Paris

We had a great time in Paris last week.  The weather was pretty chilly and boggy, and Ady wasn't always too keen on us dragging her all over town, but the sites were AMAZING!!!  The food was good too.  Here is a quick summary of our trip...

Wednesday:  Happy Birthday to Tyler!  With our stuff all packed and ready to go, we left our flat to go catch the 10 am train bound for the City of Love.  After about 10 steps out of the building, however, we were stopped right in our tracks.  Next to the dumpster were 3 beautiful shoe storage cabinets someone had just gotten rid of.  We must have been doing something good in our lives because we desperately needed shoe cabinets.  I had been eyeing them in the IKEA catalogue for a while, but was not happy about paying 100 pounds for them.  (I am quite sure these must have fallen from the clouds straight to our door step -because there is just no other logical explanation for it.)  Or, maybe, the neighbors were just moving and no longer needed them.  Like a couple of hoarders, we dropped our bags, grabbed the cabinets and headed right back into our flat.  Thank you neighbor, errr, clouds!  As if Paris wasn't reason enough to be excited, this was the icing on the cake for me.  I glowed all week just thinking about our great cabinets we had just inherited.

The train ride was good and went by quickly.  It was pretty awesome to go through the chunnel.  Once we popped out of that, it was still a bit of a jaunt to Paris, so we were able to see quite a bit of the French countryside.  As we got off the train, we were hit with the reality that we did not speak or read a word of French- all the signs were gobble-di-gook to us.  We had to be shameless in asking if people spoke English everywhere we went.  Fortunately, most people were fine about it, and would help us out.

We checked into our hotel and headed out to see the city.  First stop:  Arc de Triomphe.  Second stop:  Champs de Elysees.  Third stop:  Eiffel Tower.  It was so exciting to actually be there and finally get to see, in person, all these things you have heard about or seen pictures of.  WOW!  They are wayyyyyyyy better and even more mind-blowing in person.

Eiffel Tower Footage:

Ady Singing Happy Birthday to Dada:

Thursday:  We spent this day at the Palace of Versailles.  Even with the fountains not flowing, the statues covered, and the cold & fog, this place was absolutely amazing!  The gardens here went on and on for miles.  The canals and water features were beautiful and contained dramatic and interesting statues.  I can only imagine how amazing this place is in the summer time.  We had a great time taking the audio tour of the main palace and also walking through Marie Antoinette's "play" farmhouse where she enjoyed dressing up as a farmhand and milking her (very clean and well-groomed) cows using porcelain buckets. 

That night, we walked to the Moulin Rouge and to Sacre Coeur.  It was fun to stroll the neighborhood streets between the sites to get a better feel for how the locals live.  I absolutely LOVED the FREE self-cleaning public restrooms on the streets.  After each person would use the bathroom, the door would close and the entire little room would be sprayed down with disinfectant.  Ady seems to always need to use the bathroom at the most inconvenient times and in the places with the dirtiest restrooms, so it was glorious to happen upon these gems!

 Friday:  We planned to -and attempted to take a guided tour of Notre Dame, but Ady was not taking to the rain much and was having a bit of a meltdown- so we strolled around the place ourselves for a bit and enjoyed the medieval style architecture.  A gigantic Christmas tree was being decorated outside the building.  There was a man there who had a big heart for the little birds and pigeons.  He hung nets of food in the bushes and would hold food out in his hand while the birds fluttered all around him.  Good thing he was wearing a hat.  I couldn't help singing a little Mary Poppins "feed the birds" inside my head as we walked by.  

We spent the rest of the day at the Louvre.  We saw many, many well-known pieces of art, including the Mona Lisa.  It was thrilling to stop and realize we were really there and really seeing these things.  The Louvre was extremely interesting, but it was completely overwhelming, too!  You could spend a week in there and still not have enough time to take it all in.  

A week, or so, before our trip, we ordered an Ergobaby carrying pack.  This was our saving grace!  I swear by these things!  We did not want to haul a stroller everywhere we went- so we would throw this inside our backpack and take it out to use when Ady was tired of walking and needed some rest.  Once inside it, she would get so cozy and fall right to sleep.  It seriously made all the difference in the world for us on this trip.  I was so glad we had this!!!

Saturday:  We decided this would be a good day to take a bus tour of the city.  It was a 2 hour long tour that took us around many of the main sites in Paris.  We got off the bus at the Church of the Madeline (the church in the picture with all the columns).  After exploring the church, we took some time to visit a few of the nearby stores and to sample the chocolate at the Elitist sweets shops.  


We later found ourselves at a huge Christmas market full of good foods, handmade goods, and junk shops.  Ady even got to ride on a little ride we called the "Candyland train," which she still talks about today.  


Despite the fact that the bed in our hotel was an old, thin, little sofa bed, we slept so well every night because we were completely exhausted.  I would almost compare the amount of energy it took to tour Paris to the amount of energy it takes to do a big backpacking trip.  We walked most everywhere we went- up stairs, down hills, through tunnels, etc., we were gone from morning till evening, and we hauled a big backpack full of extra clothing for warmth, camera, snacks, & water bottles and even Ady, at times, through it all.  I think even just a small patch of grass would have sufficed for a nice comfortable place to sleep at the end of the day.  

Sunday:  Woke up and headed back to London!  It was a great trip!  We saw many amazing and beautiful things and tried many delicious foods.  Sadly, all good things come to an end.  But, one cannot deny that it is also nice get back home.  


We are looking forward to exploring all the places around us over the next 22 months!


A few more pictures from our trip:

Au Revoir!