Paris – Je T’aime

Bonjour!

Eiffel Tower with Britt

Brittney and I had the trip of a lifetime! Paris was everything I’d wanted it to be and more. I now know what all the hype is about.

I got into Charles de Gaulle around 11pm Thursday night, grabbed a taxi (same place as the movie “Taken,” a little scary), and met Britt at Hotel Notre Dame Saint Michel. We loved the friendly staff, the colorful decorations, and how tiny everything was! Both of us were hungry, so we ventured out into the hoppin’ streets behind the hotel. So much fun! I got a delicious falafel, Britt got a kabab, and then we headed back to the room to plan out our weekend. We packed the days full and both of us secretly thought we’d never fit everything in – but we pleasantly surprised ourselves!

Nightlife behind the hotel

Outside Les Deux Magots

St. Germain area

Friday morning, the first thing on our agenda was finding Les Deux Magots on Saint Germain. We wandered down the street (one of my favorites in Paris now), and found it. Best cup of coffee I have ever had…and that’s saying something for me! After that, we walked back and checked out the Notre Dame. Wow. Definitely a little bit different then how Disney captured it in the hunchback movie. We hung around outside for a while marveling, and then wandered in. The main, circular stained-glass window was absolutely beautiful thing to see. We also wandered through the smaller side chapels. It was such a powerful place both physically and spiritually. The high-vaulted ceilings, the light flooding in through the glass, the hundreds of glowing candles…

Notre Dame

Circular stained-glass window

Main alter

Saint Chapelle - spectacular

Britt and I inside Saint Chapelle

Le Palais de Justice

After this, we wandered a couple streets over to Saint Chapelle and Le Palais de Justice. Saint Chapelle has the greatest stained-glass windows I have ever seen. They go practically from floor to ceiling in the most vibrant colors. It was overcast and raining and still gorgeous – I can only imagine what it must look like in the sunlight. Sophie, my grand-big, studied in Paris two years ago and said it is the most amazing thing to see on a sunny day. We exited into Le Palais de Justice, where Marie Antoinette hid during the French Revolution. The gates are incredible – if only we knew this was barely a taste of what we’d see at Versailles the next day. We ended up walking into what appeared to be a court or big governmental operation inside the building, and that’s when we decided it was time to move on. But not without some photos outside!

About to cross the Seine from the "island" Notre Dame is on

Metro

Bridge we found - going in the wrong direction of Champs

First glimpse of the Eiffel

Laduree!!!

Like a kid on Christmas morning with my macaroons

Biggest Louie Vuitton

Champs-Elysees!!!

Arc de Triomphe

First Starbucks Christmas cups

We got off the little island in the middle of the Seine, and went down to the metro. Britt and I took it to the edge of Champs-Élysées. We wandered a bit in the wrong direction, but it took us onto a magnificent bridge, decorated with gold-leafed figures. And I got my first full-shot of the Eiffel Tower! Then we got back on track and headed up Champs-Élysées. The two of us had an amazing time just wandering up and down it. At the far end of the street is the Arc de Triomphe where twelve streets meet – mayhem (but very fun to observe). Before making it to the Arc, however, we got sidetracked at Ladurée – a Parisian tea salon with amazing baked goods. I’d seen the macaroons on a favorite TV show of mine (Gossip Girl), and so of course I was obligated to try them. The line was huge, but the store (and the elite restaurant) was so beautifully decorated we didn’t mind waiting at all. It was well worth it. I got four mini-macaroons – two dark chocolate, one raspberry, and one pistachio. I will be craving those for a long time to come (wish they could keep – actually, maybe not since I would have spent about 100,00 euro on them). We were starving (despite tasting one mac), and stopped at a more affordable restaurant on Champs – even though affordable on Champs isn’t saying much. Café Deauville caught our eye. We sat down outside next to seat heaters, and I ordered French onion soup and of course a Dijon vinaigrette salad. The soup was incredible. I’d never really had it before, and now I’m sure nothing will compare! We then made our way up to the Arc, stopping in the biggest Louie Vuitton in the world. After a close up of the Arc, we walked back down the other side by stores like Cartier, and got our first Starbucks Christmas cups of the season. It’s embarrassing but we were overjoyed!

Off to the Louvre!

Outside the Louvre at night

Britt and I

Inside

Waiting in line

Finally got a map - in Italiano

Found Mona!

