Paris :: Beautiful Happiness

April 9th: On our way to Paris, France! Had to admit, with the amount of terrorist attacks in this part of Europe lately, we were a tad apprehensive. But we both want to see the world, so if we're going to die, we might as well die doing something we love! A bit morbid, but we can't hide from reality.

Anyway, a few sights from the train are below. The French countryside is beautiful!

Once we hit the city, we immediately started our trek...after figuring out the maze that is the Gard de Nord train station. 

Part of the promenade including the Pantheon 

Le Jardin de Luxembourg (The Luxembourg Gardens)

Just like London, picnicking seems to be the go-to past time in the spring sun

After dropping our backpacks off, we began the 3+ mile walk towards the Eiffel Tower, stopping at Napoleon's Tomb and a cafe along the way. 

I say 3+ miles because it was too warm to wear a jacket, meaning I didn't have pockets to bring my external phone charger. Therefore I couldn't use my phone's map to show the way. So we essentially wandered and tried to keep sight of the tall pointy thing in the distance. We eventually got there. 

Napoleon's Tomb

A ham, pesto, and mozzarella sandwich with salad from a local cafe. Their sandwiches rarely come closed.

We found this while lost, so I'm not sure what exactly it's called

We found it!

We found a nice shaded spot in the Champ de Mars and people watched while enjoying the view.

 

The sun was on it's path downward, and hit the tower perfectly to create a gold glow

Underneath, however, isn't the most beautiful of sights, with all the people trying to get to the top. The park was much better.

 After some time in the Champ de Mars, we walked the River Siene to our side of the city. Again, this was a 3+ mile walk. 

That night, we were too exhausted to struggle through my butchered French to find a cafe, so we went to a local supermarket and bought baguettes, cheese, chocolate, and wine and called that dinner while watching French TV. It may sound lame, but dang was it a lovely night and the food was delicious.

Plus, we had a balcony view!

The second day we started bright and early (by French standards) and headed to the Ila de la Cite, home of the Notre Dame. We wern't initially going inside because we wanted to avoid crowds and costly admission fees. But when we arrived, there was hardly a soul in site, so we walked right in. 

 

The inside was quite breathtaking.

When we walked out, the line was about 100 people deep... we got there just in time!

After the Notre Dame, we started Westward toward the Arc de Triomphe, but stopped a few times along the way...

To the West of the Louvre was the Jardin de Tuileries, about 3,000 feet of lush grass, flowers, fountains, and statues.

 At the end of the gardens stood a ferris wheel, one of my weaknesses. Why? Because they grant us the best views of the city!

 

The Jardin de Tuileries, between the Louvre and the ferris wheel

After the ferris wheel and a sugary beignet, we finally made our way to the Arc de Triomphe (and hundreds of other tourists)

Instead of climbing to the top like other tourists, we walked a bit further into the city to find Printemps, a 9-story shopping center with a roof top cafe.

This isn't the store, just a nice building

And here we are, squinty eyes and 9 stories above the pedestrians...

The food was a bit pricey, so we skipped on the coffee and tasted some local Italian food down the street (I know, how dare we...we're in Paris!) But made up for it later that night with duck and potatoes (at least for me, Evan had a burger). 

Before you judge on the burger, let me tell you that there is a taste difference between Europe burgers and American burgers. The difference between grass-fed and grain-fed is quite noticeable.

The chips (fries), however, all taste the exact same in Europe. Perk of America- fries taste different depending on the restaurant.

Finished the day walking along the River Seine again, pursuing the Parisian market stalls. 

Finished the night eating more bread, cheese, wine, and chocolate only to wake up at 3:30 am to catch our flight back to Dublin then the States. 

It was a thrilling, exciting, and educational trip for both Evan and I. We have a running list of pros and cons for moving to Europe. Quality of food is high on that list. So is public transportation. We'll miss our time in Europe, here's to hoping we can visit in the near future.

Bonne nuit, Paris!