Paris, France

Paris as the sun sets
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We first arrived in Charles de Gaulle airport and after spending sometime looking for Janelle in the airport (separate flights...long story), we went straight to our hotel in the southwest corner of the city.

Let me first say that I was blown away by the grandeur of Paris.  I've always known of the many monuments and museums and statues and what not, but what I don't think I was ready for was how these things seemed to be everywhere.  You can't turn a corner without something world famous staring you right in the eyes.  This is in my opinion part of what makes Paris so incredibly intriguing.

You can't turn a corner without something world famous staring you right in the eyes.

The Arc de Triomphe on the Champs Elysees
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Anyway, on with the trip.  I can barely remember the order of events, but we were fortunate enough to see just about all the big name things Paris had to offer in just 4 days or so.  Janelle had already been there but I hadn't, so it was a new experience for me.

The first thing we saw was the Eiffel Tower which lived up to its billing in my opinion.  It is absolutely gorgeous in person and even moreso at night than in the day.  I loved it.  We also cruised around the Camps Elysees the first night and I saw the Arc de Triomphe which I must admit seemed MUCH larger in person than it ever did in textbooks or travel brochures.  I was extremely impressed.  If you want to do some shopping or eating on the CE though, be prepared to shell out some serious cash because they know they can make a fortune there off of tourists alone.  I would rather recommend sliding down a side street and finding a cool, low-key little diner which will offer you an equally delicious meal or tshirt for half the price.

Sacre Coeur in Montmartre
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After crusing down the CE and then having dinner, we took the metro home...which by the way was quite easy to navigate and fairly inexpensive as well.  The next day we saw the Opera House where Phantom of the Opera supposedly takes place and it was stunning to say the least.  We also got to see Les Invallides (where Napoleon's tomb is) and it is rather stunning.  We didn't go inside, but I can tell you that from the outside, it is beautiful.  We also drove back by the Eiffel again (on a bus tour), cruised by the Louvre (which we went into the next day) and saw a few other interesting sights that Paris had to offer.

Eiffel from my bus window
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The Louvre is enormous.  If you didn't know, it has something like 65,000 works of art in there with the most notable two being the Mona Lisa (which in real life is almost creepy to look at eye-to-eye) and the Venus de Milo statue which was awesome to see in person.  If you're not an art lover though, the Louvre can be done in 20 minutes as that was about all it took for me to see those 2 items.  The outside of it though, is gorgeous in itself...although if you've ever been to Cleveland, you know the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame looks almost the exact same.

Moulin Rouge at night
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We later went to L'Orangerie museum where Monet's waterlilies and many other famous impressionists keep their works.  It was small and quick to say the least.  So if I were you...I'd pass on it maybe and check out the Musee D'Orsay which in my opinion has many more notable and interesting works.  Either way, if you're an art lover...you should see both probably.

Anyhow, we went home after that trip to the museum and some dinner.  The next day we went to Versailles (has its own blog).  After we returned to Paris from Versailles, we went and saw Sacre Coeur up on the hill in Montmartre and let me say that it was definitely worth the trip.  I loved it.  The church itself is as breathtaking as the view it offers.  Aside that, there were many street performers in the little village that surrounds the church as well as artists and even a young man who played music from the movie Amelie on his accordian as well.  All in all a fabulous experience.  Later that night, Janelle and I decided to get a little away time from the group and went and saw the Moulin Rouge (and the restuarant Two Windmills) which was neat with its evening lights and then got back on the metro to see the Eiffel all lit up.  We took some good pictures kissing in front of it and then headed home.

Notre Dame Cathedral
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The last day in Paris, we went and saw the Pompidou centre which I found very cool and also headed over to the area of the Notre Dame cathderal which was neat in my opinion but not as cool as the Pompidou with all of its artistic flare and performers everywhere.  Both areas have plenty of shopping nearby but the Pompidou district was much cheaper and more fun in my opinion.  Notre Dame is rather pretty in person, but I'd been much more impressed with other Parisian sights.

All in all, I loved Paris.  This blog only captures a taste of what went on, but I tried to capture at least the essence of what ocurred in the four days.  That night, we hopped on a train to Barcelona, Spain.