Carracci's "Pieta"

Caravaggio's "Gypsy Fortune Teller"

So intellectual

Britt observing

Needing some rest, we took the metro back to our hotel. There was only a bathtub with a detachable showerhead - so I took my first bath in ages. So relaxing – we were big fans. Then it was off to the Louvre because it is free for EU students after 6pm on Fridays. Works for us! It was unreal to finally see the glass pyramids with my own eyes! I’d seen pictures, read about them in Dan Brown, watched movies featuring them, but now I was standing right in front of them! It was pretty cool seeing everything lit up at night too. After some photos, the two of us got in line and entered the main pyramid. Since we got in free, we never got a map – first mistake. We’d joked about how dumb people are for getting lost, but we became those people. Honestly, I had no real grasp on how massive it is. I’d heard all those fun statistics about how long it’d take you to spend one minute at every piece yadda yadda…but really, it’s HUGE. We ended up in the French masterpiece section (pretty much as far away from anything else as you can be), and decided we should ask for maps. They only had Spanish and Italian maps left – perfect for the Spain and Italy students. We got back on course to see the Mona Lisa, and eventually found it. And then I wandered into the Italian works to see Caravaggio’s “Death of the Virgin” and “Gypsy Fortune Teller.” The “Gypsy Fortune Teller” is one of my favorites of his early work. I also got to see Carracci’s “Pieta.” Incredibly moving, especially being so close I could touch it. Brittney had one she wanted to see too, so we checked that out, and then our growling stomachs told us it was dinnertime. As we exited I got to see (and recognize!) some ancient sculptures. So I was happy about that. We wandered down by the Louvre gardens past the Ritz and such. I had wanted to get the world famous hot cocoa from Angelina’s, but they were closed, so we hopped in a taxi for the short ride to Champs.

Since we’d eaten lunch on the main drag, we opted to head down some of the avenues fanning off of it to see if there were some better priced options. Interestingly enough, we ended up at a French-Italian restaurant. Brittney was dying for a pizza, and I was so hungry I would have eaten just about anything. The meal actually was fabulous. We had a bottle of the Valpolicella, and Brittney got her pizza while I wolfed down some four-cheese ravioli. So bravo France for your delicious take on Italian food. Then we asked our waiter to call us a cab, and headed to...drum roll please…the Eiffel Tower!!!

Under the Eiffel

Twinkle!

Pulling up to it at night was quite a spectacle. Seeing it from far away does not do justice to its size. Britt and I stood directly under it marveling, and then headed behind it to the grass area. The grass was fenced off, but there were paths cutting across it. So, we took one a couple rows back and stood there waiting for the tower to twinkle. As we were waiting and taking photos, we met two girls from California! And oddly enough, the two of them were studying in Rome this semester too – quite frankly the world is becoming VERY small to me. Anyways, we chatted with them, took pictures of each other, and then it started to twinkle! I couldn’t take my eyes off it. One of the most incredible things to witness – I am now an official, obsessed fan of the Eiffel Tower. Can’t wait to climb it during a future visit (it was so overcast there was no reason to this time). Britt and I thought instead of finding the metro we’d just take a taxi back to Notre Dame since it’d only be about 8 euro split between us. Of course, we had to go behind the hotel for our first crepes of the trip. Mmm! Then we went to bed since we’d be getting up early for Versailles the next morning.

Saturday, our alarm went off at 7:45, we got ready, and headed out for breakfast. We ended up finding a little place on St. Germain, which served omelettes, croissants and jam, coffee, yogurt - we were sold. After that we popped down into the metro and bought our tickets for the RER (the trains that take you through and out of the city), and got on the C-line for Versailles. We rushed from the ticket counter down to the train because it said it was the next one coming on the monitor – that was our first slip-up. Since we’d rushed, once on the train Britt and I decided to double check that we were heading in the right direction/hitting the correct stops. And we were! About forty minutes into the ride, we got a bad feeling – we should be at Versailles by now! We looked at the route on the door of the train, and realized after a certain point, the RER-C branches off in three different directions. We did not get on the train that branched toward Versailles. Yikes. So we hopped off (by this point we were in the country/a suburb/who knows where). There was no official we could talk to, so we asked a man on the train. He didn’t speak English but he basically told us to backtrack from what we could comprehend. It just didn’t make sense to us how we weren’t at Versailles. There was nowhere on the line where you could switch before it branched off in all these directions. So we were sufficiently confused. Our best bet was to head back we decided, and then we finally realized the problem was not about switching trains. There were multiple RER-C line trains that have the same route in the city and then branch off. So we got off at the stop before they branch off, and grabbed the C that heads in the Versailles direction. We were bummed to have wasted an hour, and felt pretty dumb, but we’d just never seen a transit system work quite like that where trains on the same line end in different locations.

