur)
Next up was
GAGA! We met up with two of Anne’s
friends and had an amazing time at the concert… Lady Gaga did a great job, but
her French was terrible! We had lawn
tickets and stood for hours; we were tired afterwards to say the least. So what is the solution to being tired?
Getting a beer at an Irish Pub! We met
up with the boys and some of Anne’s other friends at McBride’s Irish Pub in the
Chatelet area. I was also lucky enough
to meet Anne’s boyfriend, Alex. He is
from Paris and very French! He is very
nice and they seem perfect for each other.
After the bar we all went home and oh boy did it feel good to go to
sleep!
(Royal Palace and the Louvre)
Day 3. Sunday,
September 23rd, 2012 Happy Birthday Dad! I got to do some pretty cool stuff for your
birthday, xoxo!! This day turned into a
day of walking!!! We walked by Les Invalides (Napoleon’s tomb), Pont Alexandre
III (most beautiful bridge in Paris given by the Russian Czar), through the
Jardin des Tuileries (the garden in front of the Royal Palace and Louvre). The Royal Palace and Louvre were
outstanding! All I could think of was Da
Vinci’s Code, it was awesome and met all my expectations. We then HAD to see the Apple Store located
next to the Carousel du Louvre (for the guys).
(Pont Alexandre III)
The Carousel
du Louvre was really cool and a huge tourist sight. We then picked out a bunch of macaroons from
LaDuree; chocolate, mint, lemon, lavender, rose petal, pistachio, and
cappuccino. My favorite being the
pistachio and least favorite being the mint.
(Carousel du Louvre)
After that we
were starving for lunch; so we walked to Anne’s favorite crepe place located in
the Latin Quarter. On our way to the
Latin Quarter we walked along Pont des Arts (the Love Bridge), it was beautiful
seeing all the different locks inscribed with names and dates; would be
interesting to see how many of those couples are still actually together! The
crepes were delicious! It was this
little storefront with a few tables on the second floor; I had a ham and cheese
crepe and then a nutella crepe for dessert… sooo much chocolate and crepes!
(Pont des Arts)
We then made
our way to Font St. Michel and I made a wish…. But NOT TELLING! Then went by Shakespeare and Company
bookstore, which is well renown for letting travelers stay there for free a
long time ago, so charitable!
(way to ruin the picture kid! lol)
Notre Dame
was next up on the list! It was
OUTSTANDING! A service was starting just as we entered and we sat through it
for a few moments. It was beautiful to
hear the organ and all the hymns being sung.
The cathedral was so pristine and divine; I loved it!
(inside Notre Dame)
On my last
night I wanted to see the Eiffel Tower at night and go to the top to see the
whole city lit up. So after Notre Dame
we went back to the apartment to freshen up and gather a few bottles of
champagne to enjoy until sunset. The twinkling
Eiffel Tower is my favorite part of the trip!
It looks like something out of a Disney movie, very surreal.
What is your favorite thing about Paris?
We then got
in line to go to the top; it was scary to say the least. It then had to start raining and the wind was
blowing very hard while we were at the top.
Now for someone who is afraid of heights, this is not the best
situation; I was ready to descend. We
got to walk down the steps from the second section to the bottom which was
really cool, it was about 700 steps.
Happy I was going down and not up!
Since it was so late once we finished at the Eiffel Tower nothing was
open for some grub, so we settled on some amazing sushi! The last night in Paris and we ate sushi,
completely Parisian….
Monday,
September 24, 2012. We got up early to
go for crepes and cider at another favorite of Miss Kaar. La Ciderie du Marais was a very different
type of crepe, they were delicious! I had a ham, cheese, mushroom, goat cheese
crepe.. yummy! After being stuffed with
cider and crepes we walked past the Opera House and headed to Harry’s Bar for a
cocktail.
Harry’s Bar
is the oldest cocktail bar in Europe and the home of the Bloody Mary. I had a wonderful Bloody Mary, however, it
did not have any garnishes. So I wonder
when or who started putting garnishes in Bloody Mary’s? Either way, the bar had a lot of charm and
was filled with American universities’ memorabilia! I found an Iowa Hawkeye flag and proudly took
a picture!
(view from Printemps)
Our last stop
was at Printemps (huge shopping mall, similar to Marshall Field’s) and we went
to the rooftop to get a city view during the day. It was breath taking; I love Paris! We then went back to the apartment to gather
our stuff and went our separate ways. I
made it back to Barcelona safely and wow is there a temperature different, I
looked like I had came from the Artic!
Many thanks
to Anne for a memorable weekend! xoxo
Comments
Post a Comment