Paris, Day 4--10/3/12

Up and at 'em...at 10:30.  Hey, we're on holiday.  Even if we are in Paris, we can sleep in a little.  And, there's always time for a Cardinal breakfast even when you are lazy.

This marked our first day in Paris when it wasn't 65 degrees with a clear, blue sky and a bright, blazing sun.  Oh, well.  We made our way by Metra to the Montmartre area and spent the gray, drizzly day walking in and out of its cobblestone streets.  This was just the way I wanted to experience Paris.

Our first stop was the basilica of Sacre Coeur.  It was beautiful: sitting atop a hill in the heart of Montmartre, guarding the city with majesty and grace.  The history of the monument is quite interesting, and though while there I simply stood in awe of the building, I read up on its story when I got home.

After this Roman Catholic beacon where else would head but to a Salvador Dali museum?  Where else, I say!?  Espace Dali is nestled in heart of Montmartre, and it was the only museum that we couldn't get into with our Museum Pass.  I still don't know if the museum was worth 11 Euros, but I did gain a newfound respect for Dali.  I have always been unimpressed with his wilty, wobbly clocks, timepieces, and horizons, but Espace Dali housed his sketchings and bronze statues.  They were outstanding.  So much better than his paintings (in my humble, not trained in any sort of art criticism opinion).  My only grumble (besides the price?) was the fact the little shop had no sort of book collection of this amazing line drawings/other art that didn't have to do with something wilting over a rock.  :( 

Oh, I also learned that a lobster is a symbol for sex.  I always thought so...

We had lunch a cute little pink cafe, for the simple fact that our daughter would have loved eating in a pink cafe.

Then as we were walking toward the Moulin Rouge I saw something.  As we walked out of an alley, I saw a small jewelry shop across a busy street of traffic, and I saw MY shiny.  I pulled hubby through the streets, avoiding zooming cars passing by, and dragged him up to the shop window.  The necklace was so unique and beautiful: rainbow blown glass baubles arranged on a dark gray/black chain.  The kicker is, he loved it, too!  He said it was so me, and he bought me a Paris shiny to commemorate our trip.  :)

Our last stop in Montmartre was to simply take in the Moulin Rouge.  I didn't like the plasticine facade.

During our trip I was reading a book about a guy who travels back in time and is obsessed with how things used to look, so I am standing there trying to imagine what it must've looked like in its heyday of debauchery.

We ended the day with a quick stop back at Notre Dame.  Martin really wanted to go to the top, and I wanted to go back to Shakespeare and Company.  By now it was really pouring, so I huddled in and amongst the shelves while he DIDN'T get into Notre Dame.  :(  He missed the last tour by seconds, but he made due by seeing the amazing stained glass of Saint Chapel.

Our last day ended on a quiet note: an early dinner at 7 p.m....which is WAY too early for people in Paris to eat.  We were the only two in the restaurant until 7:30.  What can I say?  I was hungry...again...but not hungry enough to eat snails, like hubby did.  Good for him! 

Paris, Day 3, Afternoon--10/2/12

Remember that I said WALKING was the word of the day?  I guess I really should have used CLIMBING, too, and you're about to find out why...  (I know you've been on the edge of your seats to find out.)

After we had our baguettes in the park, we set out on the Metra to conquer two of Paris' most famous landmarks: the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.

I have to admit, I wasn't too fussed with seeing/going up the Arc de Triomphe...until we got there.  We came up out of the Metra (which was once again extremely efficient and pleasant), and there it was: rising up behind a roundabout with hundreds of cars zooming past.

 It was grand.  We whipped out our handy, dandy Paris Museum Pass again and started spiraling our way to the top.  There was one huge spiral staircase all the way to the top, and I kept my head down and just kept plodding along.  If I had looked up, I would have been depressed at how much further we had to go.  This method made the 294 steps not that bad at all...I was only wheezing a little bit when we got to the top!  And, this vantage point gave us the best view of the Eiffel Tower yet.

 

We took our time up there, hung out, tolerated a few student groups (oh, so cute and loud and vivacious), and then descended...ready to take on our next walk.  Oh, here I am resting a bit and hiding from a student group...from Australia maybe?

