Paris:: Part One

Paris

The city of romance. 

The city of fashion.

The city I love. 

Growing up I dreamed of traveling the world. More than being a ballerina. More than wanting to do hair. More than anything. 

I remember when I was 10 I found a map in my Dad's office. I took it and put little black dots on all the locations I wanted to visit. I remember wanting to see these places so bad, that at age 12 instead of buying a toy, I bought a book called "A Thousand Places to See Before You Die. That was 11 years ago. 

My want of traveling never went away. 

When I was 18, I used flyer miles my dad had accumulated with his job and went to Spain for 3 weeks. I lived on a military base with my cousin during those weeks and I will never forget them! It was the beginning of my love for Europe. While there I was able to travel all over Spain and even travel for a day to Morocco, Africa. 

When I was 19, my Dad was working in Canada, and because of this he had an apartment there. My mom, me, Kyle, and Whitney went for 10 days to visit Canada. While Canada is a lot like America, it was still so much fun to get into their culture and learn the different style of life they have there. 

When I was 20, I got married to my amazing husband, Jake. For our honeymoon we went on a cruise to Baja Mexico. 

When I was 22, I moved to Germany and recently traveled to Bavaria Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, and Belgium. 

Now I'm 23, and a day after my 23rd birthday we left for a place I have wanted to go to so much since I was that little 10 year old girl making the dots on the map. 

Paris

Before going to Paris we were told a few things:

1. French people will not speak to you in English, even when they know it.

2. French people are rude and will purposely shoulder check you.

3. French people are the worst drivers.

Well, this is what we learned:

1. French people will speak to you in English, even when you try to speak French to them (Me: Bonjour! Them: Hello!)

2. I know I accidentally shoulder checked more people because it is way crowded in Paris. No one purposely did anything to me. They are just trying to get to where they are going, just like I am. 

3. "Bad" drivers come from Washington D.C, where there are street lanes and signs and yet they still disobey them and then are jerks about it when you follow the law. I don't believe there are "bad" drivers in France. There are no street lanes in round-a-bouts. There is chaos during the lights because of the amount of cars and how the roads are set up. People drive the way they do in Paris, because they have to. If they don't, then they will get in a car accident, but that is unlikely too because everyone seems to be looking out for everyone. (We had a Frenchman tell us to roll down our window and then told us that we weren't in a lane and where to go, and he was super nice about it!)

We stayed in a hotel called::

 Hotel Allison:: Star Rating 3.0

Review::

It was nice and the receptionist was very nice. She showed us where to go on the map and where everything was. The shower was also like a waterfall. 

Unfortunately though, the beds were as hard as a rock, at 8:00 AM on the dot every morning there was a noise that sounded like construction right outside our door, and while it was fine during the day, when we would come back at midnight there would be homeless people sleeping on the other side of the road. Hotels.com gave it a 4.5 star review. I disagree. For the price, I wish we would have stayed somewhere else. The place we wanted to stay at was booked :/ 

Location: Rue de Saline - down the road from Madeleine Cathedral

Day 1 

We left our home at 7:30 AM, and went to the base to fill up on gas. After checking the oil and making sure the tires were good (can't have anymore car problems!), we were off on our adventure. 

Total driving time: 4 1/2 hours from Spangdahlem.

I was so tired from going to bed late the night before that I slept most of the way. Jake stopped at a gas station, and I woke up only to see 2 men talking in from of me. As they said goodbye, they kissed each others cheeks 2 times on each side. 

I knew I was in France. 

We arrived in Paris, and after living in the country and not ever having traffic, it kind of made me tense up seeing all the cars rush by us. Jake did wonderful though in driving and I know if I was driving I wouldn't have done as good. 

We had a bet. Whoever saw the Eiffel Tower first got a foot rub. Of course I wanted that! So I was on the search. Jake was the first to see it though. It popped right out in front of us, and just like the pictures, there are no other buildings around it that are taller or cover it. I have no idea how I didn't see it first. 

When we got to the hotel, we checked in and threw our bags into the room, and then we were off! 

Our first stop was to park the car and get lunch. We were starving. It was 2:30 PM and we hadn't ate since we left. We parked the car in a parking garage that at first seemed sketchy, but after thinking about it, it was probably the most well protected. They park the car for you. After parking we grabbed lunch at a cafe called:: 

Cafe Madeleine:: Star Rating:: 5.0

Review::

The service here was amazing. We were walking by and the waiter noticed that we were American (We kind of all stick out like sore thumbs), and ushered us in. He took our drink order immediately and brought them to us as soon as he could. We both ordered the Ham & Cheese sandwich. Not your typical ham & cheese. They cover the bread with the cheese and bake it. It was so yummy. All the restaurants had ham & cheese sandwiches. We also had french fries and a salad. The waiter was nice and kept coming back to see if we were doing ok. The pricing here was also very good and reasonable. 

