A Very Long Journey

Today is the first day we have had free Wifi service so this post will be long. Here is our blog so far from the trip.

Thursday/Friday- It seemed like we were never going to get to Europe this time. The journey to Paris from LAX was a long one. We did not have a direct flight this time. Instead we flew to Philly, had a 3.5 hour layover, and then a 7 hour flight to Paris! Wow what a day. We only got about 3 hours of sleep Thursday night. Since the 16th was Dave’s official 30th birthday we went out to happy hour at Outback then back to Arielle’s to play some Mario Party. We finally headed to bed at around 12am and we got up at 3:25am!!! We did manage to sleep a few hours on the flight to Philly. But we spent our hours in Philly charging our electronics (IPODS), eating lunch, and resting.

Dave trying to sleep in the Philly Airport

We boarded our fight to Paris at about 5:45pm and arrived at 7:45am! We were exhausted, but we made the most of our first day and enjoyed the sights of Paris. Our first stop was at the Arch de Triumph. Then we took a stroll down Champs Elyses and ate lunch outside at a sidewalk bistro. Next we went to Notre Dame and there was a bread festival going on. It smelled so good and we tasted some great bread. Of course we really couldn’t understand anyone but it was still lot of fun. Our final stop for the day was the Pantheon where we took a tour and got to see more views of Paris. It was a great day in Paris but by the end we were totally exhausted. At least we have a really comfy bed at our hotel.

Road from the top of the Arch De Triumph

Saturday – Today was again spent enjoying the sights of Paris. It was looking kind of gray in the morning so instead of sticking to the original plan we headed to the Louvre. This place was soooo big and amazing. I’ve never seen so much artwork in one place. Here we got to see 2 pretty famous items…the Venus DiMilo and the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa was much smaller than I had expected, but still awesome to see. Next we decided to take a stroll through the park at the Lourve. Then it was off to catch the train to go to Monmarte and Sacra Couer (sp?). This area was really neat. Lots of personality and the cathedral that sat up on top of the hill offered amazing views of Paris. At the base of the cathedral was another little fair going on. This one had some local French wineries; of course we bought 2 bottles of wine to take home. We just couldn’t resist the French wines. For the rest of the afternoon we headed to Luxembourg Gardens and walked and had some sorbet. Saturday evening we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower. We had dinner at a cute little French bistro then took night time photos of the Tower. We were going to go up but decided the line was pretty long and that we would wait for the next day. So instead we headed to Champs Elyses to have some wine.

Eifel Tower at Night

Sunday – well we woke up today and Paris was pretty much socked I with clouds and rain. How unfortunate since we did the Louvre yesterday. We decided to start the day our with a Nutella and Banana crepe along with “American “coffee” (meaning big coffee). Then we headed to another small area of Paris to see the Picasso Museum Oh, I really loved this area of town. It almost reminded me of Italy with all the small streets and cute buildings. After the museum we stopped at a cute Patstry/choclatier shop and bought a Chocolate Mousse torte…oh it was so good! After wards we walled around and then headed back into the main part of the city to catch a tour on the Seine River. Next we headed to the Eiffel Tower. The weather still was not great so we only went up the second level. I liked it here thought because you were still outside and had great views. Sunday night ww ate dinner somewhere near the Latin Quarter (at least we think so). Dinner was so amazingly great and we shared a bottle of white wine and sat outside overlooking the crowded streets of Paris. To end our visit in Paris we walked around by the Seine and then headed back to champs Elsyses for desert

Me along the Siene River

My wrap-up of Paris: I loved it!!! I was as comfortable in Paris as I was in Italy. I found everyone to be super nice and willing to try and understand us. The culture is wonderful and I especially loved sitting at the cute outdoor cafes. IIate horrible, but I’m on vacation. Everything I had was suberb..Salmon, beef, Crème Caramel, Crepes. But the Crème Brulee was to die for. My comparison was like drinking Guinness in Ireland…it was so much better in Paris. So anyway, I would go back to Paris in a heartbeat. It was amazing and an experience I will never forget! I only learned the basic French words but we were fine getting around.

Au Revoir for now!