Bienvenue a la Paris!

So I went to Paris.... one of the famous if not the most famous cities in the world. I can see why so many people say they can fall in love Paris. Two days was in no way enough time to see this historically beautiful city but Loretta, Bev and I tried our best to fit as many activities in as we could. We arrived in Paris in the late afternoon and immediately went to the underground Metro system to get to our hotel. Luckily, Loretta had some tickets left over from her Contiki tour that we could use. Our stop was actually right in from of the Louvre! It was an absolutely beautiful building and as Loretta told me it used to be the palace for the monarchy until they decided it was "too small". Nonetheless, if you were to look at each painting in the Louvre for one minute, it would take NINE MONTHS to get through all of them!

From the Metro we made our way to the hotel which was surprisingly located quite centrally. We walked through the Palais Gardens with all of our luggage and I have to say, watching Bev struggle with that suitcase that was over twice her size was one of the funniest things of the trip (love you Bev!) At last we made it to our hotel (or what we thought was our hotel) but as it turned out we had to go to the OTHER Best Western just down the road. Once in our actual hotel, we found a Spanish couple who had the same problem, they had to go back to the Best Western we had just come from. I told the manager that I would point the way for the couple to help him out.

We discovered our room AGAIN had only enough beds for two. I called up the manager to tell him our dilemma and he decided to upgrade us to this beautiful deluxe room because I had helped out that Spanish couple! (Talk about great luck!) Our room was everything a Paris room should be, beautiful french windows opening up to the flower-filled windows of the street. We went out to see the Eiffel tower that night as the hours soon passed.

Standing in front of the Eiffel Tower was incredibly surreal. Because it is such an icon, and you see it a million times in the movies, it almost feels like you've been there before. The whole sight was incredibly magical and I'm glad I was able to see it all lit up against the dark sky.

I have to say there was definitely a change of roles here. Loretta's knowledge of French definitely came in handy while in Paris and my Dutch no longer proved much usefulness. We did have one little miscommunication incident when we ordered dinner that first Saturday night though. On the menu it read "Cheval Burger" which in English means 'horse hamburger' (Ruthann stop reading this) We were quite surprised at this apparent weird French taste but thought 'every country to it's own'. The couple at the table next to us had to explain that 'cheval burger' is just a name for a burger that has an egg on it (phew) I decided to have French Onion soup instead!

We had a restful sleep that Saturday night and by morning we had to check out of our hotel and into a new hotel across the river. Our new hotel didn't quite have the same amazing windows, but it did have a great view of the city from our 23rd floor. We were out and about by the afternoon and bought tickets for one of those hop-on-hop-off city bus tours. This was well worth the money and we were able to see all the iconic places of Paris.

I was so amazed by the history and extravagance of some of these things! Napoleon's expensive tastes were so evident. One of the most insane things I saw was the chaotic roundabout that surrounds the Champs Elysees. There is no lane lines, roughly six rows of traffic that somehow manage to get on and get off. We had to go under a tunnel to get to the arch. On the tour, I was also able to see the Eiffel in daylight which was equally impressive. For all those musical fans out there I saw the famous opera house that the Phantom of the Opera story is based on!

I saw the site of Marie Antoinette and Louis the 16th's beheading, the incredible Grand Palais, the place where Napoleon's body lies and about a million other amazing sights. One of the coolest places was Notre Dame! This cathedral was absolutely beautiful. (More umbrella troubles in front of Notre Dame) A service was going on inside but we could still walk around. The stain glass was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Despite all this, the grand finale of our excursion was yet to come.....

On Sunday night we got all dressed up and made our way to the Moulin Rouge! We had bought tickets for the dinner and cabaret show and it was SO amazing. This place used to be a really shady area of Paris as you can imagine but now the Moulin Rouge is one of the most popular tourist events. Before the show, we sat in the beautiful dinner showroom and chose the three course meal we wanted. I am happy to report that while in Paris I tried one of Bev's escargot and it was surprisingly not bad at all.

The show was colourful, so lively and a lot of fun. One of the craziest things I saw was a woman swimming in a tank full of LIVE boa constrictors! An acrobatic couple pulled off the most amazing stunts and the three of us ladies just couldn't get over the fact that we were sitting at the Moulin Rouge enjoying a night out in Paris!

By Monday morning Loretta's mom had to leave early but Loretta and I got to have a nice sleep in until our check-out at 12. I found my way on the Metro to the train station and JUST caught my train to Rotterdam. Paris was a magical experience and I'm slightly jealous that mom and dad will have five days..... do you think it would be too intrusive if I crash with them? Better not, it is their 25th anniversary after all.