Location:: Right behind the Madeleine Cathedral

After lunch we started on our walking journey. We decided to hit up the Arc de Triomphe first. From our hotel, it was about a mile walk. We tried to rent bikes, but for some reason it wasn't allowing us to use my card so we had to walk the entire time. When we showed up at the Arc, it was surrounded by people taking photos. I suggest going to the edge of the road to get a picture and not in the middle of everyone. That way you also get the round-a-bout. 

History of the Arc de Triomphe::

After defeating the Austrian and Russian troops at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Napoleon commissioned a triumphal arch in the Roman Style. However, no sooner were the foundations for the arch laid, than his empire began to collapse. The arc was finally completed in 1836. Four years later, Napoleon's remains passed under it, on the way to his final resting place at Les Invalides. Since then, both occupying armies (Nazi's) and liberating troops have marched through it. (Family Guide: Paris)

It is also where the "Tomb of Unkown Soldiers" is for all the French soldiers that died during World War 1

I highly suggest going to the top of the Arc. This was one of Jake and I's favorite views of Paris. You are able to see the Eiffel Town and Notre Dame from the top and get amazing shots from there. It does cost money to go to the top, but it's seriously worth it. There is also a gift shop on the inside that has a bunch of cool stuff. 

After going to the Arc, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower. I don't know what was up with me, but I took us in the completely wrong direction. I was struggling the whole trip with my directions, Jake finally just took over. We finally made our way to the Eiffel after walking .25 of a mile more than we should have. 

From the Arc to the Eiffel I would say it's about 1-2 miles. 

Before going directly to the Eiffel, we grabbed a crepe from a vendor. We got it to have Nutella in the center and we shared it. It was so yummy.  

We wanted to rest a little bit from all the walking so we went to the grassy area with a fountain and pond that is right before the bridge that leads to the Eiffel and laid down. This was the area for love birds. There was a couple everywhere we looked tangled up in each other and kissing like no one was watching. Jake took this as an opportunity of course and we shared a few kisses. 

Watch out though, while you are enjoying yourself, you will have men coming up to you with bangles of little Eiffel Tower souvenirs, wine, cigarettes, and other little trinkets trying to sell to you. It might sound like a good deal, but I will explain later why this may not be the greatest thing to do. We kept shooing them away because I've been to places where people try to sell you something to get a cheap dollar. No thanks. 

After taking a few pictures here we decided it was time to visit the Eiffel Tower.

History of the Eiffel Tower::

In 1886, a competition was held to build a tower at the gates of the Exposition Universelle of 1889, to commemorate 100 years since the Revoltuion. Gustave Eiffel emerged as the winner from among 700 entries, which included a giant watering can and an enormous guillotine. Far from an instant hit, the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) was lucky not to be torn down later. He later lived with his daughter in an apartment at the top of the Eiffel. 

Price to go to the top:: 

14 euro total

Ages 26 and younger are cheaper

I suggest taking the elevator to the top. There are a lot of stairs, and if you are short on time, or have been walking most of the day, the elevator is what will save you. We loved going to the top. It was fun seeing Paris get smaller and smaller, but it wasn't our favorite view. Why? Because at the top you can't see the Eiffel, and that was our favorite thing to spot out. I say go to the top though, the line took about 45 minutes to get though, but now I can say that I've stood on the top of the Eiffel Tower. 

There is a restaurant on the second level of the Eiffel. We did not eat there because reservations are needed, but it could be fun to do for our next trip to Paris. (Oh yes, we plan on going back many times!)

By the time we got to the top of the Eiffel and back down it was 8:30 PM. We were starting to get hungry again from all the walking. I wanted something with a view of the Eiffel, so we started walking to find something. There isn't much around the Eiffel Tower unless it's a boat and we couldn't find one that night that we wanted to try. So we walked. And walked. And walked. 

Finally I decided to ask a local. 

He directed us to a restaurant that "is the best with the best view". So we went to the restaurant he suggested. 

Yep it had the best view alright. The Eiffel was beautifully lit up. By this time it was 10:00 PM. 

Prices were 35 euro a plate. 

We might like to spend money, but we are pretty cheap on most things. After they sat us at a table and we looked at the prices, we decided to go somewhere else. This restaurant was called Chef Francis. If you want classy and expensive, that is where you go. 

We went across the street to a Cafe with hamburgers and ate hamburgers and french fries. I don't even know the name of the cafe. We were so tired that we ate within a half hour and booked it back to the hotel. 

That is the end of Day 1

Day 2, 3, and 4 will continue on the next posts. :) 

Au Revoir