Paris is for Mothers

PARIS

I have never visited (except as a student...) any place as long as we stayed in Paris, 5 nights and 6 days, it was fantastic. To get to see so much of the city, from my first taxi ride through Paris at night to my final brunch on Île Saint-Louis was incredible, especially in a place as beloved as Paris. I'm eager to go back and see more of Paris, both glamourous and less so. I am however, most certainly not interested in finding any gold rings...

Tuesday February 16, 2010

We arrived in Paris the evening before, found our flat and grabbed our first Parisian meal. The flat was lovely right on Île Saint-Louis and the heart of Paris, an amazing find through Eve! We started out Tuesday with grand plans to see all the museums until we realized that all the national museums would be closed!

My mom and I set off to see the highlights, which the others had already seen and my mother was grandly award the honor ;-) of showing her daughter Paris! After learning that unlike

Starbucks, the Parisians don't accept "latte" as short for "café latte" and getting a bite to eat we headed up the Left Bank. Crossing over a bridge whose railings were covered with "love locks" I suppose made all the stories about Paris seem to come to life.

We wandered through the Tuileries which although being quite barren in winter were still quite impressive and up the Champs-Élysées stopping for lunch at the well photographed, George IV Café. A bite of lunch, and a couple new pairs of shoes founds us at the Arc de Triomphe with a horrendous line to climb up. Very satisfied with admiring it from the ground, I let my camera take a rest and we jumped on the metro to check out the narrow winding streets of the Latin Quarter. Set fairly close to the Sorbonne one of the main streets the Rue Monge (I believe) was colorful and full of fromageries (aka stinky cheese shops), patisseries (heaven at hand), boucheries (ew.) and many cute boutiques (if possible, heaven again!).

Our feet weary, burdened by shopping bags Mom and I returned to the flat and collapsed! With nourishment, sleep, and watching some fascinating Olympic sports such as the Biathlon, we would recover.

Wednesday February 16, 2010

Wednesday we all took a tour of Montmarte with a friend of a friend, Richard who gave us an extraordinary in-depth tour of an area we might've skimmed over. Montmarte was for a long time, where many artists had their studios, now it retains much of its cultural past as well as being home to some of the most up-scale housing around.

Right nearby is the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur which is a Catholic basilica built out of travertine, essentially a self-cleaning stone which is why it stays so white! Mom actually remembered attending mass there when it was still said in Latin.

After our tour we explore Marais, an area on the Right Bank pretty close to our flat. With lovely shops, and a free museum we were throughly entertained for the rest of the day.

Thursday February 17, 2010

Thursday we finally made it to some of Paris' most note-worthy sights. First mother-dearest and I hit up Notre-Dame and enjoyed it inside and out happily standing on the ground as the line to the top, like so many other lines, even on this random weekday in February was horrendous. That's committment people.

After Notre-Dame we walked up to the Lourve, made a plan to see exactly what we wanted to see and set about being lost for several hours. Despite being lost amongst all the corridors and misdirected due to construction we learned about the history of the Lourve itself (what a palace it would've been!) saw the Code of Hammurabi (a prime example of "an eye for a

n eye"), the restored Naploeon III Apartments, the statue garden, Aphrodite, Winged Victory, and of course the Mona Lisa behind her crowds and bullet proof glass.

Someday I'll go back and see the whole thing like my mom did, just me and a gigantic guidebook and a lot of free time. Then I'll magically become artistic! or not.

After the Lourve we wandered up to the Halles District which I read about in the ever handy Lonely Planet and we wandered the main streets, had a bite, and found the perfect french onion soup place to come back to, Au Pied de Cochon meaning "Pig's Foot." Little did we know the wonder that is Au Pied de Cochon.

Friday February 18, 2010

The fierce foursome set out Friday morning for Versailles, we would've gotten there quite promptly had we manage to take the right train and had any of our tickets worked, oh well. We still made it on a gorgeous day with clear blue skies that made the ornate gates seem to shine even more.

On the front of the palace you can clearly see where the restoration has stopped, a drastic change from golden details contrasting black and white roofing to an overwhelming drab gray.

Inside however, the wonders never end. And to think these are unfurnished rooms! Elaborate paintings, statues, and so many details. It completely explains "The Sun King." I loved hearing about how people, those royal ones at least, conducted their daily lives in such a setting with so much pomp and ritual. It would drive me crazy, except maybe for the clothing, but then again corsets, ew.

We took the trolley around part of the grounds and visited the other 2 palaces on the estate. The whole atomsphere, the immenseness of the land, no one person needs all that, well at least as long as that person is not me ;-)

After a wonderful day being wowed by French royalty long dead we had our taste buds wowed by a former French colony, Vietnam. We hunted down a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese restuarant at the recommendation of, the one and only LP, and were hardly disappointed. The food was so fresh and delicious, a wonderful contrast to the heavier French cuisine we'd been enjoying.

Saturday February 19, 2010

Saturday was my last full day in Paris and it was absolutely perfect! Spent most of the day shopping on the Left Bank (and making it much harder to pack might I add) then after resting for a bit in the afternoon, Mom and I bundled up to take on Paris, and even more importantly the Eiffel Tower at night!

The lines for once weren't too terrible and soon we were zooming up on level then to the next. While standing in line we somehow became surrounded by couples, far too many which had no issue with PDA, fabulous.

Finally we reached the tippity top fled from the lip-lockers, and WHOOSH almost got blown away on the South side of the tower! Scooting around to the other side we were better protected and could actually take in everything that lay below us.

It was a beautiful night out and I couldn't have picked a better way to see the Eiffel Tower and all that lay beneath it. The canals were beautiful too, just wait until I get my own canal boat...complete with flower beds.

After our chilly tour we got a little lost, found our way as always and took the Metro back to Au Pied de Cochon, the 24 hour brasserie in Les Halles. We order 2 glasses of Pommery, 2 French Onion soups, 1 glorious pastry/ice cream/molten chocolate dessert and had ourselves a fine feast at about midnight! Time meant little to the patrons of this well-known establishment and everyone was lively, the tables busy, and the waiters even busier. It even seemed natural when the pile of coats next to me rolled over to reveal a sleeping child! He'd been out for a while, and his sleeping situation hardly seemed to keep him up.

Arriving back at the flat at nearly 1:00 was the fabulous end to a wonderful last day in Paris! I had seen so many things both touristy and less so, I had a much better sense of Paris and was already working on what to see when I go back!

Thank you my fellow traveling companions for a wonderful adventure!

Au revoir