Bonjour! I am sitting in our beautiful hotel lobby next to the Louvre as I write this. We have but a few more hours in Paris. Precious hours they are as this city has quickly become a favorite place of ours. There is so much to explore yet and so much to see but alas we resign ourselves to the plan of coming back for more of this city that seems to go on and on and impress and take our breath away at every turn.

Before coming I had only been to Paris on an 8 hour layover and had only known snippets of information from french classes in high school and college. I had also developed some stereotypes along the way from other people’s experiences and had certain expectations of how the city would be and how the people would react to me, the dreaded American. They weren’t necessarily the best or the kindest expectations, but they set me up to be blown away by this incredible place. Listen up people, Parisians are kind, helpful people and the city is dazzling! I was thoroughly enchanted every hour of the day. It definitely helped that we were staying in an “out of our league” swanky hotel right across the street from the Louvre (be still my heart!), but as we wandered through the neighborhoods it consistently made me giddy with joy as “wow” escaped my lips innumerable times.

Day one we arrived at our hotel around 2pm and immediately dropped our things and took to the streets. We were eager to learn our neighborhood and see which cafes and restaurants we wanted to devour. Here is where I learned that while, yes, a lot of cafes in Paris are expensive, not all of them are. We were able to find reasonably priced places and found grocery stores and boulangeries to buy pastries (!), bread, cheese and meat for lunch. They are there you just have to look for them. Jamie will post on the ones we tried and our experience with them. Another thing that shocked me was the price of getting around the city. We ended up buying a Metro card that was good for unlimited trips for a week for 26 euros. When you count up how many times you use the metro to get you from one neighborhood in this massive city to the next, its worth it for sure. That night after dinner we went over to the infamous Eiffel Tower. We ended up seeing this in both the day and the night and would recommend doing both if you can. They are both impressive to see. Paris is like two cities, the day Paris and the Night Paris. Oh they both are wonderful and dazzling in their own ways, take a nap in the afternoon so you can make sure to see both. A nap is always a wise investment and in this case a life saver.

Day Two found us at the Louvre. So we did it in a day, but blog after blog after guide book says to NOT pack it into one day, we did. And it was fine. Put aside one day for the Louvre, you’ll be fine. We ended up taking a lunch/nap break back at our hotel (again, our hotel was across the street from the Louvre so it was convenient) and felt it a wise thing to refill the energy tank. After that we were ready to tackle the rest of the Louvre and the evening ahead. The Louvre was incredible, I’m not sure what stole my attention more the art or the building. The French don’t know the word MODERATION, it was elaborate in every way, every hall, every stairway. The part I think I liked best and was most awe-inspiring for me was Napoleon III Apartments. It looks like he had unlimited funds to furnish and decorate his place. On the other hand we were underwhelmed with the Mona Lisa, we saw it more out of obligation than anything, but now we can say we saw it and as we said, now that’s out of the way we can enjoy the rest the Louvre has to offer. A surprise was in the basement, did you know that the Louvre was a Medieval Fortress? It was and you can walk the moat between the fortress wall and the old outer city wall. Once Paris expanded beyond the walls and the Louvre found itself more in the middle of the city the King decided to make it a palace instead. If we had another day in Paris I would have loved to see Musee d’Orsay, this is where the Impressionists and more modern artists are. I’ve heard great things about this museum, and hope to be back to see it for myself.

The Louvre at night

 
Napoleon III’s Apartments

Day 3 found us in Montmartre, walking up steps and hills to see Sacre Coeur and eat breakfast in a quaint neighborhood cafe. The french like most Europeans like to take their time at meals so the service is not always the quickest, but relax you’re on vacation, slow down. We enjoyed Quiche, croissants and a bowl of cappuccino, now that’s my idea of a cup of coffee! After breakfast we saw the church on a hill, Sacre Coeur, and the view from the front door is expansive, you can see almost the entire city from that hill. In fact walk around Montmartre and see amazing views from almost every street. This was one of our favorite neighborhoods in Paris and we wish we had more time to explore the fairytale streets and quaint cafes. Compared to the hustle and bustle in other places, Montmartre is quiet and peaceful. From there we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower again and this time we went up. We chose the stair route to save a little and we heard it really wasn’t worth going all the way to the top anway, so we went up to the 2nd floor. It was pretty incredible views that changed as you went up and down. We had an awesome day to see views, and would recommend this tourist destination.

The delicious looking baked goods from Coquelicot…the cafe where we had breakfast in Montmartre

Leah enjoying a macaron from Coquelicot Bakery
 

Sacre-Coeur Cathedral

Over all, Paris Je t’aime! We loved our time here and if we get the chance we would love to come back again one day. Until then…

Happy Trails,

The Smuckers