An American Girl in Paris (Part Deux)

Bonjour!

Paris. I had heard mixed reviews about it lately (maybe Carrie’s disappointment in the city unconsciously lowered my expectations), so I went back and forth deciding whether to go or not, but I finally decided that I would go and make up my mind for myself.

I apologize in advance for all the clichés to follow – I just can’t help myself. I’m just not conceited enough to think that I actually had any original thoughts about Paris as it is one of the most written about cities in history.

I LOVED Paris. It was beautiful. It was romantic. The shopping was amazing (but I refrained). The croissants were buttery and the coffee strong. The men were flattering and the women confident. The banks of the Seine were decked with Parisians drinking wine and enjoying the weather. The city itself was at its peak with bright, blue sunny weather – around 80F/26C. I don’t think I could have hand picked a more beautiful weekend to explore Paris.


And not one single Parisian was rude to me!

If you read my last entry, you might note that my first night didn’t start my weekend the way I had hoped. But that is the beauty of traveling, the misadventures make for the best stories. I survived the nasty hostel on Friday night - you can even say it was a good inspiration to get an early start on Saturday morning.

After leaving my bag on the bed and hoping that karma has already had her way with me and wasn’t going to find a reason to steal my stuff, I headed out. Mission 1 in Paris – Croissants. Those of you in London know that I have established a bit of an addiction to the beautiful croissant. Those of you at home might notice I look a little thicker in some pictures. Those two things are directly related. I swore that this weekend was going to be my last hurrah with my addiction – and boy did I hit rock bottom. On the way to the Eiffel tower, I had 3 (two butter, one chocolate for those interested in the details).

Mission 2 – The Eiffel tower. I had caught a peak of it on the way through some buildings as was initially a bit disappointed as all I could see was the top and it looked a bit like a really tall power line. Then I entered the Parc du Champs du Mars and saw it completely. On second look, it was pretty amazing, as is the park. The bottom half is immense. Anyone who says “it was no big deal” is unimpressable.

Anyone following this blog along knows that I love myself a tour. To recap – Cambridge – bus tour, Edinburgh – bus tour, Amsterdam – canal tour, Prague – walking tour., London - bus tour. So why would Paris be any different? But it seemed like too lovely of a day for a bus and there was too much to see to do it all on foot, so I decided a bike tour was the way to go. I have to say, it was a great call. I had a blast riding through the city. We had a great tour guide, Mike – relaxed with just enough history/anecdotes to make you feel as though you were learning about Paris, but not so much as to bore you to death with dates and landmarks. To be honest, I can’t list everything we saw as the French names of places all sound a bit the same to me, but that is completely my ignorance speaking. I ended up doing 2 bike tours that day – the day and the night one. They were both great and if you are visiting Paris, I recommend Fat Tire Bike Tours.

Between tours, I picked my things up from the hostel (and everything stayed intact) and moved to a hotel. The hotel seemed five-starred to me by comparison. I even had my very own shower in my room and the bed had sheets on it. Talk about the lap of luxury! After I dropped my bag off in my version of the Ritz, I headed out again with my book and ended up spending a couple of great hours just laying in the Parc du Champs du Mars (pictured to the right here), people watching, doing a little reading and napping. It was a perfect late Saturday afternoon in Paris. Oh, and I had a croissant. Yes, that made the grand total for the day 4. But I am officially off of them now and looking into programs (Helen can attest that I haven’t had one at work since!)

The bike tour Saturday night was spectacular. We saw Notre Dame and rode our bikes through the courtyard of the Louvre. That is one of those moments that you consciously log in your mind so as not to forget the feeling. I kept thinking “I’m in Paris, riding through the grounds of the Louvre on a beautiful spring night – don’t ever forget this feeling.” It was almost as good as riding down the Champs-Elysées and seeing the Eiffel tower at night with its twinkling lights through the trees. It was truly magnificent and I’m incredibly lucky to be seeing and doing all of this. I don’t take it for granted for a second.

I was a bit sore on Sunday morning saying I had spend about 8 hours on a bike the day before, but I had more missions! The Louvre was yet to be conquered, and sadly, I barely made a dent. I saw some of the mandatory stuff, but I was really most impressed by the ceilings. They’re amazing! Without a single piece of additional art, the ceilings could be the whole experience and still not disappoint.

But it was Paris and I couldn’t hang out in just one place, so the next stop was Sainte Chappelle – the church built to house the crown of thorns. It has floor to 100 ft ceiling of stained glass depicting 1000’s of biblical stories. I have never seen light like it indoors.

Then, it was sadly time to get back on the Metro, pick up my bags, and head to the train station. I thought I could do a lot in a weekend, but next I go back, I will spend a week. There is just so much to see. And to really enjoy Paris, you really have to spend some time not doing anything but watching the world go by.

I’ll have to say is if you ever had the thought “I think I would like Paris” then GO!


P.S. The batteries died on my camera the first half of the trip, so some of the pics in this entry I stole from Flickr, but all the ones in the slide show above are mine.