Paris Nights

Versailles statue
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Vickie and I decided to go to Paris over Valentine's Day weekend, and it ended up being one of the most intense experiences of my life.  We left for the airport Wed. night and slept at the airport overnight for our 5:45 flight to Paris.  We didn't realize until that day that our flight was going to land an hour north of Paris.  This didn't end up holding us back because there was a bus that went right to the heart of Paris outside of the airport.

When we arrived in the middle of Paris Vickie was ready to go out and see the city and I was ready to sleep because she had been sleeping on my shoulder pretty much all night.  Luckily, shortly after we arrived, Vic convinced me not to sleep and we went to see Notre Dame.  It was a beautiful church as you can see in the pictures.  We proceeded to walk around that area and visited som other churches and went for a walk.

Notre Dame
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We ate some food and soon realized that France has amazing food!  It was so good.  Everything was fresh, covered in cheese, and tasty.  Some of the highlights of food included: duck, escargot (snail), croquet monseiur, crepes, and the most amazing desserts you can imagine.  They made our wedding cakes look like Chips Ahoy, seriously.

We also quickly learned that everyone speaks English, but only if you ask them in French first.  And you must say Bonjour Monseiur/Madam every time you begin to talk or it is very rude.  I had printed out a sheet with common words that I might need for travel, but it didn't work out how I planned.  It turned out that when I asked directions, they understood my question, but I could never understand their answer.  So we always had to ask them to speak in English.

Stained Glass in Notre Dame
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After we ate and visited the Notre Dame area, we arrived at our hotel and it was so funny.  Not like a hotel in the US.  The bed was hard, the room was small, and it smelled funny.  I turned on the TV only to find 4 channels in French, one channel like QVC in German with a naked woman spokesperson, and one channel in English playing some weird game.  So we decided to go on a boat tour and then go to the Eiffel Tower.

The boat ride was all right, but my pictures didn't turn out and I had to listen to the guide on a telephone connected to my seat.  Overall, I would say it was worth the time just to be on a boat on the river, not for information or photos.  Unless you have a thing for bridges.

Notre Dame
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The Eiffel Tower was magnificent.  We didn't know that it sparkled for about an hour at a time so we were taken by surprise when it exploded with white light.  We went all the way to the top and could see for miles.  Take a look at the pictures, they tell what it was like.

Here is a short overview of my thoughts of other places we went:

The Louvre- Magnificent, but too big.  I saw the Mona Lisa, The Winged Victory of Smathorace, Venus de Milo, the Crown Diamonds, and many other pieces.  I enjoyed being there and it was really interesting, but we only stayed for about an hour and a half.  We pretty much ran through one floor out of four.

Notre Dame candles $2.00 to light one in memory of someone
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Versailles-  Magnificent.  It is a giant castle that the king and queen used to live in.  My favorite parts were the Hall of Mirrors, the garden in back (it was HUGE), and the art throughout the castle.  It had lots of cool sculptures and gardens groomed similar to the ones in El Escorial only way bigger.

Invalides-  This was my favorite place.  It was a war museum starting in the 13th Century and going through World War II.  The world war two part was a little depressing, but eye-opening.  There was art and poems by detainees in concentration camps, pictures of bodies and other horriffic things like that.  It reminded me of when I went to Madrid and saw some Neo-Nazis outside.  They all had shaved heads and were marching and doing the Nazi arm raise thing.  I can't believe that anyone could ever feel okay about supporting something so terrible.  Anyways, there was also armor from samaurais, jousting equipment, flamethrowers, bazookas, guns, tanks, and all kinds of weird warfare.  You could actually watch technology getting better inbetween each Century.  I found it all incredibly interesting even though I don't support any war.  I don't know why it was so fascinating.

Along our Notre Dame walk
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Red Light District-  This just made me laugh and laugh.  There were transvestites and sex shops everywhere.  We walked by Moulin Rouge and the line was backed up with drunk men in their 20's.  It was so weird because it felt dangerous there.  I always pictured Moulin Rouge to be classy dancing, but I was wrong.  Maybe I should have just watched the movie or something.

Paris was just as romantic as everyone makes it out to be, but I wouldn't describe my experience as super romantic.  I thought it was frantic and exhausting.  By the end of every day, we were dead.  I slept like a baby every night.

Beautiful sunset with the Eiffel Tower and Concorde
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If you have any questions about what it was like, feel free to send me a message.  I would love to hear from you all.

Andy