Versailles -  entrance to the chateau

Waiting in line

About the enter the palace apartments

Just one of the many decadent rooms

Hall of Mirrors

View out King Louie's window - the center

King's chambers

Marie's room

Versailles was worth it. The weather was atrocious but we just embraced our true Seattle selves. Walking up the main drive to the chateau, through the gold-leafed gates, and past the massive statue of Louie on a horse, I felt like royalty even in my rain boots and trench coat. The drive was lined with trees changing colors and shedding their leaves, and by massive building matching the architecture of the main palace (on a less decadent scale of course). The line was long, and it was raining, but we got in for free again so we were content with waiting! I now know why NO ONE in Seattle uses an umbrella though! If it is windy they are completely useless and annoying.

Palace Gardens

Getting blown over

A very wet and cold Britt and Bri

Windy?

I can’t even explain how fabulous the interior of the palace was – that’s what pictures are for. We headed past the chapel, and up into the palace apartments. Each room was so decadent and rich. The Hall of Mirrors was definitely my favorite. We also got to the see the King’s quarters – dead center of the whole palace because he literally believed the sun/world/everything revolved around him. So the view out that window was awesome. In addition to this, we saw Marie Antoinette’s bedroom. I loved how it was decorated – wish I could copy that! We’d gotten a sneak peak of the gardens from the windows of the palace but now it was time to buddle up and explore them. There was a Ladurée store in the palace as well, so I had to pry myself away from that and head into the wet, windy, cold. We lasted as long as we could in the gardens. They were still gorgeous in the worst weather, and are now one of my favorite places in the world. Britt and I were pretty good sports. We looked like drowned rats, but still posed for pictures and decided this would be a memory we’d laugh about later. After exiting the grounds, we took refuge in a Starbucks across the street from the train station (if I ever meet Howard I’ll be personally thanking him for putting one in that specific location). Then we hopped the train and headed back to our room. Thank goodness there’s a stop across the street – we were in need of a warm, dry place to rest ASAP.

Opera house and crowded streets

Galleries Lafayette

After sprucing up a bit, we took the metro to the Opera House and did a little window-shopping around that area. We went into the huge department store Galleries Lafayette too. It was beautifully lit-up with thousands of Christmas lights – one of the best displays I’ve ever seen on a store. But it was a MOB SCENE in there and outside in the streets. Later, I asked our hotel’s receptionist about it, and she said over half the hotel was booked with Christmas shoppers. Paris was flooded with people all over France getting a jump on their shopping – it was worse than Black Friday! Getting overwhelmed, we grabbed a taxi and had him take us up to Sacre Coeur.

The hill Sacre Coeur is on is adorable with tons of cute cafes and windmills! It was a dark, blustery evening though, so we went straight to the cathedral. Before taking refuge inside, we had to stop and admire the view of the city – Paris really is the city of lights…

Sacre Coeur

View

The city of lights

Interior

Outside the church it was very dark and dreary – but inside light radiated from the candles and the choir of nuns. There was a mass going on, and experiencing that while visiting the church made it one of my favorite memories of Paris. The church itself is gorgeous and has very high vaulted ceilings and a large dome. The main alter is positioned away from the far wall so that you can make a full circle around the church and its side chapels without disturbing the mass. The main mosaic of Jesus was just beautiful – I can understand why this is Sophie’s favorite church in the city. Unfortunately, I could not take any photos inside – but I’ll include some from the Internet. 

Fondue dinner
note: I did not eat the meat they brought me

Favorite food in the world

Salads

Bordeaux

Lauren found me!

