A Piece of Paris

Bonjour, my dear blog readers!

After a 2.5 hour train ride, Beth and I arrive in Paris. After getting lost in the train station (give us a break, it's huge and all in French!) we finally found the lockers to store our bags for the day and set off to tour the town.

Beth has dreamed of visiting Paris since her French class in 7th grade, so this trip has been a long time coming. Here she is, living her dream at Notre Dame!

The Eiffel Tower is just as gorgeous as you would imagine. It's almost surreal to see it after its many appearances in movies.

Word to the wise ... it's an absolute zoo getting to the top of the Eiffel Tower - a "goat-roping festival" as my husband would say. Long lines with pushy tourists, squished like sardines into tiny elevators, and a bit anti-climactic peering at tiny white buildings below through a metal cage. In our opinion, not really worth it. (Sorry if I've crushed your dreams, but seeing it from the ground is breathtaking.) Here we are at the top!

After a long first day of "playing tourist," we met my friend Sophie at her apartment in a suburb of Paris. Sophie and I lived in the same dorm while studying in Copenhagen, so we were able to stay with her for the weekend. So nice to avoid the hotels and get a little local flavor. She and her husband Ced recently had their first child, Alexandre, the chunkiest little baby ever! SO adorable! And pretty hilarious to hear his little toys speaking French - they sounded so refined.

I didn't even realize, but Sophie worked at P&G ... the same company Beth works for! It was fun that their P&G lingo translated across the pond and we even swung buy to get a picture in front of the P&G Paris Office.

Our second day in town was May Day, a holiday in Paris, so most places were closed. We strolled along the Champs Elysees (famous shopping street,) saw the Arc de Triomphe, and ate lunch in a charming square with artists, called Montmartre. As most of my family and friends can attest to, I'm a bit slow at making decisions ... so after close to an hour wandering around the square deliberating about which painting I wanted to purchase, I came back to my favorite artist, only to see my favorite painting being purchased before my eyes. That darn lady came out of nowhere! Here's a face Kyle is probably familiar with ... (I learned it growing up as the baby in the family!)

We went out to dinner with Sophie and Ced to a fancy restaurant on the Seine River. So fancy, I got to inspect my lobster before they dropped him in the boiling water. Poor Beth - she's a vegetarian but held up very well as I said goodbye to my soon-to-be-dinner.

Mmm Mmm Good ... Good thing I lived in Boston for a year so I knew how to eat a Lobsta!

In thanks for hosting us for the weekend, Beth and I covered the tab. Let's just say, if I knew how much that bottle of wine cost, I would not have left two sips in my glass. :)

Our last day, we visited the palace and gardens of Versailles, home to the monarchs of France prior to the Revolution. (Louis XIII and all his Louis successors) The gardens were expansive, but we were surprised they only included hedges and no flowers. The fountains were gorgeous and the skies that day looked like a painting.

Here is the busy Hall of Mirrors, the most famous room in the Palace.

We shared a cab to the airport with Ced the next morning, as he was traveling for work. We scheduled an early early flight so that we could take advantage of as much time as possible for our one day in Barcelona. What happens next? A three hour delay! The French had a lot more patience than I've seen from any American passengers with a ridiculously delayed flight. Very short on updates, but we finally made it out of Paris.

Thank you to Sophie, Ced and Alexandre for an amazing weekend in an amazing city!

Join us next in Spain - Barcelona and Valencia.