Au Paris!!!!

This Blog is based on a trip that we had on 1st year anniversary. It was August 9, 2008. We went to Paris with a couple of our friends. They live in Italy and decided to drive and were nice enough to pick us up on the way in Switzerland. We each reserved a room in the Best Western Le Nouvel Orleans. Our room was very, very small. I don't think that I would choose to stay there again.

Day 1: It was late afternoon when we went by the Eiffel Tower and walked around; we didn't go in up the tower that day. We did walk around and we went to a café which was just a few streets away from the Eiffel Tower where we ate escargot for our appetizer. We went to see the Arch De Triumph.

Day 2: It was a gorgeous day and our anniversary. First we went to a café, and it was so very French. We had a coffee and croissant. Then we were off to see the Eiffel Tower. We spent hours waiting in line to use the elevator. In hindsight I think it would have been faster and more interesting to walk up to the 1st floor and then take the elevator. The view from the top was breathtaking. We spent almost 4 hours with the Eiffel Tower. We only spent half of the day with our travel mates so that we could spend some time alone. We went to the Centre Georges Pompidou which had some very interesting street performers.

The DK Eyewitness Travel recommened to go to a restaurant that said it had a romantic atmosphere that was not extremely expensive called the Le Coupe-Chou. Please take a look at their menu. The food was good, but some of the restaurants that we passed looked even better. After dinner we walked around and found that the streets were alive with tourism, shops open late, restaurants, and night clubs. It was one of my favorite parts of this trip.

Day 3: We set this day aside to see the Louvre. This was our last full day with our travel mates. One of our friends was not that interested in art, so we knew we weren’t going to spend a lot of time here. Luckily, we were able to hit the hot spots and saw Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace, and of course the Mona Lisa. My husband and I would have liked to stay longer. It was time for a late lunch and although my husband and I thought that the food court looked appealing, our friends had their heart set on the Hard Rock Café Paris. (We spent 2 hours looking for it, 30 minutes waiting for a table, and 30 minutes waiting for the food. The food was just like it always is; too expensive for the quality and generic.)

We walked around to see some of the other sites. We walked by Moulin Rouge and the Montmartre & Pigalle area. Later that evening we went on a riverboat ride to see the landmarks along the river. The timing was perfect to see the Eiffel Tower with its light show.

Day 4: We ate at the American Diner in Paris for breakfast. We went to one location and found that it was closed for remodeling or something so we walked from this one to the other location. The food was what you would expect from Denny’s. We had time to see one more tourist destination, or so we thought, and went to see Notre Dame, but we did not go inside because the line was so long (again poor planning). Our friends had to start heading back home from here. We specifically saved The Museum D'Orsay so that we could go by ourselves and also because they have already been there. What we were not ready for was to find it was closed on Mondays, which it was. It was one of the things that I was really looking forward to seeing. I really appreciate Impressionist art work. It was my fault for not checking into the hours. So we had to make an alternate plan B.

We decided to go up to the hill to see Sacré Coeur. Unfortunately, we did not have any directions other than to follow the general direction. We had to walk up this very steep hill. Once on the top we saw Sacré Coeur and my husband thought it was fascinating. I was impressed by the view that it offered. I was also more interested to find that there was a lift that we could have taken that would have saved me my feet, legs, and breath. I know I sound like I’m old, don’t I?

Also on top of the hill was a tourist attraction of Artists. Mostly they were doing portraits and selling their art. I was very interested to do this, but 2 things stopped me.

1. My husband said no. It was about €60/person.
2. There wasn’t anywhere safe to store the work on our trip home.

Once back down from the hill we found ourselves in what appeared to be the fashion district where they shops were filled with fabulous bolts and bolts of materials. We had just enough time to go eat something quick before we had to find the airport. We ended up going back to the Louvre to eat in their food court. It looked so good the day before so we thought we would go back. Not as good as we had thought it would be.

Overall, this trip was a lot of fun. I would have liked to have done more "French" things such as eat more real French food and spent more time in the Louvre. I also would have made sure to see the Museum D'Orsay. As far as places to see, I'm definitely very glad that I can say I've been to Paris. If you have a long weekend, I think that Paris is the perfect destination. Personally, if you have more than that, I would prefer Italy.