12-15 December 2014 –
After a year of planning for our Christmas holiday we're on our way to our first European destination….PARIS!!!!!
DAY 1:
We arrived in Paris at 5AM. Wow. That's EARLY! We had arranged for a car from the hotel to come pick us up as we didn't want to wrestle the public transportation system that early in the morning. (blergh…I wish I was asleep!). At the hotel we were told that while our rooms weren't available for checking in we could hang out in the lobby and eat breakfast there (breakfast starts at 7am). After about an hour of waiting around the front desk told us one of our rooms was ready. Hooray!
After freshening up and a lovely breakfast in the hotel it's time to hit the town. We've got a sightseeing wishlist for our visit to Paris: THE Eiffel Tower, THE Mona Lisa, Notre Dame… We also hope to eat some great food…baked treats, REAL CHEESE, oh…and CREPES!
Ready to go? We just can't wait….we've been awake for HOURS and we've on China time (about six or seven hours ahead). It's not even light out and I'm ready…very ready to go out. First on the list??? (can you guess from the photo below?)
Ooooooo!!!! Let's check off something from our wishlist…CHEESE!!!! (a Fromagerie is a cheese shop)
mmmm….cheese….yummy. Seriously yummy!!!
How about some window shopping. Check out those gorgeous chocolates!
Eiffel Tower!!!!! YAHOO!!!!!!!!!! Mark and I have been here before but the girls have never seen Paris before…and seeing the Eiffel Tower was on the top of the wishlist.
Eep…Help me. I actually took a selfie of the four us. Yes, I think I need help. Selfies. Gosh…..What has this world come to with ME taking selfies? LOL!
We got to the Eiffel Tower about thirty minutes before it opens….and oh -my – goodness….there is QUITE the line for the elevator. AND it's raining. Raining??? In December? We've opted to walk the stairs which can only take us up to a certain level of the tower (you can't get up to the top without taking the elevator).
A view from the top (or our top) of the Eiffel Tower:
Time to head back down…
Ava saw photos of a previous trip we took to Austria where Annika constantly posed like a ballerina and Ava decided that she would do the same thing on this trip….so without further a-do-do…here's Ava Ballerina:
Grabbing a beautiful and tasty Nutella crepe…next to the Eiffel Tower:
Ava's not having any trouble digging into it:
On our way to Champs-Elysees we found this sweet little farmer's market full of the most gorgeous looking produce. I wish I had a kitchen so that I cook these beautiful veggies. As it is, I did buy a small basket of red raspberries and eat them right away.
Arc de Triomphe in the background:
Due to the rain, cold and our general dicomfort we decided to skip seeing the Arc upclose and personal and headed to the nearest bakery for some yummy treats:
Due to the rain and because the girls only had "Chuggs" (Chinese Uggs), which…by the way….are not RAIN BOOTS, we bought the girls new boots in the Adidas store on Champs de Elysees. Not exactly the kind of thing you'd normally want to buy on a famous street in Paris BUT I won't deny it- they were a good purchase and improved our European vacation.
We're heading towards the Louvre (to see THE Mona Lisa) when we stumbled upon this Christmas market. It seemed more like a circus or a state fair than the Christmas markets I've been to in Austria:
The Lou is in the background (the entrance is the glass pyramid):
We waited and waited and waited and waited for a looooooooong, loooooong, loooooooooooooong time to finally get into the Louvre- the most famous of all famous art museums. I'm sure you've heard of it, right? We're doing a strategic strike on the museum and see THE Mona Lisa.
Annika has been studying The Mona Lisa in her art class and since we were in Paris what better thing to do than to go visit the real deal? I gotta tell you….the Lou is a big BIG BIG place. So many pieces of amazing and incredible artwork! And really, not enough time. No seriously…I can feel the jet lag creeping over us. We gotta go hurry and find this famous painting before we crash!
There it is! There she is…the Mona Lisa:
Our friends have warned us about seeing the painting. They said it was really quite small. After everything I'd heard I am happy to report that it's actually bigger than I'd expected. That's what you get from lowering your expectations!
