March 27, 2018 Flew to Denver to sleep over so we don’t miss the next days flight.
Paris day 1: flew to Seattle ( first class). All was lovely. Then to Paris not in first class on Air France. Longest night of my life. Middle seat. Too hot. Too close. Too everything. Guy in front of me seat was in my lap. Broken?
Paris day 2: Arrived by noon and trained into the city. No nap for us. We will keep going til we drop. Staying at Marriott Rive Gauche by the catacombs and the Luxembourg gardens. ( Ten minute walks). Got French pastries- chocolate almond croissant and a raisin custard roll.
Saw Eiffel tour in the rain. Got Wayne an umbrella. Ate delicious banana Nutella crepes. Stayed for the night time twinkle light display that goes off on the Eiffel Tower for 5 minutes every hour. All of us- the crowd let out an ahhh when they began. It was magical. Ubered there and back.
Favorite thing: When the twinkle lights turned in at the Eiffel Tower.
Paris Day 3: Slept in. Got an all day hop on hop off bus ticket to see and hear about all of the sights in Paris. Got a good feel for the layout of the city. So many picturesque buildings and statues with the Seine river going through the middle of it. Ate a delicious baguette with butter, ham and cheese. Sooo good. Like the best simple sandwich I have ever eaten. Also had a gyro and fries down a little back alley. We really just needed to use a toilet and had to buy something. Bought a yellow beret and a Paris scarf. The bus tour was good on the feet and good on a rainy day. The driving in Paris is wild. No real lanes when turning corners and round abouts. We laughed a lot and tried our French accents. The Red line bus driver was the slowest-probably-first-time- driving-a -bus bus driver. We laughed some more and finally decided to leave the bus since we were cold, wet and tired of sitting. Some stranded tourist from Canada who had a purse and passports stolen asked us for help. Wayne gave him 50 euros. Canadian consulate closed til Tuesday. Poor guy. We felt it was legit. Ubered to a bistro for dinner. Delicious beef bourgenion and poisson with vegetable noodles and an amazing sauce. Walked back to hotel. Great day. (My 8000-steps-boots that I wore had to go 2000 steps farther and my feet were killing me. )
Favorite thing: eating the ham and cheese baguette
Paris day 4: started early with breakfast at the hotel then off to the Sacre Coer cathedral up on a hill in Montmartre district. It was amaze balls. So many stairs and so much beauty. We could have taken the funicular to avoid half the stairs but why? (We got over 22,000 steps in today)The inside vault and stained glass windows were gorgeous. We also climbed to the top of the dome. 300 steps up a spiral staircase but it was worth it. The view of Paris was astounding. We came down into a little artist colony and got a print. Ate gelato and the wandered down into a neighborhood to a boulangerie and once again found a baguette with butter ham and cheese and a “chocolate aux pain”. The French have really figured out breads and pastries.
We figured out the Paris metro and have subwayed all over
Nap time
Then up and subway over to the Eiffel Tower for our tour. We paid for skip the line tickets and were so glad we did. The people in line waited atleast 6 hours. Crazy busy. We did the whole thing in 2 1/2 hours. Still long and some security lines but I can’t imagine doing it any other way. The tour guide was great. Full of trivia tid bits that I love. Funny French guy. The Eiffrl Tower up to the top was spectacular. Cold and windy on top. Great weather since atleast it wasn’t raining. A Nutella crepe then back to the subway to train up to “L raile de L’ entrocote “ a famous French restaurant with double servings of steak and frites smothered with a thyme Dijon cream sauce. The name means “ ribeye relay” and with all of the waitresses scurrying around that’s exactly what it is. Delicious.
We are listening to General conference as we lay in bed at the hotel. It’s been a great day.
Favorite: the views from Sacre Coer and from the Eiffel Tower.
Paris Day 5: Notre dam for Easter Mass ! It was extraordinary. The stained glass and the lit arch - ways. Wayne’s comment was” I could never be Catholic all of their churches are too dark”. We climbed to the top of the bell tower. (387steps) After yesterday’s climbing of the Sacre Coer (570) and the Eiffel Tower (600) our legs were shakey. It was worth it. Another incredible view of the city and a close up of the gargoyles and we went into the belfry to see one of the giant bells. We were serenaded by bells for the end of the Easter mass too. We timed it perfectly by accident.
We have discovered why we love to see Mcdonalds all over the world— fountain drinks and free toilets!
After a beautiful walk down the Seine river we made it to The Louvre. This did not disappoint. So happy for skip the line tix once again. The Italian Renaissance painters including the hard to see Mona Lisa. Spectacular. We had fun putting titles to paintings and statues. It was so crowded in this side of the museum we escaped to the to the other side -no crowds and we could see Napoleon lll apartment. Very opulent. So much gold, painted ceilings and statuary. The dining room table seats 45. We ate at Angelina’s. We really just needed to rest our tired feet. We had the famous thick hot chocolate and Traditional crusted (French) onion soup and chicken encroute. French food is all about the sauces and they excel.
