The French
Of course I went to French knowing the stereotypes that French people hate Americans and won't speak English to you. Thankfully, I found both of these to be entirely false. I found the Parisians to be incredibly friendly and helpful. And with a little "Excusez-moi. Je ne parle pas français. Parlez-vous anglais?" people were more than willing to speak English with us and try to help us out.
Sightseeing
We packed a whole lot of activity into our long weekend, so I will warn you that this will be a long post! You can click the pictures to see a larger version!
We kicked off the weekend with a chocolate tour run by Paris Walks. They took us to four specialty chocolate and pastry shops, mostly on Rue St. Honore. By the end we had more than enough chocolate. It was a great tour and I would highly recommend it!
Later that afternoon, we walked across the bridge to Notre Dame, and then through the Quartier Latin to Jardins du Luxembourg. I really enjoyed Quartier Latin. It seems like a really cool neighborhood and I wish we had time to explore it more!
Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower. We took dozens of pictures from the ground and then climbed up the stairs to the second level. The views were beautiful! And who knew there was an ice skating rink up there?
We started Saturday morning at the Arc de Triomphe and then spent the rest of the morning shopping along the Champs Elysees, Rue Faubourg and Rue St. Honore. We window shopped at Hermes and Cartier, and tried to keep ourselves from spending too much money!
In the afternoon we walked through the neighborhood of Montmartre (where we stayed throughout the weekend at Le Village Hostel - highly recommend it!). We visited the Cemeterie Montmartre, which was actually very interesting to see. The cemetery had a couple of really sad but beautiful statues that you can see below. This cemetery is home of the grave of Alexandre Dumas, among others.
Sunday morning we went straight to the Louvre after breakfast. The museum itself is housed in what was formerly the French royal palace, before the king moved the palace to Versailles. It is absolutely gigantic, and it would be easy to spend hours and hours in there if you wanted to see everything. We mostly just went for the more famous works since we were short on time. My favorite part of the museum was the atriums filled with sculptures on the first floor. I have always been amazed by the level of detail and realism that sculptors are able to put forth in their pieces. What about the Mona Lisa? Well, I think it's a nice painting, but that's about it. It does not intrigue me nearly so much as it seems to for many people. There are also some rooms in the Louvre that are still decorated as Napoleon III's palace. I also really enjoyed this part of the museum and the incredibly lavish and ornate furnishings in the apartments. After a few hours in the Louvre, we were hungry and ready to get back outside.
Before coming to Paris, I had heard of macarons, but didn't understand what they were. I knew I loved coconut macaroons, and, for some reason, thought the two were related in some way. They aren't. But man oh man are French macarons delicious. According to Wikipedia, a macaron is "a sweet confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies."
I sampled the macarons at Gosselin and Michel Cluizel and both were incredible. I have to give Gosselin the win though, for having fresh raspberries around the outside!
On our way back to Montmartre, we stopped at another cemetery, Pere Lachaise, to see the famous graves of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. I found Oscar Wilde's particularly cool, because people had written some of his famous quotes on it in all different languages. It was interesting to see the worldwide scope of his fans who have been touched by his writings, not just among English speakers.
Back in Montmartre, we climbed the hill just behind our hostel to go up to the beautiful Sacre Coeur basilica, which is located on the highest point in Paris. You can see the whole city from up there and it is a beautiful view.
For dinner, we went to Refuge des Fondues, on Rue Trois Freres in Montmartre. Their fixed priced menu includes a charcuterie and cheese plate, baby bottles of wine (yes - served in baby bottles), your choice of cheese or meat fondue, and a dessert. The fondue was yummy and the whole atmosphere of the place was a lot of fun.
Our last activity of the trip was to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up on Sunday night. For as pretty as it looks during the day, it is so much more special at night time. Every hour on the hour, the lights on the tower sparkle and it is a beautiful sight. It is interesting to think what Paris would be like without its most recognizable symbol!
Alex,
ReplyDeleteWe received your postcards 2 days ago. Thanks for thinking about us! We agree---Paris is beautiful and you could stay there for weeks and still have more things to do. I love the neighborhoods! Now that your parents have arrived, I hope that all of you are having a great time. Say hi to Mom and Dad for us and have a great time together.
Love, Aunt Linda