Paris: The City of Lights

It has been a month since we made it to Paris after saying goodbye to our home in Lisbon.  So much has happened since we stepped off of the shuttle bus from Charles de Gaulle Airport into the insanely crowed and busy "window-licking" district of the city to when we finally made it through customs and into the warm Californian night outside of L.A.X.  We had moments that blew us away, moments of stress, and moments of pure magic.  Such is what is to be expected in the third touristed city in the world (it was number one a few years back).

To go over every single detail would take up ten posts, so to keep it to one, I'll only go over Eric's and my favorite moments.

Art Museums

Paris is one of the world capitals of art.  The many museums here testify of that.  We visited the Louve, Orsay, Rodin, and Orangerie museums during our stay.

The Louve has many well-known masterpieces including Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory, etc. etc.  It covers art history up to the Impressionism movement, and that's where the rest pick up. 

 

 

This is the closest you can get to Mona.

A David and an Asian tourist for scaling.

Michelangelo's Slave.

At the Orsay, we browsed through Monets, Manets, Van Goghs,  Reniors, Degas. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I snuck in these of the structure, an old train station.

  

The Orangerie has my favorite Monets, impressive wall to wall to wall of lily pads, trees, and light that were painted in Monet's later years.  Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, but here is a site that gives you a good look at his masterpieces:  Orangerie Museum.

Rodin is best known for The Thinker.  He has a few other sculptures you may recognize...

 

 

Not a Rodin.  A rose in front of the museum.

The Eiffel Tower

I didn't expect to be wowed by the tower.  I expected to just walk past, check it off my bucket list, it and be content, but no.  I realized why so many millions of tourists are drawn to it, this mecca of architecture, each year.  

It's waaaaay taller than it looks in pictures.  When it was first built, it was the first building over 1000 feet.  It's still one of the tallest buildings in the world.  With how tall it is, just going to the first level rewards the weary traveler with amazing views of the city. The second level is even better.

 

A skating rink on the first level.

 

After Eric and I rendezvoused the innards of the tower, we went to a neighboring park to take the whole thing it.  Just as we were posing for pictures in front of it, a light show emanated from the tower.  This was one of the magical moments.

Realizing French Food Isn't Our Thing

Maybe our tastes are too American for such world-renowned cuisine, but neither of us were impressed by our splurge at a high-rated Parisian bistro.  The green beans were okay, but I'd had the same thing at church potlucks.  Same with the mashed potatoes.  And the meat...oh, the meat.  I believe it was still mooing and chewing its cud.  Yuck.  It was like chewing on an all fat plate, yet they claimed that it was roasted.

 

Realizing French Food Is Our Thing

French people should step away from the stove and move over to the oven.  The macaroons, the baguettes, the crepes (not cooked in an oven but still amazing), the eclairs, and the religieuses (heavenly towers of donut-type pastries filled with chocolate or mocha flavored cream) made up for our sad, mooing meal (read above). 

Pierre Herme.  Apparently THE BEST
macaroons in all of Paris.

 

We ordered these in the Jewish Quarter of the city.
It was so fun watching them make the crepes.

 

The Christmas Atmosphere

When we walked down what proud Parisians humbly call "the most beautiful street in the world," Champs de Elysee, vendors had set up booths decorated in red and green lights.  Many were selling crepes and savory dried meats.  A few offered the Christmas time special in France, vin chaude (hot wine).

 

Nearly every street was lined in more Christmas lights.  Another magical thing about the City of Lights.

Notre Dame

The inside of Notre Dame is pretty cool, but the outside is even cooler, especially the top of the cathedral.  We climbed up to the towers and were rewarded with sweeping views of the city.

 

 

Saint Denis holding his head.

 

Locking Our Love  

Pont des Arts is literally collapsing with love.  A huge fad has come up in the last few years for lovers making pilgrimages to Paris (the city of lights AND love) to place a lock on the wire fencing of the bridge going over and throw the key in the Seine River as a symbol of their forever love.  It was ridiculous and gimicky, so of course we did it.  We're suckers for all things romantic.

Sunrise over the Seine River.

 

 

Somehow, someday, we'll find the lock when we come back...

And last but not least...

Disneyland Paris

This is the little sister of Anaheim's Disneyland.  It's smaller with the same lands and basically the same rides (a few variances that made things interesting), but everything is in English and French.  This was the most magical part of our trip to Paris.

Rather than a storybook ride for Alice in Wonderland, they
had a labyrinth.