More Louvre wandering then subwayed back to our hotel to collapse and listen to general conference. Of course we had to pick up eclairs and another ham cheese and butter baguette on the way. Bon a-petite
Favorite: being on top of Notre Dam when the bells played.
Paris day 6: The Arch de Triumph. We climbed all 284 stairs to the top. Basically everything you can climb to the top of in Paris and see a view....We did it!! It was great. Skip the line again then slower up the stairs today since our calves were tight and our thighs on fire. Loved seeing the Eiffel Tower again from a different side. Loved looking down the Champs Elysses to the giant Ferris wheel at the end. We walked the Champs Elysses gawking at all of the high end stores and stopping for our mid -morning baguette with butter ham and cheese. This time from Paul’s. McDonald’s for soda and toilets and then to Pierre Herme for a raspberry rose infused macaron with whip cream filling. Delicieux! We walked some more and found a park with leaves budding on trees a fountain and flowers. This was the Spring we have been looking for. We made it to the Ferris wheel and oblisque - then Wayne had to try a French hotdog. The wrapped hot dog looked fake served in a crunchy baguette with melted cheese and he added ketchup. It was good. We walked back up the Siene toward the Eiffel Tower do we could get on the Siene river cruise. The good part was we got to sit down for an hour and we got to see the mini Statue of Liberty. We saw a flea market under the Alexanderlll bridge. It was fun to wander through and basically French junk looks like American junk. Subway back to hotel. Nap. Yay for naps. Tonight we tried French Italian food and enjoyed Pizza. It was really good. So many Italian restaurants in Paris.
Paris Day 7: Versailles oh my! It was extravagant and eye popping. We caught a train to head to Versailles for our bike tour. We met up with Lena the tour guide and 12 other people from all over. Our group had a couple from Canada, a family group from a South Carolina, a family group from Long Island NY and a cute LDS couple from Lehi. ( The guy-Logan Douglas went to jr high with Patrick welch ). It only rained a little. We stopped at an open air market in Versailles to buy a picnic lunch ( oranges, raspberries, Apricot tartine, Nutella eclair, and of course our favorite baguette with ham, butter and cheese). Then we were off. Biking all around the grand canal and to the summer palaces - the Grand Torinon and the petite Torinon was such fun and so beautiful The Little “fake” hamlet village that Marie Antoinette built was like Disney magic.....but it was nothing compared to the opulent palace King Louis the XIV built. The Palace of Versailles and the history was sooo extravagant. The Hall of mirrors and every ceiling was over the top wow. We bikes a lot and walked a lot—
Then, since we were just a ten minute drive from the LDS Paris Temple we ubered over there with the cute couple from Lehi. It was a full day ending with dinner at Cafe Daguerre right off the Denfert-rochereau metro stop. We had snails, a Camembert warm salad and a confit of veal and veggies. All if it was out of this world delicieux. The food in France has all been outstanding.
Paris day 8: 25,000 step day.
Muse de Orsay was filled with impressionist paintings and Rodin sculptures. Such beauty. It’s hard to take it all in
We got another baguette with ham and cheese — we are determined to find the best one in Paris— this has been our quest. We walked to Luxembourg park to enjoy lunch with eclairs and religiceux( a round type of eclair with a cream puff on top ) Then back to Gallerie Lafayette / Printemps— one last look at Paris and souvenir shopping. We walked little Paris neighborhood streets and walked some more. We have eaten our way through Paris. The winner for best baguette ham and cheese goes to the shop from our first day there “ U Spuntinu” because they put Camembert cheese on it and not just Swiss. Delicieux
Our feet feel like pioneers.
The sun finally came out the day we left. We were so happy to have our parkas with us all week.
Some things we have noted about Paris:
- How do Parisienne ‘s stay so skinny with all of the wonderful food, bread, butter and cheeses they eat all day?
- Wearing a yellow beret all over Paris makes everything “Frenchier”
- So many fantastic corner sidewalk cafes, Boulangeries and patisseries. We had a baguette and pastries EVERY day !
- We walked 9-12 miles EVERY day. So many stairs! Our feet felt like Pioneer children’s.
- Every historic sight and thing we did -even wandering aimlessly -did not disappoint !
- So many Two front wheel motorcycles in Paris.
- The weather was ok. But basically Wayne and I wore coats in every pic so all of the days look the same.
- We figured out directions by finding the Eiffel Tower and the Sacre Coer.
- Wayne likes to pay more fir skip the line tickets and skipping lines is nice.
- We French kissed at every historic sight! (Don’t tell the kids )
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