So this was our first big trip since we've been here, and it was a pretty action packed weekend, so there is a lot to cover. We uploaded pictures, but the one above is one of the
fav's.
Friday, November 7th
Our train from London left at 6:40am, and since it takes forever to get anywhere here, especially at that hour, our day started at 4:00. We thought we'd sleep on the 3 hour train ride, but we were sitting across from a middle aged couple from New Zealand, and we ended up talking to them most of the way, which was fine because we got to see a lot of the English and French countryside. We got to Paris at about 11:00 and went straight to the hotel, which happened to have a window looking out onto the Eiffel Tower. Most of the buildings in Paris aren't too tall, so we think that a lot of the hotels can claim such a view, but ours was just a few blocks away.
We went first to
Montmartre, which is the artsy part of town. We walked around a while and found a nice bistro to eat in, where I had a
Croque Monsieur and Jenna had a crepe, and then we shared a dessert crepe. Yum! Also, they are pretty lenient about animals, and there was a German
Shepherd mix that kept coming in and out of the place, and he ended up having some of our lunch as well!
Montmartre is also the home of the largest church in Paris - the
Sacre Coeur, so we went and took a look at that. It sits at the top of the largest hill in the city, so there are pretty good views when it isn't too foggy. Of course it was foggy on Friday, though, so we missed the views. We also walked down to the
Moulin Rouge, but decided not to catch a show on account of the price and the nudity.
We next went to see
Notre Dame, which was about as expected. Like all the other big churches we've seen here, it was packed with people and they seemed dependent on donations from tourists (light a candle for your loved ones - 2 Euro; be saved from damnation, 15 Euro). Still pretty cool to see, and to think that the foundations were built in the 1100s.
We planned to go to the Louvre that night (they have cheaper prices Friday nights, 1/2 price for me and free for Jenna since she's so young), but we had a little while before they had that price, so we walked there along the River Seine, which was cool. We also stopped and picked up our first baguettes for dinner.
The Louvre was awesome (other than the bathroom, which was the most disgusting one I've seen in Europe). They say you couldn't see it in 3 days, but we pretty much took care of the whole thing in 3 hours, so I don't know what
everyone's talking about. In tribute to Jenna's Aunt Kathy, we had a "Top Ten Paris" book to see all the best stuff. Seriously, though, the enormity of the place is indescribable - you just have to see it. We saw all of the major things - Mona Lisa, Venus
de Milo, etc. I was unimpressed by Mona Lisa. There are about 100 other things in there that we liked a lot more. I think it is just because everyone says it is good that everyone assumes that it is - like if you don't like it you are art retarded, so everyone oohs and
aahs even though it isn't that great. Anyway, I'll be the first to break that cycle. There are tons of little off-shoots all over the museum, and it would be easy to get lost (we did at least 5 times). Well worth it, but by 9pm we were beat from our long day and just headed back to the hotel (stopping for some night shots of the Eiffel Tower).
Saturday, November 8th
We got up early to beat the crowds up the Eiffel Tower. You've probably seen it before in photos. It was pretty cool to see the whole city from up there, and Jenna just loves it in general, so it was very nice.
After the tower we walked up the Champs-Elysees, which is possibly the most famous road in the world. It has a lot of great shopping and great restaurants, similar to Michigan Ave in Chicago or 5th Avenue. Its special for the fact that it has the Arc de Triomophe at the end, and it is the home to La Duree, our new favorite restaurant. Okay, restaurant is a loose term since all we had there was dessert (and lots of it!). We each ordered a dessert - one creme puff and a chocolate tart - and then we had hot chocolate. All was excellent. The hot chocolate was so good that we got the recipe from them, and here it is for you:
1. Melt a chocolate bar.
2. Drink.
YUMMY!!
After the Arc de Triomphe we went to the Pantheon. Not too much to say there. Check out the pics. We had an extra hour and it was in the book, so we checked it out.
Saturday night we went to see the Centre Georges-
Pompidou, which is a museum/movie theatre/exhibition hall that is pretty famous for being "built inside out." All of the piping, elevators, main staircase, etc are on the outside of the building. We didn't pay to do any of the stuff in there, but it was cool to see in person, since we'd seen it in high school french class when it was newish. Finally we went to dinner at a nice-
ish restaurant near our hotel. The food was pretty good, but only worth mentioning because we had escargot (snails). It was doused in butter and some kind of herbs, so that was mostly what it tasted like. Jenna compared the consistency to a mushroom, although it was probably slightly more spongy than that. If you go, you should definitely try them. Before heading to bed, we stopped back by the Eiffel Tower again. One funny thing is that at night they light it up - but with blue colored lights (at least when we were there). I think we posted one picture of it in color, cause it just looks weird to see the blue Eiffel Tower.
Sunday, November 9th
On Sunday we tried to make up for the lack of sleep and didn't get up until about 10:00. We went to the
Musee d
'Orsay, which is a converted train station and the place where they hold all the impressionist paintings, so that was cool to see as well. We had lunch at the cafe in the museum, which was behind one of the large clocks, and we ate salads and a selection of French cheeses with bread. Again, yum!
Across from the museum was a large park (Jardin des Tulieries), so we went there. It was nice but due to it being Fall, probably not nearly what it would be like in the Summer. Next to the park was a shopping area called the Place de la Madeleine, where they have several small boutique clothing and food stores. We were hoping to go over there and get a few souvenirs, but as it turns out, the city pretty much closes on Sundays (and the whole month of August, apparently), so nothing was open. Nothing that is other than...you guessed it...La Duree!!! We bought a few macaroons (which they are famous for) and another chocolate dessert (that is still in the fridge, actually - hmmmmm).
Since none of the shops were open, we had a little extra time, so we went back to the Eiffel Tower, from across the river this time. We had about an hour before needing to leave for the train, so we sat and enjoyed one last crepe, then made one last
boulangerie stop for bread and dinner (Quiche!!), and a chocolate eclair for good measure, before heading back to the train station for London.
Overall, a great first travel experience. We fell in love with Paris and will certainly be back one day!!
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Jenna found out last week that the band Swell Season would be in town on Monday, so she got us tickets. They are basically the band that acted and did all the songs for "Once" last year, which was the movie that won the Oscar for best song. Anyway, good movie if you haven't seen it. They are an Irish band that plays a different kind of music - hard to explain but I say a mix between love songs and rock with a little Irish flavor. My good Dallas friend Steve could probably sum up the sound better (and hopefully will with a comment). Again, worth checking out if you haven't heard. .jpg)
Anyway, they played at the Royal Albert Hall, which was built by Queen Victoria in the late 1800s. It was awesome. It is what you think of when you think of an opera house from the 1800s - box seats, big red puffy chairs, ornate decorations everywhere, big dome. When Glen Hansard, the lead, came out - he did a solo song without any microphone or amp or anything, and it sounded great just using the acoustics of the building. Pretty amazing. Oh yeah, and our seats were amazing - on the floor 7 rows back. You can see the pictures, which turned out pretty good as well..jpg)
