I Heart Paris

Ohhh Paris, the city of love... The past 3 days have been absolutely incredible. So let's start where I left off...

Day 2 - We slept a little bit from our jet lag, but were ready to go and out the door by 10am. We took a bus to l'Arc de Triomphe on a gorgeous sunny day. The place was just buzzing with tourists but we managed to stay for a few minutes and get some nice pictures. We set out for Les Champs Elysees, admiring all the boutiques, high end designer shops and car displays. We stopped at the Grand Palais which is a beautiful building with HUGE columns, incredible details and gorgeous gargoyles. We took a (free) vist across the street at the Petit Palais, which had golden gates at the entrance. Truly stunning (we got pictures). Inside we saw some art from all over and even saw a Monet. We then walked to Place Concorde and strolled over to the Paroisse de la Madeleine which is this HUGE beautiful church. We went to one of my FAVORITE stores ever... Fauchon, where they sell the famous pastry delight les madeleines! We strolled along St Honore street and checked out the Palais Royale. We decided to cross la Seine and walked through the streets towards the Eiffel Tower, stopping by a bakery to pick up a baguette. We found a spot in the park across from the Eiffel Tower and relaxed while eating our fresh french bread. We walked back to the apartment and took a quick nap. For dinner we went to my cousins apartment and had a feast of apéritifs, entrées and desserts (crème caramel). We also got a delicious treat for dessert - macarons from le durée, which is a famous french treat.

Day 3 - For our final day in Paris we HAD to go to the big shopping area of Les Galléries de Lafayette - AMAZING! The architecture and detail inside this enormous 7 level shopping "mall" was breath taking, but the amount of luxurious shopping was just as impressive. After some much needed retail therapy, we left for Mont Martre. This a definite must see in Paris - the Sacré-Cœur church overlooks the entire city. We had a simple lunch on the steps and enjoyed the view. We walked around the neighbourhood and were surprised to discover the ecclectic area we were in. After strolling for a few hours (and finding vintage shops, unique boutiques, local art galleries and specialty jewellers) we headed for an evening boat tour on la Seine. This is a very informative and interesting way to learn some history of the city, definitely recommended to all who visit the city of love. Finally, we saw the Eiffel Tower lit up at 10p m - just breath taking.

We are now off to north of France to see Vimmy Ridge and then Amsterdam for the weekend.

K&M

L'Arc de Triomphe

Gorgeous architecture

Memorial for the unknown soldier

Les Champs d'Elysees

Car display along les champs d'elysees

Petit Palais

Fauchon

Colonne de la Grande Armee

Shot of the Eiffel Tower at lunch

Galleries de Lafayette

shopping...drools

Sacre Coeur

View of the city

Gorgeous painting found in Mont Martre

Wandering in Mont Martre

Wall of love <3 Mont Martre again

Boat cruis along La Seine

Great way to end in Paris <3

First day in Paris

What a wicked first day to spend in Paris - we walked everywhere!!
We get into Charles de Gaulle after a long flight from Newark, our backpacks are the first luggages to come out (lucky us) and we meet my lovely aunt at the arrival terminal. We eat a quick, but ABSOLUTELY delicious, lunch consisting of quiche, baguette & salad. Yummmm, I love love LOVE this French food. My aunt gives us bus/metro tickets, maps of the city and off we go to explore... We take a bus that goes along "la seine" and we get off at l'hotel de ville. We wandered towards a Parisienne must - Notre Dame. Even with some overcast, the church was majestic & beautiful. We go inside and see the incredible architecture, paintings, sculptures and windows. I was hoping to get a glimpse of quasimodo (sp?) but unfortunately didn't get the chance.
From there, Jon & I walked along la seine, passed la Louvre, walked through les jardins de tuileries, rested in front of the place concord while there was a light rain, walked through the latin quarters and stopped at the one and only eiffel tower. We also stumbled upon an interesting little treasure on "le pont des arts" - along this bridge there are HUNDREDS of locks, pad locks and locker locks along the caged bridge with initials on each... Not sure what this is about, but our best guess was that couples come to this bridge, declare their love to each other and put a lock? If anyone knows I'd love to know why.
Finally we got back to the apartment, had dinner (baguette, Wine, chicken, vegetables AND crème caramel.... So yummy). Thats all for now :)
Ps sorry for possible mispelling, using a french keyboard !!

Notre Dame

Inside the majestic church

Pont des Arts

Being silly @ the Louvre

:)

Louvre

Jardin de Tuileries

Taking a break in the park

View of Place de la Concorde

We see the Eiffel Tower

Gorgeous

K&M from Camille&Jon