Paris - Texas

I know, I know... It has been a LONG time since I've updated. So I have been home in Houston for a month now! and I never got the chance (was too lazy) to post my Paris trip. It was amazing! Whitney and I rented an apartment for three nights and went everywhere. When I say everywhere I mean we went EVERYWHERE. The first night we got there we just walked around the neighborhood our apartment was in. Turns out we were right off a street with a bunch of bars so we got our fair share of "Bonsoir!" with drunken eyebrow raises and I got many "Etes-vous chinois?" which I replied "Non." and confused them. 

The next morning we decided to start with the Notre Dame. So we walked. And walked. By the time we decided we were seriously lost and tired it was lunch time and we were at the Bastille. So we had a cute little lunch and headed towards Notre Dame. We were closer than we thought. On the way there, there's the nicest street with all these gift shops, gelato stores, and cookie places. Everything I saw I thought "Oooooh this would be a great gift!" Except for the gelato shaped like a flower which I happily ate. We finally made it to the Notre Dame and there was a pretty long line to get in. Even with our 2-day museum pass, this was one line we couldn't jump ahead of. When we finally got in, we climbed what seemed like a never-ending spiral stair case. But once we got to the top, the view was worth it!

 

Our next stop was the Louvre which was not too bad of a walk from the Notre Dame. Some people said we could skip the Louvre because it was too crowded and far too large to see in one day but how could I work at a museum and NOT see the Louvre?? Whitney agreed so luckily our museum pass did let us skip the lines and we were able to walk right in without any waiting. We decided to hit up all the well-known pieces first and if we had time to go around to all the others. I think we spent about 2-3 hours in there and by the end our feet were so tired. But the night was young and there was so much more to see!

 

We took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower and made it just in time to see it in daylight and at night. It was so beautiful, especially at night with all the lights twinkling and with all the music and people around. We walked around people watching while souvenirs were thrown in our faces and roses were shoved in our hands. It was so fun to be around! but our bodies were breaking down so we grabbed a couple of crepes before giving in to the coziness of our apartment.

The next day was my birthday! We started it out by going to a bakery across the street from the apartment and getting the best croissants I have ever had. We learned our that our feet couldn't handle the walking we did the day before so we took the Metro to Musee d'Orsay. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take any pictures but it was one of my favorite places we visited in Paris. To be able to see all the paintings you've learned about all your life from text books was amazing. Colors were so much more vivid. The details that you could never see and the brush strokes that could never be captured by pictures. Oh my goodness. And then to see one of my favorite artists Toulouse Lautrec...my mouth was literally open the whole time we walked through there. When our minds were about to explode we decided to head towards Champs Elysee. We walked down Rue de Honore to go to a store made for designers, Colette. I wanted to buy every single item in there. For myself. If anyone wants to get me something for any occasion just go there and send me something back. Thanks.

I can't believe I still remember all this but everything we did in Paris was so great I guess all the details stuck with me. Whitney and I then walked down Champs Elysee after a short (or maybe not-so-short) break at a cafe. We stopped into a store so Whitney could get her brother a soccer jersey. Then we watched a group of break dancers perform in front of the Arc de Triomphe before they were broken up by a couple of police officers on horses. The Arc was lovely just like everything else in this city but I think by this time we were so worn out we were just taking pictures so that we can enjoy it later. That night we had a very nice dinner for my birthday. Strolled around our neighborhood and crashed in bed. Were we supposed to go to a club or something? Our feet couldn't remember.

On our last day we took our time packing our stuff, heading to the bakery (of course!), and then going to the flea market. I got a stack of these old French postcards, some with full letters on the backs. I'll have to remember to scan these in. They're so beautiful! I also bought a bag for myself which I adore!

The best part of this day was lunch. We stopped in this little tiny place we thought might have something vegetarian for Whitney and ordered. It's hard to describe how adorable they were trying to make sure Whitney was happy with her food; constantly checking to see if she was ok and happy with everything. "Do you eat this? How about this? Is it ok?" Perfect ending to our trip. Although the trip back didn't go as smoothly but we'll just leave that part out for now.