www.pictoursparis.com
Anyway, here is the recap of our adventure last weekend! (About this post.... the pics were mostly iphone, sorry no camera. Was really hard to get out the camera with the kids. Also, yes the links to info are from Wikipedia. The reason for that is because they were the best sources in English for info on the locations we saw. I'm normally not a big Wiki fan haha.)
We had our trip planned to go from Peterborough to London, then London to Paris. The train travel here is great, very convenient and fast. All public transport here is awesome, very different than my experiences in the past. We were scheduled to leave on Fri at 4pm. Russell ended up getting out of work late, so we were scrambling to make it. We ended up getting to the local station at 415, so we had to catch the next train to London. Once we got there, our train for Paris had already left. I was worried it would be expensive to change trains (they have one every 30 min to Paris.) Luckily, when I got to customer service, Juan-Carlos (the attendant from Spain) and I chatted while I got him to change my tickets. I may or may not have told him that I was from Mexico, as I spoke Spanish to him from the start. Whew! He changed our tickets to the 630 train. We rain through check-in and customs and hopped aboard. We had seats that took up a 4 seat section around a table. There was a young Brit that had one of the chairs, but he moved to another empty seat so we had the whole area. It was nice! The train is very spacious, better seats than a plane! There are the "bar" coaches where they serve food and drinks, so we had a snack on the train. The train ride was 2 hours from London to Paris Gare du Nord station. When we got there, we go off, went right out the station, and hopped in a taxi for a quick ride to their apartment. Lindsey had emailed me directions in English and French (for the cabbie.) He spoke a bit of English, which surprised me. They live in a great location, in a very cool apartment that is in an old but remodeled building. The elevator was a little scary, about the size of a shoebox, so we preferred the stairs most of the time. Justin had prepared dinner for us, and it was awesome. He had been preparing spare ribs for nearly 3 days, and they were so delicious. We had those, a salad, and wine. It was great. We all stayed up too late visiting, as it had been quite a while since we had been together. They had never met Scout! We all slept in a bit in the morning, then geared up for a fun day of touring the city. Justin and Lindsey have been there 2 years, and know so much about the city. We took the metro to the center of it all and from there began walking.
Paris is really an amazing city, it was so gorgeous! We walked around the area Marais, and the weather was gorgeous! There were markets outdoor everywhere, and we would walk down alleys and see fresh flowers, fruit stands, seafood sellers, and others. The fresh flower markets were my favorite!
This was a cheese and meat shop that was awesome!
Seafood galore!
We stopped in the Jewish Quarter of Marais and had the most delicious crepes! There is a small window where you stand outside and order, and they are delicious. The line was long, and it was well worth the wait. I had a crepe with cheese, egg, mushroom, olives, and ham. Here is the window where you order. The name of it basically translates to Pharmacy. Yes, it's that good!
This was the street where the crepe shop was, there were many shops up and down the street.
Paris has so many great parks and gardens, here was a garden we passed...
Next, we went to Place des Vosges. Here is a photo of the park (really doesn't do it justice.) Here is a link to some info about it, as it is the most expensive location for real estate in Paris. There is quite a history behind this location. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_des_Vosges
We then went through an alley into a side entrance to a gorgeous church. It is the Saint Paul-Saint Louis. The King Louis whom it was named after was the only King to ever be a Saint in France. Here is some more info on the church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis
The top left is a portrayal of Saint Louis.
Next, we headed in the direction of The Notre Dame Cathedral. We did not go inside, as the line was very long. I do plan on going in one of the times we visit. It is really a massive cathedral. Way bigger than I ever expected. It's beautiful.
You can see our lock in the bottom left corner. Jack and I threw the keys in the river.
Our next stop was to a cafe for a drink and a snack. Justin knew of a spot across from the Louvre and we got in there. It was called Le Fumoir. lefumoir.com
Next door was the King's Church. Another gorgeous church! It was decorated a bit for the holidays.
Across the street from Le Fumoir was The Louvre!!! I have wanted to see it since I took art history for the first time over 15 years ago! It's stunning. Here is the outside where we walked through...
The sun went down while we were snacking and embibing, then we headed across to The Louvre. Spectacular!!! (This is where you can tell I used my phone. Next time, I will take camera shots. Also, next time I will go in and see some art!)
This is my favorite one!
Next, was Arc du Carrousel. It was commissioned by Napoleon. For some info, see: http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/arcducarrousel.htm
From there, we walked down to the Champs Elysses, where there were Christmas Markets and a Ferris Wheel.
We had some hot mulled wine at this stop.... yum!
We then met up with a few other friends of Justin and Lindsey. They are other Americans that live in Paris, and are all from Texas (Houston and Dallas!) We spent a few hours with them at the Village Noel on the Champs-Elysées. It was a restaurant that pops up in the Christmas Village and it was great! We tried so many different foods, like sausage wrapped in crepes and waffles with ham and cheese on top. Our favorite was the roasted hot peppers. I think we ate about 5 orders of those!
From there, we saw the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, and got to watch it "sparkle" like it does every hour! It was gorgeous! Next trip, we plan to go inside the tower and visit it during the day to take photos.
After the Village Noel, we headed back to their apartment with a little more wine in tow. It was a great night!
The next morning, we slept in a bit. We got up to get ready to go home. We had scheduled our train earlier in the day so that we could enjoy the ride in the day and see the countryside. We grabbed a quick cab back to the station and got to the Eurostar. One more round of chocolate chip croissants and we were on our way. We got home late in the afternoon, and were all wiped out.
It was a great trip, and we can't wait to go back again. Justin and Lindsey will be coming to visit us in January, so we are looking forward to that.
It's almost Christmas, and the kids are excited! We have our first rounds of houseguests arriving in a few days! Brian and Sarah are coming from Germany on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with us. Then, the day after Christmas, my mom and brother are coming! We can't wait!!!
xo
No comments:
Post a Comment