The City of Lights

I think I have talked to a lot of you about Paris already, but I will recap it anyway, even though I came back almost 2 weeks ago.

Justin and I left on Thursday afternoon (the 19th) and took the high speed TGV train into the city center. Shortly thereafter, we arrived at our hotel, the K+K Cayre. I had won 2 free nights in the hotel at an auction in Chicago before I left; we got a deal on a third night which we paid for. It was a 4 star hotel right in the heart of Paris, a perfect location and the best part (besides the amazing bed) was the balcony which overlooked the city streets.

On Thursday night we went to the Musee D'Orsay to check out some impressionist paintings. Very cool museum, it is in an old train station. It did not take that long to walk through either so that was nice. Lots of really cool famous paintings there by Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Latrec, Cezanne, etc. You get the idea. After the museum we headed to a french brasserie recommended by our hotel which was delicious. We ordered escargots which came in the shell, a new way of eating them for me. I LOVE escargot and if you like garlic and butter, you will like them despite the fact it is a snail. mmmm. We alternated between french and english throughout the meal, using mostly what our waitress felt like using with us. There was also an older, unassuming french man sitting next to us, who when his female companion arrived, exclaimed " you look great!!!" and sounded JUST like Bruno from the Ali G show. hilarious. After dinner we walked around a little bit and ended up at this carnival taking place in the Tulieries. We did bumper cars, which was fun until these French thugs started hitting everyone as hard as they possibly could. Ow!! Then we walked over to the Louvre to check out the lights and the pyramids.

Friday morning we dragged ourselves out of bed at a relatively early hour and went to the Louvre. Amazingly, we only had to wait about 5 minutes in line. We saw the Mona Lisa first, which is small as everyone says. I think its worth it just to observe the feeding frenzy of photographers taking place there!

Friday was cool and cloudy, so we decided to spend the rest of the day sightseeing and get it overwith. After lunch, we headed to the Catacombs. This was really freaky, but cool. In the 1700s, stone was excavated from underneath Paris' left bank to be used for buildings. After a while it was about to cave in, so they stopped. The tunnels were then used as a mass grave to eliminate overcrowding in Paris' cemeteries. So you head 20m underground, through some dark and dank dunnels (now they are lit by electricity and ventilated, so we don't have it too bad), and find yourself literally, face to face, with 5 million bodies. Bones stacked on either side of you, anywhere from 5-10 feet tall and deep. It was pretty spooky, and I was glad Justin was there! Apparently there are a lot of illegal entrances that people seek out and enter into other parts of the Catacombs that we were not allowed to go to. Freaky.

After the Catacombs, we headed to Notre Dame and then to the Pompidou Centre of Modern Art. Finally at 6.30 we headed back to the hotel, exhausted. We took a short nap and then went to dinner at Le Petit Chaise, which claims to be the oldest restaurant in Paris (from the 1600s!) We were sharing an upstairs dining room with just one other party, and the restaurant had a wonderful, charming ambiance. We dined in true French style, with lots of champagne and wine, French onion soup, and lingered there chatting until we were handed the bill (this NEVER happens, you always have to ask for it). We headed home and had some wine on our balcony, while spying on our neighbor across the street. He didn't do anything exciting, which was part of the reason why we were so curious, since it was Friday night.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day wandering the city. Highlights included the Tuilieries, Arc de Triomphe, and shopping on the Champs Elysees where we bought Harry Potter 7. We had a picnic in the Tuileries in the afternoon with champagne and cheese and enjoyed people watching in the sun. Saturday night we went to dinner (not much to write about unfortunately) and afterwards headed to the Eiffel Tower, which would periodically light up like a sparkler. The tip top was closed, but we went up to the 2nd level and snuggled under the lights while looking over the city.

Sunday was randomness - we saw the Moulin Rouge (boring), ate Mexican food (excellent), tried to rent bikes (unsuccessful), and went back through the Tuileries for ice cream (definitely a success) before heading home.

J'adore Paris!! Photos will be posted shortly.