Random Tash

Day 1

We left London on a Eurostar train – I thought a high speed train would be a cool entry to a cool city.  And only through the Chunnel was something I wanted to do.  It was quick and fast and Tim slept the whole way Ah Paris.  The place of love and romance and gourmet food.  NOT!  There was love and romance, Tim and I brought it with us.  But the food was horrible!  And since we were there for 6 nights, and ate out 3 meals a day, we tried A LOT of places.  Cheap, middle and high.  All bad.  So that really put me off Paris.  And escargot, my favourite food, wasn’t even close to as good as you can get at a French restaurant in Canada (let alone The Keg escargot)

And it was COLD!  I would wear a long sleeved shirt, a cardigan, a pashmina and a jacket – and still be cold! So love was not in the air . .  . but guess what was? SMOKE!  Everyone there smokes!  It was crazy!  People write about how French women are so thin?  Well, they are thin but not because of what you think (walking, small portions).  From my experience, French women chain smoke and only consume expresso and wine.  In almost every restaurant or cafe we were in, I rarely ever saw anyone eating.  Just smoking and drinking.  And we were in a less-touristy area.  We thought we were off schedule for everyone’s eating habits, but no.  No matter what time we ate (6:00 om – 12 am) NO ONE WAS EATING!  Okay, on to the hotel.  This place was recommended to me by a friend who had stayed there a couple years ago.  And I loved the website.  I didn’t love the hotel – it was just okay.  Dingy and okay.  But for location and value, I wouldn’t pay that much to stay there ever again. We didn’t do anything the first night.  Just wondered around (took us over an hour to find a place that we actually saw someone eating in, not just drinking and smoking in).

Day 2

One of the things I had been looking forward to the most in Paris was the Monet museum – the Musee de l’Orangerie.  And it did not disappoint!  Monet’s water lilies were the most beautiful paintings I have ever seen.  I know they were big – but wow were they ever big!  The water lilly  display was in 2 rooms – both circular – that together formed an infinity sign.  The ceiling let in the sunlight and the rest of the rooms were bare except the paintings.  The paintings covered all the walls.  Tim, who didn’t know his Monet from his Manet, was blow away.  We spent hours looking at the water lillies.  Only the small side of the circle ones would fit onto the camera screen.

Here’s one of me so you can get the feel of the size of them.

There were also some other great paintings at the museum, but mostly it was all about the water lillies. Post Monet induced bliss, we headed up the Champs-Elysées to wonder around before straight to the Arc de Triomphe.  It would be pretty amazing to drive past that every day!

After the Arc, we set off for the Eiffel Tower.

Not a very romantic place to propose in my opinion – there was a 2 hour wait to get to the top!  As I wasn’t going to get any bling out of it, I vetoed going to the top. However, I did go to the bottom of it . . .

Day 3

On the third day we went to the Louvre!

It was gigantic and full of very interesting stuff!  (not the greatest description – but it was overwhelming).  Some highlights were

the Mona Lisa . . .

and the Venus de Milo.

To round off our great museum day, we headed to the Musee D’Orsay.  I had been dying to get here, as my favourite art is form the Impressionism and Post-Impressionism periods.  The museum did not disappoint, and I proceeded to take pictures of everything I liked.  I won’t bore you with all those, but here are a few . . .

What an amazing day that was.  I was blown away by all the art and so pleased that Tim really liked it was well.

Day 4 On the fourth day, we went to see Notre Dame.  The outside of this was amazing!  It really blew me away with its beauty.

One thing that I did not like was that, unlike Westminster Abbey, you could take pictures inside.  I found that took away from the splendor of the inside, but the stained glass windows blew my sock off nonetheless!

We walked along the Seine . . .

And then we went to McDonald’s, where Tim was delighted to find that they served beer with meals instead of pop.

Day 5

On the fifth day in Paris . . . we crashed!  It was too much, with the whole move across the country and then off the Europe right away and all the long days we were pulling.  We spent the day exploring and drinking copious amount of cheap French wine.

Day 5

Our last full in in Paris was spent at Versailles.  It made me want to watch Sofia Coppola‘s Marie Antoinette again, as the movie brought the palace to life for me.

My favourite parts were the gardens . . .

and the awesome fountains . . .

.

The ceilings in all the rooms and halls weren’t too shabby either.

And that was Paris!  If the food was better, the weather was nicer and I wasn’t so tired I think I would have liked it a lot more!

Stayed tuned for the next recap . . . MADRID!