It was a lovely walk to the Eiffel Tower.  We ambled on over and took the elevator to the tip top...not Level 1, not Level 2, the TOP!  As we were riding the elevator, all I could think of was Superman II: I kept waiting to see Supes come rescue our elevator from those crazy terrorists...who cause terror...and put hydrogen bombs on the Eiffel Tower elevators.  We were okay, though.

I loved being up there.  It was beautiful.  I thought of my Grandad a lot: he wouldn't have liked it too much.  Martin and I took pictures next to the height sign just for him.  ;)

Martin wanted to walk down the stairs to the bottom so badly, and who was I to say  no?  He just wanted to be in amongst the iron of this powerful emblem of France, and he was so excited to be going down those steps and touching the beams.

After all of this walking, I was starving.  We made it to a cute little bistro called les cocottes: Christian Constant, started by one of Paris' renowned chefs, Christian Constant.  (So it's not just a clever name.)  Think of a cocotte as a mini-slow cooker: the meal's brought out to you in this wee cooker after being slowly cooked and perfected for hours.

But, seeing that I was starving and had burned more calories than I had eaten that day, I ate way too quickly, started to feel sick, and had to rush our little post Tower meal.  :(  I hope Hubby forgives me...one day.

My upset tummy was nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix.  I was ship shape the next morning and ready for...LA PETIT CARDINAL!  Til next time...




P.S.  Pop Culture Count at 3!  If you didn't guess that I would reference Superman II while talking about a trip to PARIS...shame on you. 

Paris, Day 3--10/2/12

It's our son's 22 month old birthday...and we're in Paris!  Bad parents.  We muddled through the day, though.  The word of the day was WALK...I'll get to that later...in the next entry, actually. 

After another awesome breakfast at Le Petit Cardinal (wasn't making the same mistake two days in a row), we headed to the museum which would be much more my speed: Musee d'Orsay.  This old converted train station is the home of such artistic greats as Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, Toulouse Lautrec, and Sondheim's favorite George, Seurat.  d'Orsay was mind-numbingly outstanding, breathtaking, amazing, and all those other adjectives I've already overused.  The actual building wasn't too shabby either.

I was taken aback at Van Gogh's art "in person."  The colors oh-so-much-more vivid.  The pain and agony in his self painted eyes so much more real.  I found myself back in "his room" (and staring at it) three times.  I kept going back.  I was never a huge fan of his until this day, and I ended up buying a short book about his life and art...IN THE LITTLE SHOP!

Monet's Bridge Over a Pool of Water Lilies was also here, and this was the first Monet painting I found myself staring at when a young pre-teen at Annie's house.  I wanted to spend hours gazing upon the lilies underneath the bridge, but we only had minutes.  I always imagined lovestruck couples strolling along this bridge hand in hand, pausing for a secret kiss.  Oh, and Bastille Day!  I had never seen a Monet with RED!  BIG BOLD RED!  I was used to muted pastels.  I loved Bastille Day.

After this, it was finally lunch time, because all I wanted to do all the time was eat.  And, today was the day, people.  I got it.  I got what I truly really actually came for: A brie baguette.

 Simple.  Unadulterated.  Brie.  Bread. TOGETHER.  And WHY was this all I wanted?  Why was this all I ever dreamed about doing while in Paris?  Well, I guess you  might say I have David Lynch who encroached upon my impressionable 10-year-old mind to blame*:

We went back to the beautiful Tuileries Garden to enjoy our baguettes.  Well, mostly beautiful except for the John Deere roaring behind us.

I guess you gotta work hard to keep those Paris gardens in tip-top shape.  And, YES, you can get your John Deere green in Paris, too.  Don't know about the boot-scootin' though.  Check in tomorrow for Part II of Day 3!...cause there's just too much jam packed into each day for just one entry each.  :)




*For those keeping track, the Pop Culture Counter is now at 2: I have successfully linked our trip to Paris to Encino Man AND Twin Peaks.  Pretty nifty work so far, eh?

Paris, Day 2, Afternoon--10/1/12

There was much to do after the Louvre.  No rest for the travelers who are only in Paris for 4 days!  There was tons more to see...and eat.  Let me backtrack a moment and describe a quick stop we made BEFORE that delicious chocolate crepe...

