I Love Paris In the Summertime!


I went to Paris last week with Sean and our friends Vik & Harmandeep. It was just as magnificent as Id remember it, in fact, probably better! Here is a synapse of my Parisian vacation:

Day One: We arrived to our hotel around 6pm. Sean took a nap, and me and Harmandeep went exploring around our hotel, and found shopping everywhere! The best part about it is that July is SALE month, so everything was like 50% off. We just window shopped, but it was still amazing. around 9pm we went back to the hotel, picked up the guys and ate outside at a cute little restaurant at the champs de e'lsee. We hung out and people watched until around midnight, and then made our way back to the hotel, for a good nights sleep.

Day Two: The best part of European hotels is that breakfast is often included in the price! We had the cutest little breakfast room in the bottom of our hotel that looked a lot like a renovated dungeon. We ate hot chocolate, bread, Natella, and pastries every morning. Sean was in heaven.

We started early, at like 8am, and went to the following sites:
1- Sac a Coeur (Free) (the church of the sacred heart). Wow, I love this place! It provides the most beautiful views of the city.
2- Painter’s square: Because we were there early, it was not yet packed with tourists, so we were able to really look at the different artists’ works. Harmandeep and vik got a drawing done, and then I decided to get one too ($50). The artist who did mine was totally French. He chain smokes the entire time he did it, and had really creepy old man eyes. Yuck. He did an ok job, but I am always disappointed by these portraits.
3- River Ride: ($11 each). We hopped on a boat-ride, and got a tour via water of the Parisian sights. This was a great way to get orientated to the city, and the sun was a shining.
4- Latin Quarter: Next we strolled through the Latin Quarter. This place has a cool university atmosphere, cheap food, and lots of character. There was so much great food here for cheap, baguettes, pastries, gyros, crepes, pizza, Greek, Indian, anything you could ask for.
5- Notre Dame: (Free) Notre Dame is a huge gothic style church. It is so beautiful to look at. We strolled around the grounds for an hour taking pictures and enjoying our time.
6- Eiffel tower ($11 each): After a quick hotel stop we headed out in the evening to the Eiffel tower. We took the elevator all the way to the top floor. It’s pretty crowded up there, so tom must have gotten a private visit when he proposed to Kate. The views from the top are amazing- we took lots of pics.
7- Latin Quarter ($11 each): We loved the Latin Quarter so much the first time; we decided to go back there for dinner. This was the night of the Paris/Portugal football game, so service was a joke, and so was getting a table in a restaurant with a big screen. All of the restaurants without TV’s were desolated, while the ones with TV’s were packed to the brim, it was pretty funny. We were lucky and found what was probably the last spot open with a partial view of the game. It was really exciting to be there during the world cup, especially since Paris won that game. The atmosphere was soooo awesome! I wanted to stay out and party all night, however, Sean insisted that we get home, as he was sure there would be riots on the streets. Well, he was right, the next mornings news reported the riots right where we were. Ha Ha, I guess he can say I told you so.

Day Three:
1- The Louvre ($8/each): The Louve is such a beautiful building. The architecture is inspirational. It makes me wonder why they don’t build buildings like that anymore. We saw 3 different wings of the museum, which took about 3 hrs. My favorite stuff there are all of the statues and sculptures of naked people. It is sooo sexy.
2- Muse Dorse ($7.50 each): I’m a huge fan of the impressionist era. I love Monet, Degas, Van Gough… all of it. While the building itself is not very impressive, the works inside are awesome. Besides all of the sculptures of the Louvre, the works here are defiantly my favorite.
3- Shopping: Next we headed back to the hotel, took and hour nap, and then I headed off shopping while Sean continued to sleep. I found that my feet are TOO big to fit Parisian shoes. I found 5 awesome pairs of flats… but none of the stores held my size (which is about a 40 or 8.5 US). Crazy. My feet are the average size in the US, so it goes to show you how much smaller Parisians really are. I think it is because of all of the walking, and stairs they climb in the Metro. London doesn’t have stairs, instead it has escalators, which is why most of them are plump.
4- Latin Quarter ($11 each): Dinner again at Latin Quarter- this time for Greek food. We had a hard time deciding where to eat, as we were overwhelmed with choices. However, the broken plats in the doorway, live music, and promise of “free drinks” from the doormen brought us in. The food was good, not amazing, but reasonably priced.
5- Arch De Triumph (free): Wow- I forgot how awesome this piece of art was. It is massive and so intricately carved. I love it!!! It is my favorite thing in Paris. No one really talks it up, so you expectations are not high, and then you see it and boom, it takes your breath away. You can go to the top for $8, but since I did that the last time I was here, I didn’t think it was worth the moola.