AMAZING

Dessert

Neighborhood

It was then time to find us some dinner. We’d originally intended to go to a place called Refuge de Fondue, but when we got there they still weren’t open. Britt and I thought we’d kill time for a half hour and check back. So we wandered through this artsy, designer boutique area under the steps down from Sacre Coeur. I ended up finding a great purse – oops! This store caught my eye and I went in and started looking at the bags. Then one of the ladies came over and explained that the designer made each bag from vintage French clothing, and lined them with silk scarves. I of course needed the olive/gray colored one, so I made that my one purchase in Paris. We headed back to the restaurant, arriving about five minutes after it opened and it was packed. So that was a no. We then wandered on down the hill, Britt saw a fondue pot in a window, and so we decided to try out the place. It ended up being the perfect pick. It was all local Parisians inside, and dinner was so so so good. We got a bottle of Bordeaux (Xavier would be proud), and then each ordered warm goat cheese salads, split the greatest cheese fondue ever (rivaling Melting Pot if you can believe it!), and then had crème brulee for dessert. We felt spoiled. It was one of my favorite dinners of abroad.

Funny enough, while we were inside eating at this small restaurant in a less-touristy/artsy district, someone knocks on the window! It was my friend Lauren from DePaul! I knew she was in town, but what are the odds she would find me? Crazy! They were actually going to try the fondue place up the hill, but about an hour later they came back to where we were eating and sat down (they couldn’t get in either).

Moulin Rouge

Ewan McGregor, where are you?

After dinner, we checked out Moulin Rouge. I wanted to compare it to the movie. Of course we didn’t go see the show – it’s super expensive, but it was fun to see the outside of it. Then we took the metro back to our room and got some much needed sleep.

Hotel interior

Morning stroll

The Louvre by day!

Musee d'Orsay

van Gogh's still life "Roses and Anemones"

Sunday morning, we packed up our bags and left them at the front desk. Then we headed down the river towards Musee d’Orsay. The city was so quiet and it was just gorgeous walking around with everything so still and peaceful. It made me realize how much it’d come to love the city – I wished I could stay longer. We food another little breakfast place and then went into the museum. Again, we got in for free! It was our lucky weekend. Musee d’Orsay is so far my favorite museum in Paris. I got to see lots of Monet (sadly, not the water lily collection), Renoir, Manet, and van Gogh. The van Gogh exhibit blew my mind. I love his work – they had his still life painting “Roses et anémones',” a favorite. Pictures of the paintings don’t do them justice because you can’t see how thick he makes some paint strokes – there is a 3-D aspect to his work adding depth that is just exquisite.

Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Runners!

Love this garden!

Le Jardin du Luxembourg was just two metro stops away so we went there. I didn’t expect much of an outdoor garden in the winter but boy was I proved wrong. This is now also one of my favorite places in the city. It made me want to run so badly! It was packed with Sunday morning joggers! Again, pictures will do a better job explaining the beauty, but it was a great place to walk around on this brisk morning. Once more, on our way back to St. Germain, we stopped in at Starbucks and had a really nice, long chat. Then we crossed the Seine, and wandered around the other side for a while. We knew we didn’t have time to go anywhere else before heading to the airport, so we just spent some time enjoying the city, and hanging out in the little park behind Notre Dame.

Back of Notre Dame

We had our last meal in a café across the street from the hotel. I had pumpkin soup and a green salad – so I got my autumn food fix yay! Our last stop was the crepe stand. I had dark chocolate melted in mine – to die forrrrr! We got our bags, hung out a little longer in the hotel reception area chatting with the lady who’d been helping us all weekend, and then we caught the RER-B towards Charles de Gaulle. This train ride went a lot more smoothly – minus the obnoxious lady singing in the car.   

Found the Shakespeare shop!

My last crepe

My airport experience was…interesting. There are multiple terminals, and then within the terminals there are sections A – like G that are not interconnected. And there is no main check-in area. So I found my Air France section, but I was so early, my flight wasn’t on the monitor. I went through security anyways. But the monitor system was so odd! Even an hour before my flight, the only little monitor after security didn’t show my flight. I went to the gate I thought it’d be at, but the gate had been changed, and then the gate it was changed to didn’t have it leaving from their anymore! The ladies working at the gate didn’t have the correct information at all to make matters worse. So basically I found my gate by walking around checking each one. I finally found it, but I was the first one there. No one else on my flight knew where it was leaving from. Eventually people started showing up out-of-breath in a panic. I’m convinced a lot of people missed the flight because I had a full three rows to myself on a Sunday night flight! It all worked out in the end and was, well, a new airport experience for me to have under my belt.

I LOVE PARIS – if anybody would like to go back with me in the near future I’d be all for it!

Au Revoir!