Ah Paris. It is nice to visit, but I still would not want to live there. We flew in Thursday afternoon and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel. Raymond's parents wanted to stay near the Eiffel Tower so they had gotten a hotel where you could see the Eiffel Tower from every room. The taxi from the airport was way better than the public transportation we took last time. It was about the same price, or cheaper for the four of us, and way faster. This was our first time in a car in Paris and man I can't imagine driving there. I know the traffic always seemed crazy, but man driving was ridiculous. You just kind of go wherever you want and cut across all lanes of traffic at the last second and it is just crazy.
Since we got in around dinnertime we went out to get some food then Raymond and I went for a walk. Since it was like 9pm there weren't very many people out and about. It still surprises me how it is so busy during the day, but then it is just empty in the evening. We walked along the western edge of the park with the Eiffel Tower. We walked a few blocks and we came across this one block where the entire length had special police vans lined up on the one side of the road the entire way. The police were just standing around, or sitting in the vans doing nothing. The one guy was playing a game on his phone. I have no idea what they were doing or why they were there as they just seemed to be hanging out. It was odd. It was a lot warmer in Paris, T-shirt weather the entire time.
The view from our hotel room
Raymond's mom wanted to go to the Louvre so we did that our first day. Spent most of the day there walking around. Here are some photos:
TIny puppy on the table! So silly
Some girls having fun and imitating the poses in the painting.
A gorgeous day! On our walk to lunch
It was a long day of walking around the museum. We did go back to the hotel in the afternoon for a little break, then headed out for a dinner cruise - one of the other things Raymond's mom wanted to do. I looked into them to make sure I could eat the dinner and the one I found with a vegan menu was actually not that expensive. It was a lot of fun and the dinner was really tasty. They also played a great soundtrack that matched up to where we were along the river. For example when we went by Notre Dame they played the bells so it was like they were ringing, when we went by the statue of liberty they played Empire State of Mind - Jay Z and Alicia Keyes. They played French music by the Eiffel Tower and so on. It was fun and cheesy and I loved it.
Taking the subway back home after dinner. I think Raymond had a bit of wine and was a little tipsy. We were in a long hallway trying to get to the other train tracks and they have the moving walkways. He kept saying how he wanted to sit on the side and ride it down so I was just like then why don't you? Breakin all the rules!
The second day we started off by going to Notre Dame. They were having a mass and I still am not impressed with the inside.
It was another gorgeous day and the gardens outside Notre Dame were beautiful.
Enjoying some lunch outside
We spent the afternoon up at Sacre Couer, but apparently I didn't take any photos of that.
The last thing Raymond's parents wanted to do was go walk over to the Eiffel Tower. They left the following morning, but we were supposed to have two more days in Paris. Unfortunately I was starting to not feel very well at all that second day. My ears were hurting and clogged up, stuffy head, super tired, just not good.
We spent most of the day at the Musee d'Orsay. I was really exhausted and just had to take a break way too often. It was a great museum though, in an old train station. There was a French Impressionist category at trivia one week and we saw all the paintings that we didn't know from that here. If only we had gone sooner.
Then we got some food in a neighborhood we hadn't explored before with locks! Such fun. Then back to the hotel to rest as I just was too tired to continue wandering. We were supposed to have another full day in Paris, our flight out at 9:30pm, but I woke up feeling even worse so we took a train home right when we got up. Took awhile, but I slept or rested most of the way so it was good. I was actually starting to feel a little better from all the rest by the time we got back. Still took forever to get rid of whatever it was, and sad we had to cut out trip short, but it was still a good time in Paris. I think Raymond's parents really enjoyed it. We helped them get around which I think they liked. They told some people they were talking to that they were getting around so easily thanks to me showing them where to go. Really once you get the subway system down it is easy, but not coming from a place that has a subway it can be confusing. Also the last night we had some drinks before saying out goodbyes and they were saying how busy we had been in Paris. How it was jam packed full of things and how you could spend a week there and not really see that much. While I agree to the last part I had been thinking earlier than it was nice we were having a relaxing vacation, one not jam packed full of stuff. I mean when it is just me and Raymond, and I am feeling well, we jam so much into a day it is not even funny. It really is go go go and walking all over the place until we cannot walk anymore. It was just interesting to see that they felt it was really full days where I was glad we had light sightseeing days. We had a really great time in Paris with them and they were great first visitors!
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