We landed in Paris on Monday afternoon and checked into our amazingly cute hotel - The Hotel Grand Hommes which is at the doorstep of the Pantheon in the Latin Quarter of Paris. I love boutique type hotels and this one fits that definition! The"lift" (aka elevator) is so small that we were glad we had only carry-on luggage (see we are happy already), the key to your room is so huge you have to leave it at the front desk and pick it up when you come back as there is no way you could carry it around and the staircase is a very steep spiral one that could be dangerous after a night out on the town. The room is very small but decorated in a very eclectic way which makes it feel very "Parisian".
Sights -
Eiffel Tower - We walked from our hotel which the front desk gal told us was about an hour walk - it took us about 2 because we stopped at Luxembourg Gardens. When we got there our plan was to walk thru this large park-like area but it was all closed off for the "Euro Cup" 2016 Fan Festival so we had to go around and enter on the river side. Massive security everywhere - police with machine guns. It does make you feel safe but at first it kind of puts you on edge like "what do they know".Lines for everything - tickets, elevators - lots of standing around but so worth it. What amazing views. But I do have to confess I was fine on the 2nd level but on the top I could not go to the edge - I'm petrified of tall building and glass - The 2nd level was ok because there was a solid piece in front of me - not all glass. So on the top level I should have known it was going to be bad as I could not even look out the elevator on the way up. Once we arrived I did try and head outside. At the Space Needle I can do it if I hug the wall so I tried that and no freaking way. The tears came and I had to go inside. Nick stayed out and got some great photos but I was ready to head back down. I'm not afraid of anything height wise other than buildings - very strange phobia.
Luxembourg Gardens - Very beautiful buildings and grounds - there was a really cool pond in the middle where kids could rent these little wooden sail boats and push them around. In fact there are lots of parks and gardens everywhere that are very well maintained. Security was tight - we had to get our bags checked to even go into the gardens and again there were machine gun toting police around the buildings.
Museums -
There are way too many museums to do in a few shorts days but we did a few.
The Louvre
was pretty cool. You enter into this huge courtyard where you can just
hang out and then once you buy your tickets to get inside it's like
another world - you start by going down that glass dome you always see
pictures of and then into different buildings that you see from the
outside. We are not super big art fans but there were
things there we wanted to see. The Mona Lisa for one and it
was like Nick remembered - small and old but tons of people taking
pictures of it. I enjoyed the sculptures the most. When you realize
what it takes to make these and they did everything by
hand - amazingly detailed work I think the super cool thing was to
realize there were works from very famous artists and sculpturs that
were very very old.
The Pantheon was right outside the door to our hotel. It is right next to a University so there are lots of people just hanging out on the steps and even a car commercial being filmed while we were there. It was very cool inside - definately a lot of history and very famous people buried there.
Champs Elysees and Arc de Triomphe - You travel down the Champs Elysees to get to the Arc and I have to say I thought it would be more charming of an area. It was super ritzy and a ton of people but once you get to the Arc it is pretty amazing how huge it is. The round-a-bout is crazy that goes around it. We actually saw one couple cross it by foot (nut jobs). Now when we watch the Tour de France we can say we were there. Also on the way they were setting up the seating for the finale' of the Tour so that was pretty awesome to see.
Food & Beverages-
We have so enjoyed our small cafe' dining experiences here. We always ask for an outside table and on the first night got serenaded by two accordion players while dining in an alley-way type pedestrian only street just watching people go by. I told Nick it felt like we were in Las Vegas - like it was all fake but it was so incredibly real and such a surreal experience!
We both have decided this is some of the best food we have ever had on vacation - I was actually kind of afraid of eating here not knowing if menus would be in English and I'm not super adventurous when it comes to food but everything has been spectacular and yes the menus are in English or you can figure it out.
Nick's favorite were french onion soup, mussels, and creme brulee - not all at once but over the course of our trip. Although anyone that knows him knows he might have tried all of those at once! He has tried a couple of types of beer but I thought his "specialty" beer tasted like Rainier from home!
My favorite has been crepes and the roasted chicken which we had last night - to die for. All the sauces they make have amazing flavor. I have also fallen completely head over heals for Bordeaux wines. It is my first look on the wine menu now - so incredible.
Transportation -
We had a metro pass so we took trains as well which was interesting and we decided we would probably fail horribly at The Amazing Race because we are not very good map readers - Michael was always our map guide and we needed him! Of course there is the obstacle of everything being in French. We survived though and only got lost once on our way home from the Eiffel Tower. This sweet guy must have felt sorry for us and he pointed us in the right direction. I think us standing at a street corner staring at a map probably tipped him off we were in trouble.
People -
We have found the people to very friendly to us when they realize we don't speak French. Sometimes you can tell they are a little annoyed but we understand. The owners and workers in the smaller cafe's are the nicest. In the larger more formal places they seem to be a little more annoyed.
We had the absolute best experience last night with a sweet old lady. After the guy helped us find our way we both swore that from now on in Seattle when we see a tourist looking lost we are going to "pay it forward" and help them. Not 5 minutes after we said that we came upon this small street corner with a cute cafe and this probably 85 year old woman trying to cross the street. She was super shaky and we asked if we could help her because the drivers are not patient at all. She said yes and handed us her house keys! We each helped her get across and then she had me help use her keys to get her into her building. Nick was holding the main front door open as we didn't know if we would get locked in (too many scary movies lol). She told me "thank you" and kissed me on the cheek. Then she said "please tell the Mr thank you". It made us realize how good it feels to pay things forward and she was adorable.
We both loved Paris and agreed we would like to come back. The last thing we did before we headed back to our hotel to pack was attach a lock to the bridge of locks with our anniversary on it. Awe....sweet right?
Off on the bullet train tomorrow to Grenoble!
Nick and Barb
Bonjour mon ami! Oh it all sounds wonderful! Even the mis-steps are wonderful - they give you a story to tell later! Bon voyage!
ReplyDeleteMichele