Monet.  Ah, Monet.  I had first learned from him from my dear friend, Annie Hight-to-the-Shoe.  (Oh, she was/is the best.  She's been to Paris MANY times, and I thought of her often while there.)  I first saw his paintings in her bedroom on William Street, and I was always taken with his soft brushstrokes and pastels...always so calming.  We were about to skip the museum he created for Parisians to take a break from the hectic activity of city life, and I'm SO GLAD we didn't.  Musee de l'Orangerie was breathtaking.  It's hidden at the other end of the Tuilieries Gardens, opposite the Louvre, and I couldn't have wished for a more perfect opposite end to that overwrought, overguilded art spectrum.  Floor to ceiling water lilies...each representing a different season or time of day...and each with benches in front of it for one to contemplate and relax.  It was so wonderful...blissful...beautiful.

We wandered from there to the high end of the Parisian food scene, because I really just wanted to look at food.  Just.  Look.  I wanted to window shop and gaze upon food that would cost more than a week of my salary, and did my man find just what I wanted.  Shop next to shop of gorgeous window displays, truffle cheese, and candy with so much sugar that you got hopped up just looking at it.  It was awesome.  Awe.  Some!

Take a look at a few of these foods that cost more than your life (well, if you're a teacher, like me that is...):

After another ride on the quick and efficient Metra, we took a bit of a rest and headed back out to wander around the Pantheon.

Dead people live there.  French dead people.  It was okay...gorgeous both inside and out, but well...I mean, Voltaire WAS kind of a big deal, as were Madame Curie and Alexandre Dumas, but whatevs.  I got my kids some REALLY cool tee-shirts there, though!  Check out this Joan of Arc number:

Oh, the little shops!  (Really, more on these later...I PROMISE!)

We made our way over to the Odeon district after this and ate at a lovely little cafe called les editeurs, where I ate some amazing lamb and had another fantastic dessert.  MORE CHOCOLATE!

It's like Chili's lave cake...DONE RIGHT.  Oh, Paris...

Finally, we stumbled  home on our full tummies, but we had to make a stop at a place called Album first.

THOUSANDS of American comic books.  Did you know Parisians are ape for DC and Marvel!?!  Neither did I!  It was UH-MAZING!  Buffy comics...Doctor Who toys, gadgets, & books...more Superman than even I could handle...BACK TO THE FUTURE toys in MINT CONDITION for sale!!!  Oh, it was glorious.  And, showing every bit of restraint known to our nerd driven beings...we walked out...WITHOUT ONE THING.  I mean, I did have to save money for the little shops, right??? 

Paris, Day 2--10/1/12

This post should otherwise be known as, The Day My Tum-Tum Got the Rum-Rums.  Read on to find out why!

Remember that AWESOME breakfast I talked about on Day 1?  Yeah...me, too...still remembering it...

OK, back on track...Well, we didn't have our awesome breakfast this day.  And, that was a HUGE mistake...especially if you're a first-time visitor to Paris, and you're about to take on the Louvre.  I like to think of the Louvre much in the same way as Pauly thought about his burrito at the Food Mart: hot on the outside, icicle in the middle*.

What do I mean by that?  Well, it was grand, magnificent, beautiful! 

And, then we got inside.  I am just not moved by huge pictures of a bloody Christ on the cross or weird winged things taking women with babies clinging to their teat.

They were dark, scary, just not my cup of tea.  Yes, I realize there must be much more to the Louvre than that, but Hubby really wanted to see the Lady...the Mona Lisa, that is...so we made a beeline to here.  Of course we found a crowd when we got there, and she looked really pissed from far away...but then that smile softened when we got closer.  It was an odd thing that, but then the rumor is that da Vinci was rather clever.

I mean, I liked walking the halls: I found Winged Victory, a sculpture I'd never seen and fell in love with.

Venus de Milo was much more impressive in person:

But overall, just not diggin' the Louvre.  Had a nice little shop, though...more on those later! 

It didn't help that the exit from the Egyptian wing was blocked off, so we had to circle around, like rats in a maze, until we got to another exit.  That's when the rum-rums REALLY made themselves known.  I became like a child: cranky, hungry, thirsty, feet hurting, whining...it's a wonder Hubby didn't leave me to my own devices to get out.  (He knew if he did, I'd get lost and starve to death.)

