Just when I was getting good at Italian....

We went to Paris last weekend, and had a blast! My years of Jr. High and High school French classes were locked away in the caverns of my brain, and unfortunately, only a few words were ever able to make their way out of those dark recesses! Also having been diligent in my Italian "home schooling" made it even more difficult to remember any French vocabulary without getting confused w/ the Italian words. BUT, we did know the basics, and survived w/ the use of plenty of "merci beaucoups", "S'il vous plaits" and "Pain au chocolat"..the 3rd phrase, in my opinion, being the most important!

We arrived in Paris on Thursday night, flying in to Orly airport, hopping on the "Air France" shuttle to Arc de Triumphe, and then walking our way to our hotel, Le Meridien Etoile, about a 10 minute walk from the Arc de Triumphe. We had packed reasonably lightly, so were able to bungee cord our back pack to the stroller which I pushed, while Josh wheeled our two roller bags.

We got to our hotel, checked in, and headed straight out for dinner at a nearby restaurant we had passed while walking to our hotel. We both started out with a big bowl of Onion Soup, and then I had a salad with toasted goat cheese on it--delicious, and Josh had some steak tar tar with french fries. And, since it was our first night in Paris afterall, we couldn't leave without trying some of the desserts too, so we indulged in chocolate mousse and creme brulee--both of which were fabulously delicious (wait..is that how the leprechaun describes Lucky Charms? ...oh no, that's magically delicious!). Well, these desserts were magically delicious too, and we scraped the glass bowls of each before asking for the check.

On Friday, we got out the door around 10am, to walk back up to the Arc de Triumphe to catch a hop on/hop off tour bus that had been recommended. On the way there, we passed by a Patisserie that had an amazing aroma wafting out the door that we just couldn't ignore, so we stopped in and I ordered our "Chocolate Croissants"... Josh soon corrected me with the appropriate "Pain au Chocolat" term that I was supposed to use. Ahhh..Americani...we always stand out! I asked if they could heat them up, but they don't tend to do that in Paris, and the hostess informed us that they were just out of the oven about 15 minutes prior, and boy were they good! So fresh with the perfect balance of buttery flakiness, and perfect tunnels of chocolate buried within. Yum! We washed them down with cappuccino and espresso, and were on our way to the bus...our bellies and tastebuds fully satisfied!

The bus arrived, and we almost couldn't get our enormous BOB stroller on board. The stroller is great, but it is very big for most places in Italy, and now in Paris, we were finding out. We had to lift it up over the hand railings to get on the bus, but once on board, we were able to collapse it, and take Evan, in the carseat to the top deck of the double decker, and sit outside to take in the sites. The tour was an audio tour with headsets, so we listened to the facts of each site as we passed, and in between, they pumped out French music to listen to as we cruised the Parisian streets. It was a bit chilly on the top deck, but bearable, at least until the rain started just after the Eiffel Tower. We climbed back inside the bus, where almost every seat was "obstructed view", and took it to The Louvre, where we decided to hop off, get lunch, and explore the museam. We found a great little cafe for lunch and we both had some incredible Onion Soup, topped with toasted baggette pieces and lots of melted gruyere cheese, and then each had Croque Monsier sandwiches--bread broiled with jambon (ham) and gruyere--kind of like a grilled ham and cheese, but a whole lot better!

After lunch, we headed to The Louvre, and spent the day exploring it's various wings, of course, starting out at the Mona Lisa, which never ceases to impress! We toured the Italian art section, Spanish art, various sculpture exhibits, and an exhibit on the History of the Louvre. The museam is huge, and you could easily spend a few days there, but we limited ourselves to the afternoon for Evan's sake.

Saturday the weather cooperated, and we spent the day strolling the streets. We pretty much followed the bus route from our hop on/hop off bus, so that at any point, we could jump on if we needed to. The time just flew by because during the walk there was just so much to take in, not only from the obvious 'sites', but just the streets in general, with the gorgeous architecture that is everywhere to be seen. The wide sidewalks, and tree lined streets, make it a perfect city to walk in, or for joggers, running up and down The Seine as part of your jogging route would be quite a treat.

We walked under the Arc de Triumphe, to the Eifel Tower, then through the neighborhood of St. Germain to Notre Dame. Notre Dame cathedral is incredible, with the main cathedral down the center, with numerous chapels along the perimeter, that you could go in to for some individual prayers or to light a candle. We tried to join a tour inside the cathedral, but the tourguide's voice was so soft, it was too hard to hear her. Instead, we opted for a loop around the outside of the cathedral to take in the exterior architecture, and while doing so, enjoyed some cups of hot spiced wine that one of the local street vendors was selling and it was the perfect beverage to hold us over until our next meal:) Which, every day, we had Onion Soup for lunch and dinner..plus a main course, but that soup is to die for!

Storm Xynthia, the most violent storm to hit France since 1999, hit on Saturday with gale force winds up to 100 MPH and torrential downpours. Paris wasn't in the heart of the storm, but on Sunday, Xynthia was showing herself, and the day was mainly stormy, so we opted to take the boat tour (if they would be running)so we could ride the boat along the Seine. We had to catch the boat somewhere off of the Champs d'Elysee. We left the hotel, Josh carrying Evan in the Bjorn, and I was pushing the stroller so we'd have it just in case. The rains were coming down super heavy, so we dashed into a cafe to get our Pain au Chocolats and our cafes. Not sure why we got them 'to go' but we did, and headed back on our walking route. By the time we got up to the open area by the Arc de Triumphe, the winds were really gusting, and at one point Josh looked to see me being dragged through the square by the BOB, which a gust of wind had pretty much caused to whip onto it's side, and because the wind guard was on it, it was being inflated like a kite, and dragging me along as if I was kite surfing. I was only holding the stroller with one hand...God forbid I spill my cappuccino, so Josh said it looked like I was riding a horse (a lot of you know my horseback riding stories too, so you know, it wasn't a pretty sight!). Anyways, once I got the BOB under control, it was a hilarious to think about how ridiculous I probably looked, and I'm sure some onlookers got a good chuckle, at least once they realized that I didn't have the baby inside!

We arrived at The Seine, and hopped on the boats, which were still running despite teh waves and white caps in the river. The ride was surprisingly smooth, and a great, dry, way to see the city. We got out at one of the famous gardens and walked from there, along the river, back to Notre Dame for some more spiced wine and another peak at this amazing cathedral. From there, we did some more strolling, since the winds had died down, and because it is such a beautiful city to walk on foot. We went into the opera house, through Place de la Concorde, and back up Champs d'Elysee and home. Overall, a great, fun day, and again, walking, even in the rain, really makes you feel like you are experiencing the city. We had also eaten not one but two Pain au Chocolats that morning, so a little extra exercise was good. We felt that having braved the storm, in the morning, that when we passed the 2nd Patisserie, just after finishing our first Pain au Chocolat that we deserved a second round. I of course had Josh check my face to make sure I didn't have any tell-tale chocolate or pastry flakes on my lips before I ordered at the 2nd patisserie, since I didn't want to look like a piggy, and after getting the all clear, I sauntered up and ordered round two...just as delicious as the first round, and so good, that on Monday, the day we left, I ordered back ups for the airport, so we had our double dose two days in a row, with no regrets:) Got to love Paris!