Spring Break: Paris

I swear, I think the Parisians have a conspiracy against me that whenever I'm going into the city, to make something happen so that my travel is not smooth.  Ugh.

Getting into the airport was no big shake.  Even figuring out the bus into Paris wasn't that complicated (just cold).  The problem came when it was time for the bus to drop us off.

It was supposed to drop us off at Porte Maillot (not sure what it is, but it included a metro station so I was happy because that meant it was easy to get to our hotel).  Instead, the Parisians were having a demonstration.  So after getting off the bus basically on the side of the street, and trying to get around the French that were convincing us to try to join their demonstration (no) we made it over to where I assumed the metro station was.  Only to run into a worker who informed us that all the metro stations in the area were closed because of the demonstration.  Not.  Amused.

He also told us the demonstration was against gay marriage.  Instead of yelling or making snarky comments like I normally would have (trust me, I have a whole arsenal specifically for this situation), I kept my mouth shut and nodded along because he had been helpful and told us where we were and stuff.  So I was not very happy with Paris at the moment.

We ended up walking into the Hotel Lafayette to ask where the nearest open metro station was and thank God we did.  The concierge told us that it was just outside access that was closed to the public and that the trains were still running.  Better still, he told us that we could get to the metro station we wanted to go to by walking through the Galaries Lafayettes.  And even better, he gave us an awesome map of Paris.  God bless that concierge.

So after hauling our luggage to and fro around the metro stations of Paris (basically unavoidable), we got to our hotel with little other problems and checked in without a problem.  In terms of the room, it wasn't the Four Seasons, but it was fine.  It was basically clean, it was warm (in contrast to Barcelona - I swear it was at least 20 degrees warmer outside than in our room at all times) and it was a private room.  So I was happy.  Happy enough to take a nap while the other girls showered and rested for a minute.

I thought we were only resting for like 30 minutes.  Next thing I know, it's 2 hours later than we were supposed to get moving.  Oops.  Oh well.  It didn't really mess up our plans too much.

Our plan for the day was to do the Eiffel Tower, get dinner and go take pictures outside the Moulin Rouge.  All of which we did get accomplished, I might add.

Eiffel Tower was the first stop.  Still just as impressive and beautiful as the first time I went.  This time though, because we got such a late start and it's winter, we got to go up at night and see Paris all lit up.  Which was beautiful.  BUT REALLY REALLY COLD.  We stood outside in the cold forever waiting.  But to me, it was all worth it in the end.

Me! I wanted a non-jacket pic.

Paris at night

Me!

We were on the tower when they did the light show and I tried to capture it a bit.

 Eiffel Tower all lit up...beautiful.

After freezing our butts off, we decided it was time for dinner.  We had looked up a good place to eat before we left so we went there and y'all...woah.  Best meal.  Ever.  It was a restaurant called Le Petit Cler (ironically enough on Rue Cler) and it was incredible.  Our meal started with wine (always a good choice).  Then we started with a bread board which included bread, butter, prosciutto and cornichons.  Such a weird combination but oh so good.  Then for an entree I got sauteed marinated chicken that was done in a pepper and curry sauce.  I'm still thinking about it and salivating.  It came with a salad (incredible dressing) and a baked potato with a sour cream and herb sauce.  And normally, I don't like sour cream but this, this I could eat by itself.  And then we got creme brulee for dessert.  We ate every bit of our meal and it was so so worth it.  I am definitely going back there when I go back.

Bread board

Entree

 Creme brulee (and wine)

 New favorite restaurant

So even though we were so full we might have collapsed, we still made it out to the Moulin Rouge to take photos before going back to our hotel and collapsing for the night.  So full and happy, we went to bed ready to start our next day of adventuring.

Yay!

 Brr.

The next day, we were supposed to be at the Louvre at 9.  We didn't actually get there until 9:30.  Ah well.  And we were going to go in the secret entrance...that didn't happen.  Damn the Europeans and their affinity for not labeling things well.  Regardless, we made it in in pretty good time and even got in for free because we're students.  Holla!  We tried to make a beeline for the Mona Lisa, etc. but it didn't really work.  Nevertheless, we saw her, couple other famous paintings, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, some Egyptian stuff (you all know my love of Egyptian things) and the Napoleon apartments.  By the time we got out, I was so done with museums.  And hungry.

Me with the Mona Lisa

Chandelier in Napoleon apartments

Part of the crown jewels

After the Louvre, we headed over to Notre Dame and along the way, we stopped at a cafe to get lunch.  I had pommes frites and a croque madame.  Delicious.

Nom nom

Then we actually made it over to Notre Dame.  Since it was the 850th year of it being open, they had an exhibit set up out front.  Near as I can tell, they just built bleachers in front of the church so you could sit and look at it.  Which we did, for a bit and then we went inside.  It's still beautiful, just like I remember.  The one thing that was new (at least to me, it might have been there last time I don't exactly remember) was a basin that had "I am the way which seeks travelers" written in four languages around it. 

Even though I know it's meant to be a thing for God and about people wandering lost on Earth I couldn't help but relate this to my own travels.  I suppose I am a bit of a traveler, a bit of a lost soul and I don't know.  It's interesting to think of a higher plan for my travels than I realize.  I don't know.

Selfie in front of Notre Dame - am I any good?

Exhibit outside

Basin

After that, we headed into the St Germain area to find, what else, the crepe stand.  Personally, St Germain is one of my favorite areas of Paris so I was happy.  I even found our hotel!  Anyway, we found the crepe stand (nutella and banana...delicious) and we found the macaroon shop (Lauderee...incredible) where me and Jessica split a box of eight and we got four macaroons each.  I got rose petal, raspberry, chocolate and salted caramel.  That was the order I ate them in and that was the order of deliciousness.  The salted caramel was incredible...woah.  You go Lauderee.

Aw the memories...

Crepes on crepes on crepes

More macaroons please

After that, we cut back across the river to walk through the Tuilieries, which were beautiful but they would be better in the summer when the trees have leaves and such.  But still, it was sunny so it was still nice to walk through them.  We didn't get a chance to stop at the crepe stand outside them for a ham and cheese crepe but don't you worry, it's on the to-do list.  After walking through the gardens, we walked a little bit up the Champs-Elysees but me and Liz were pretty exhausted and Jessica had an outlet store she wanted to find.  So we split up, Liz and I went back to the hotel to nap and Jessica went to find her store.

Gardens

After our nap and when Jessica got back, we basically just went to dinner, came back and passed out.  We were exhausted.  We went to a restaurant essentially around the corner from our hotel and it was actually pretty good.  I got french onion soup (incredible) and steak with shallots, pommes frites and salad.  Yum.  The French really do know how to do food right.

Soup

Entree

The next morning, we left for our flight to Ireland.  Which means I've finished yet another part of Spring Break Blog Posts.  HAH.

Also again, I apologize for the lack of photos but I was the leader again.  And I've been there before and have tons of photos.

Also, all of these photos are from my iPhone.  Thoughts on quality?

Thoughts at all?

Hello...hello...

Just kidding!  HI MOM.

Ciao!!