Paris at warp speed

day 1 (March 13)

After scooping Kellie up in London at the gate of our connecting flight to Paris, we boarded the plane with moments to spare. After living in airports and on airplanes for the last 24 hours, what was another hour and half?

Once we got to Paris and got to our respective hotels, Rob and Kel forced me to hit the ground running, since all I wanted to do was sleep. Thanks to a night of tossing and turning on our last night in Mexico, followed by a night of sleeping on an airplane, I was dead to the world and ready to collapse. Instead, we headed into the tangled world of the Paris Metro (which Rob is champion of and I have come to adore) and on to Sacre Coeur, a giant basilica on top of a hill, to get a good view of the city. The place was beautiful, and Kel and I started to feel like we were really in Paris when we saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

We climbed 300 stairs to go up into the tower, and the view was awesome! Since it was a smidge overcast, I was in photo-light utopia and blasted through 150 or so shots from the tower alone. I subscribe to the (Dad, you'll like this) Wayne Gretzky model: you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. I'm a nerd.

Then, since we were on a roll, we headed toward the Arc de Triomphe. I’ve been hearing about the Arc for 4 years now, since it’s one of Rob’s fave sights in Europe. I was completely unprepared for how HUGE it really is. Even cooler, there

mini-parade. Naturally, it was in French, so I haven't a clue what was going on, but it seemed pretty important.

After the Arc, we sauntered down Champs-Elysses and found a little creperie for dinner. Somehow, we each managed to order something with egg in it, and we capped it off with this beauty – a crepe filled with homemade pistachio ice cream finished with fresh whipped cream and caramel:

After dinner, since it was all of 8pm and we were exhausted (damn you, jet lag!), we headed back to rest up for an early day 2…

day 2 (March 14)

To make the most of our time and money, we started our day early…and in search of coffee. Rob studied in France for a few months, so he knows a little French, but still had Spanish on the brain, so ordering food at McDonald’s was an adventure of its own.

We jumped on the Metro and then the train to Versailles. The train practically cut through Parisian backyards, and I loved that we got to see another side of France, just outside the busy city. Versailles was gi-huge-ant and beautiful. After a few hours of wandering the gardens and some debate on whether we really wanted to wait in line for two hours to see some old furniture, we scrapped the palace and headed into the little town nearby for lunch. I’d had only a few ‘musts’ on this trip, since I’ve never been to Europe and just wanted the trip to evolve on its own. I did, however, want to sit at a sidewalk café and sip coffee. We found a little tiny pizza place that was off the beaten path, and had coffee and pizza (swoon!) on the heated sidewalk, people-watching.

We wandered through a nearby outdoor market (don’t people in France know that it’s FREEZING?!) and found a boulangerie that sold the most adorable little macaroons. I loved that while we were pretty close to a huge tourist trap, we still felt like we were far enough from it that we could really get into the daily lives of the French…

We headed back into the city, grabbed a delectably warm baguette and tackled Notre Dame, which was nothing short of incredible. We managed to wander inside during an evening mass, which made the inside even more magnificent. The mood of it made me feel all artsy and got some shots that I really love. There was just enough light left in the sky to illuminate the fabulous stained glass windows, but it was dark enough to be a bit eerie. I was a smidge annoyed by all the tourists that used their camera flashes and weren’t whispering….it’s a church, folks. Ugh.

We quickly checked out the Lourve (the outside only…knowing that the Mona Lisa is only a foot tall, behind 5 inches of glass, and surrounded by throngs of tourists was a turnoff for us).

I then saw the Tower at night for the first time. Phenomenal. I don’t care how touristy I sound, it was gorgeous. We arrived at the Trocadero Square (a prime viewing spot) just as the top-of-the-hour light show began…and it was spectacular.

day 3 (March 15)

Since we’d knocked many of the main sights off our list, we checked out something a bit odd on Sunday – the Catacombs. The Catacombs can be explained best by saying that the French needed land, so they dug up cemeteries and moved the bones to former underground quarries. Here’s a site with more info, if you’re interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacombs_of_Paris. Needless to say, it was a bit creepy. We wandered a mile or so underground for about a quarter mile before we encountered anything to distract us from the fact that we were inside the earth. Nothing like being under the Metro system to make you a bit claustrophobic, eh? The stacks and stacks and stacks of bones (some of which were organized to make a cool pattern/design) were interesting…and while most of the signage was in French, it was eerie to see skulls with obvious bullet holes and marrow inside old broken bones:

After wandering around inside the earth for about an hour, our eyes welcomed daylight once again and I experienced my first sidewalk WC. Interesting, to say the least.

We’d decided to save the Eiffel Tower for sunset on our last day, to give ourselves a chance to get our bearings in the city, see in detail the things we’d see from the top, and to really appreciate the Tower (and avoid some of the tourists). Sunday night, we headed up. Because the lines for the elevator ‘legs’ were so long, we chose to hoof it up the stairs. All 704 of ‘em to level two. Phew. If I don’t come home with the ass of a 16-year old, I’m a loser. Here are some shots from the top:

random traffic cone + Kellie = hilarious

We loitered up there for about 3 hours (Kellie was a Popsicle) and were actually on the Tower during the first light show of the evening. Naturally, we were on our way down the stairs, so I started hauling ass to get some cool shots from the first level. After thundering my way down the stairs, I reached the first level and raised my camera to my eye…only to have the lights suddenly stop – DAMMIT!

Being atop the Tower was a great way to end our trip to Paris. We crawled, exhausted, back to our hotel and crashed, ready to wake up early for our trip to Ireland!

…if only we’d known of the shitshow awaiting us at the Beavais airport, an hour outside of the city. Note to readers: do whatever you can to avoid RyanAir. If that means you pay more to fly another airline, do it. You’ll end up saving money and sanity in the long run. I implore you.