Life in Paris

Neighborhood Fromagerie

Paris was a really great trip – one of my favorites – but you probably got that from the last post.  What you probably didn’t get is what we actually DID in Paris.  So here is a brief rundown of the trip.

We rented an apartment that we found listed online.  We did this in Germany too – it was a great time and we’ll probably do it again on our next trip!  I landed a few hours before Paul, so I dropped the bag at the apt. and headed out walking.  I think I walked a spiral around our apartment trying to get the feel of the neighborhood (which was awesome!) and eventually made my way to the water, hoping for my first glimpse of the either the Eifel Tower or the Louvre.  Right as I sat down with my map – Paul called.  I quickly walked back to the apartment (okay...I had to go quickly to make up for the time spent in a scarf shop on the way there).

Friends recommended a few places for dinner, but it wasn’t even dark yet so we decided to walk and see if we found something cute and popular.  By the time the sun set and we’d found a place it was 10pm.  This happened most nights because a.) the sun set late, b.) we were snacking at every cheese shop we passed, and c.) we were just not paying attention to the time. 

Butcher in a market.

The next day was more walking, we do this a lot when we’re in a new city.  I think we’ve made my dad walk about 10 miles every day on every trip he makes to see us.  We even made my mom and little brother walk about that far at about 5am in January (yes, it was cold!).  Back to Paris…

We did picnics in the parks, at the Eifel Tower, walked around the beautiful neighborhoods, went to church, stopped at cafes, tasted tarts…it was wonderful.  What we didn’t do was museums or tours or schedules.  Paul had a conference to attend on the last three days so I wandered by myself.  The first thing I did was go to the Lourve. 

Lost.

I thought I’d spend hours enjoying the art – I was out of there so fast.  Too many tourists, not enough (if any) abstract pieces.  I had lunch with a friend and she pointed me in the right direction, to a museum full of abstract art from Monet and the Duffy brothers.  Well…there went my afternoon!  It was wonderful.  I was in such a good mood that I got lost walking back to the hotel…but getting lost in Paris means you end up in another beautiful neighborhood with a beautiful bridge and gold statues! 

On the second to last day I discovered the joy of shopping in Paris!  Yes, it took me that long.  I went into 5 Zarras (yes, I know they are all the same, but maybe I missed something in the first four!).  I loved every store and the experience of trying on clothes was so much fun!  They were so friendly (Voila! Here is the dressing room) and so cute when I didn’t buy the clothes (C’est non?!?).  And when I did buy something I was surprised by the price – I conveniently forgot to look up the exchange rate so everything at least looked cheap (I think the real price was about 20% higher) and a lot of times things were on sale (but there was no sale sign).

The last day in Paris was a wild goose chase as I went searching for that scarf shop from the first day.  I was in a hurry the first day so I didn’t actually BUY the scarf, but the thought of having it taunted me the whole trip.  Again, I spiraled the neighborhood for about 2 hours before giving up…and then there it was!  In my last few hours I grabbed a scarf, some macaroons, two limes (we usually can’t buy them here) and jumped on the metro.  The city really felt like home from the minute I got there, making the six days feel like I’d been there for months.  Sitting on the plane I was listening to my music and it sounded happier.  The people looked happier, the food tasted better.  Now it seems like it was such a short trip, taken so long ago. 

Picnic with a view.