Finally, we emerged: big, beautiful blue sky overhead, and fresh air!

Onto the Tuileries Gardens we went, where we had some fine French street food: ham and Swiss baguette for me, Croque Monsieur for Hubby.   Ah, the good eats in Paris just kept on comin'...finally the rum-rums were gone.  I was ready to take on an afternoon of more sightseeing...after a crepe that is.  Mine is the chocolate one...of course.

 





* For those of you who missed it: YES, I DID link my trip to Paris to Encino Man.  BINGBONGBOOM! 

Paris, Day 1--9/30/12

We arrived in Paris around 7 a.m., went through customs (during which I got another nifty stamp in my Passport, and Hubby was just waved through, since he's a citizen of the EU), navigated the Metra, and arrived at our hotel by 9:00.  Pretty smooth sailing so far!  The first thing we saw when we exited the Metra was this:

I have recently taken up running, and I had toyed with the idea of taking my running shoes with me, to go on a jog through the streets of Paris.  At the last minute I decided to leave them at home, rationalizing that we'd be doing so much sightseeing I wouldn't have time.  This proved true, but seeing a marathon the first thing out of the underground was kind of like God laughing at my lack of drive to keep up my running routine.  Oh, well...

After checking into our hotel, which was in the Latin Quarter and only a 10 minute walk from Notre Dame, we headed off to explore.  We were very hungry, and we happened upon what would become our favorite cafe, La Petit Cardinal.  We ate here three of the four days in Paris, and everyday we had coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, a croissant, and baguette with strawberry jam...all for only 7 Euros.  Best.  Breakfast.  Ever. 

I seriously want to lick the screen just looking at that breakfast again...I.  Am Not Even.  JOKING.


After this we wandered to Nortre Dame, walked in, and oh, it was Sunday, so mass had just begun.  AMAZING.  It was stunning to walk around Notre Dame as this was happening. 

Across from Notre Dame was one of the places I wanted to see most: Shakespeare & Company, a haunt of expatriate writers in the 1920s, this house published James Joyce's Ulysses, was frequented by Hemingway, and is staffed by English and American students.  It was breathtaking.  I went back several days later, but this first time, I just wandered around the stacks.  *sigh* 

From here we wandered to the Museum of Modern Art, Le Centre Pompidou.  It was awesome.  The new statue outside was worth the visit: Zindene Zidane's infamous headbutt from the 2010 World Cup. 

There was also a rainbow room, a walk-in cave, and a Natalie Wood Andy Warhol print I'd never seen.  And, the views from the top were amazing. 

So...Le Centre Pompidou--amazing art? CHECK.  amazing views?  CHECK.  walk-up access to the much-coveted Paris museum pass that lets you bypass lines?  CHECK. 

 We were so proud of ourselves that we didn't sleep through that first day in Paris, even though jet-lagged.  It was a great first day in the City of Lights, and it ended with a viewing of the mid-season finale of Doctor Who, thanks to free wi-fi, iTunes, and the handy dandy iPad I got Hubby last Christmas. 

Us

This is my husband and me on our wedding day.  (Notice how I didn't say "I?"  Because you would never say "This is I."  Oh my gosh, one sentence into this, and I already digress into grammar talk.)

We met 12 years ago in a Hemingway lit class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which happens to be the BEST public university in this country.  This is Papa Hemingway.  He works into my story again later, and this is the first chance I've ever had to have his mug grace a blog entry.

Hubby & I got married almost ten years ago (!)--on November 29, 2002.  I always said I wanted to spend our tenth anniversary in Disneyworld: it was close to Thanksgiving, so I'd only miss a couple of days of school; our kids are toddling around, so they could spend a few days with my parents, who live close by; and it IS the happiest place on earth, so it's perfect for celebrating ten years of wedded bliss.

He had other plans...he came home with tickets to Paris, then a Eurostar trip to London, where we'd celebrate his aunt's nuptials to the man of her dreams.  Who was I to resist???

 This blog is a journal of our travels together...starting with this tenth anniversary trip (which happened two months early)...and hopefully, it will include travel journals of many other trips we take together.