Day Four: Boo hoo- our last day in Paris!! Well, we were actually ready to go by the end, and we’d seen the major sights, eaten great food, and were Metro’d out!

1- Versailles ($20 each): We took the train to Versailles, which is about an hour train ride away. There were no real directions in our guide book, so we just followed the signs in the Metro station. It was fairly easy to get to with one minor mistake. The grounds of Versailles are immense. There are fountains and sculptures everywhere. Most of the Male parts & noses were brokenJ. The inside is impressive. Every room has huge murals on the ceilings, and is decked out in gold- so of Rococo ish if you know anything about that era. We got the headset tour which tells a lot of the history of the palace- which I defiantly recommend. This is a MUST see… even though it is an hour away.
2- Latin Quarter ($5 each): After Versailles we stopped in the Latin Quarter for lunch. We had the yummiest gyros ever!!! They even had katsup for me, which I was forever grateful for. The guy tried to call me American for wanting katsup on my gyro, but I quickly corrected him, and ensured in a lengthy conversation of how Canadians are not the same as Americans.
3- More Shopping ($30): I went shopping again while Sean slept. I’m not sure what it is about men, but they seem to need a whole lot more sleep than women. I cannot nap. I don’t have it in me to nap, so instead I shopped, and I found a few good deals.
4- Arch De Triumph: I had to see it one more time, during the day J
5- Cars- the Movie ($10 each): By the end of our sight seeing, we really just needed to sit down and do something normal… so we went to the movies. The theater was really nice; however, they play more commercials before the movie than America!! It was a good ½ hour before the movie started- insane. The movie was cute- I recommend it to anyone.
6- Crepes ($5 each): Before making our way back to the hotel, we stopped for a late night dinner of Natella & banana crepes, my favorite combination. Well, truth be told, I haven’t actually tried another kind of crepe in Paris. I love the Natella/Banana combination so much, that I just get it every time. Why stray from perfection?

Day 5: We woke up at the butt crack of dawn to get to the airport—for our flight to London Heathrow. We took an overpriced shuttle to get there- a Cab was actually a lot cheaper for four people.

I LOVE Paris. It was probably the best vacation Sean & I have taken together. It was really fun going with another couple (Harmandeep & Vik), and the Parisians were actually nice. Last time I came, some rude French man told me off in the metro for speaking English. This time however, they were very hospitable, very surprising.

Go to Paris!! Here are some travel tips:

1- Don’t waste money on full service restaurants. Crepes, gyros, baguettes, paninin’s are all cheap, yummy and fill you up.
2- Take the Metro! Get a 3 day visitors pass
3- Get the City Pass ahead of time for the museums ect- it will save you A LOT of money (we didn’t do it this time, and are kicking ourselves in the pants for not planning ahead- so unlike me!)
4- Bring a bottle of water with you. Drinks are REALLY expensive to purchase on the street.
5- Map out your metro ahead of time. This will save time and confusion.
6- Wear comfortable shoes- you will do a LOT of walking!
7- Don’t pay extra for the Versailles garden pass- you can just walk in there for free.
8- Try to speak French--- they will appreciate the effort.
9- Don’t speak too loudly- the French are quiet people.
10- Buy the “Eye Witness Paris travel guide” ahead of time. Get it used from Amazon. Com. It is the best travel book out there, with lots of directions and useful tips. This is the brand I purchase for all of my travels. I swear by it.

Avoir for now! Je t’aime!

XOXO

Eve