Ava doing her Rembrandt impression…or Leonardo da Vinci…impression:
Mona Lisa chilling out with me (and a few hundred other observers):
We're crashing fast…can you tell? Ava seems the first to go:
Not sure what Madonna and the Child are thinking about Mark but I bet it isn't pretty! LOL!:
Huh????? Talk about c-r-e-e-p-y:
With the help and recommendation of Mark's world-traveling, high school friend we ended the evening at Brasserie Lipp. Mark had one wish for our trip to Paris- to get one excellent, awesome French meal. Done!
What a beautiful restaurant! And the service was spotless…the only downside? Our jet lag catching up with us! Yes, Ava is going dooooowwn…..
Beautiful French red wine to go with our meal:
Me and my meal…can you tell I'm about ready to crash???
Teeny tiny room…the bed barely fit into the room! LOL. At least the girls' room had a little more breathing room. ;-)
One of our souvenirs from the day…we bought two umbrellas at the beginning of this rainy day (great purchase!):
Nighty Night! Sleep tight….
Day 2:
We got up waaay toooo early. Naturally. After hours and hours and HOURS of waiting until morning it's time to head out in search of breakfast. I'm sooooo ready to eat.
Check out this funky motorbike we saw frequently traveling the roads here in Paris:
Ooooo….we found a bakery that was OPEN. Hooray! Pain au chocolat (chocolate croissants) or how about an almond croissant? Divine!
But…how about sitting down for a cafe au lait at a corner cafe and watching the world pass by? Relaxing???
The girls naturally opted for crepes for breakfast. How many crepes can an eight year old eat during her visit to Paris???
Our big target for today? Musee d'Orsay!!!! (on my previous visit to Paris both the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay were closed due to workers' strikes…sigh. But not this time!)
This is a GORGEOUS museum! Seriously, it's perfect. Apparently this used to be a train station before they changed it into this museum. It's small enough and it's filled with artwork I'm actually familiar with. (and considering I'm NOT an art buff that list of artwork is pretty darn slim and small). We're not allowed to take photos inside most of the museum (of the artwork). Visit the museum's website!
Check out the giant clocks (that are actually keeping time. Unlike the clocks at the clock tower close to our house in Original County).
As it was close to lunch time we opted to eat a small meal at one of the museum's cafe.
Hot chocolate…heaping high with whipped cream:
Check out these amazing chairs (in a different restaurant in the museum):
Yep, it does look it was a train station (in its former life):
walking around…I think we're heading to Notre Dame:
Check out all the locks on this bridge:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you …Notre Dame:
Yeah…and the flying buttresses (or mattresses as I thought they were called many, MANY years ago. Yes, I'm laughing at myself.)
It was lunch time…and we wanted a sandwich…so we checked out a restaurant across the street from the church. Funny, I don't remember there being restaurants so close to the cathedral on our last visit here. Hmm….
That statue is watching Annika a little tooooo closely:
Yum:
The girls played in the park right behind the cathedral:
We're off to see the Sacre Coeur (some place neither Mark nor I have been to):
My old enemy…..stairs:
That is one gorgeous looking basilica:
Sadly, the view from this high point is pretty darn cloudy:
Inside the basilica we sat down and listened to part of a mass. In particular to nuns singing. Yes. I said "nuns". How cool is that???
We walked around the basilica (which, if you're not familiar with the Paris's geography, sits on top of a hill). Close by we found this art maarket:
And macarons:
Check out this truck….
Taking the Metro:
Taking the Metro was, fortunately, easy and uncomplicated.
Dinner???? At a bistro close to our hotel. Those are some pretty happy campers considering how jet lagged we feel!
Bed time!
Day 3…Today we're heading to Munich.
Here's a funny tidbit for you. The French LOVE strikes. I mean, they REALLY LOOOOVE striking. So, while we ordered a car to drive us to the airport guess what happened during that short time???? Yes, the drivers went on strike! Seriously, what kind of timing is that???? Anyway, that means we have to take public transportation to get back to the airport and catch our flight to Munich (Germany).
Our home away from home:
Heading to the airport:
I'm amazed but we some how managed to navigate the Metro WITH OUR SUITCASES:
Chinese acrobats are coming to Paris:
WE MADE IT TO THE AIRPORT! Time to fly to Germany:
Mark had another request for Paris …picking up chocolates. Sadly, we missed our chance going to a chocolatier in Paris but Mark found these lovelies at the airport. Yummy!
The only bummer? We think Mark might have accidentally left these chocolately lovelies in the airplane. Oh well. They were yummy.
*See you in Germany!*