Love at First Sight: PARIS

Paris is absolutely amazing! It's probably the best place we have been so far. We were both happy that we opted for the bus tour, because we learned so much more about the city and the history of Paris that we wouldn't have learned otherwise.

We drove to Ramstein, Germany Thursday night, leading into Friday morning. This was a 3 hour drive for us, in the dark. About 20 minutes into the drive we almost ran into a family of wild boars crossing the roads. Justin swerved just enough to drive in between two boars that got scared. God was really watching over us. 

Once we made it to Ramstein, we met the bus and drove another 5 hours to Paris. We stopped once for breakfast in somewhere in the French countryside. 

Breakfast break

Once we got to Paris we drove around the whole city, and our tour guide basically pointed everything out and gave us an incredible history lesson. We stopped in the Concorde Square to see many of the famous monuments. 

Concorde Square

Then we went to a platform area to see the Eiffel Tower. It is so much bigger in person. It's truly amazing to think about how old the city is and all the famous people and events that have taken place there.

Eiffel Tower

After this we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral, famous for the hunchback of Notre Dame story. It was beautiful. We toured the cathedral and then walked around the Latin Quarter, which is basically a bunch of French stores and cafes. We got some crepes while we were walking, and they were so delicious. I got Nutella and cinnamon in mine, and it was so warm and incredible. We found a Shakespeare book store that had been in the city forever, so we went in there for a bit. It was just fun to walk around, people watch, and see how the French live. There are zero houses, only apartments.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Shakespeare and Company Bookstore

After this we went to the hotel and got ready for our 5 course French dinner. Dinner was really great. It was right by the Moulin Rouge, so it was nice to be able to see that famous performance house. We decided not to go to a show, but seeing the outside of it was cool. For dinner the first course was something called Kir, which is basically champagne and raspberry liquor. It was really good. Then I had melted goat cheese salad. All of the cheese in Paris was absolutely amazing. My main course was salmon in a special French white sauce, and it was really good. Then we had a course of just cheese and bread, and again, all of the cheese was really tasty. And finally for dessert I had a chocolate mousse which was like fluffy ice cream/pudding. We also got a half bottle of red wine each. French wine is typically good, but the house wine isn't so good, drinkable, but not what I was expecting.  

5 course dinner

Moulin Rouge

Sunday we went to the Palace of Versailles (pronounced Ver-sigh). It was where King Louis XIV all the way to Napoleon III lived and ruled France. The palace was huge and the inside was really fancy and nice. But the part I liked even better was the gardens outside. It was literally miles and miles of separate gardens that reminded me a lot of "The Secret Garden". There were mazes with leaves and trees as walls. The landscape was created in such a way to prove that men control nature, and not the other way around. It is interesting how the people back then thought and contemplated everything and every decision they made. They were much more philosophical than we are these days.

Palace Gate

Gardens and Palace in the Background

Then we went to the Arc de Triumph, which is an enormous archway that Napoleon had built to honor those who fought and died in the French Revolution. Under the arc there is a grave of an unknown soldier to represent all the lives that were lost to reach a French victory. There are flowers and an eternal flame always on the grave. There is a passage way underneath the street you are supposed to walk through to reach the arc, because it is in the middle of a very busy roundabout. But Justin and I didn't know that until we ran across this incredibly busy street to get to the arc. The arc seemed like the center of Paris because there were about 8 streets meeting in this roundabout, which was created around the arc.  

Arc de Triumph

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

After that we went to the Louve Museum, which has tons of famous artwork. It is know for the pyramids outside of it. Inside it is a bit overwhelming. There is so much to see, so we just picked a few things that we were interested in. We saw the "Mona Lisa", Leonardo de Vince's famous painting. We also saw several other paintings by him. Then we saw a sculptor by Michalangelo and one from Greece which was really, really old. We also saw a sphinx that was stolen from Egypt that was dated back to 1200s B.C. How could something be that old? It's almost surreal to think about.

"Mona Lisa" by Leonardo de Vince

Inside the Glass Pyramid

After this we had a 4 course meal instead of 5. Of course always starting with Kir to drink. Then I had mussels in leek sauce, duck in honey sauce for my main course (duck is really popular in France, so I tried it and it was really good), and an ice cream pastry for dessert, which was really good. We also had some red wine again with dinner, and it was much better than the night before.

After dinner we went on a boat ride of the Sane River. It was really cool because the river goes by all of the famous monuments, and it's really cool to see them lit up at night. The Eiffel Tower was the most amazing to see because every hour, on the hour, it "sparkles" and the lights just go crazy. The boat ride also had a speakers in the seats, so you could listen to the commentary and learn even more about the city. There is a bridge that lovers put locks on (like a pad lock), and that supposedly represents that their love we be locked forever.  

A kiss under the Lover's Bridge is just as good as a lock :)

Eiffel Tower from our boat

Then Monday, our last day, we went back to the Eiffel Tower to actually go inside it to the top. Justin and I walked up the first two floors, which was about 700 steps, but to get to the very top we had to take an elevator. It was a little cloudy so we couldn't see very far out, but it was really cool to be up that high. It was 280 meters high (I'll let you do the conversion to feet). There are souvenir shops and restaurants on the first floor, so we went back there to buy a few things. After that we got another crepe, this time with ice cream on top, yum. Then we went to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris, and walked around a bit before leaving.

Making our climb to the top

The top! Very foggy and rainy :(

It was a really fun trip! We both fell in love with Paris! It is just an amazing place. Full of life, love, and history.