Category: Paris

Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 3: Cruise Down the Seine River, Christmas Day and Macarons Galore!)

As excited as I was to spend the Christmas holiday in Paris, I was a bit concerned that we might not find places open for business, but we were fortunate that this wasn’t the case.

Cruise down the Seine River

We purchased tickets for a scenic river cruise down the Seine River for only 11 Euros per person, and found out that the cruise was running every 30 minutes as usual on Christmas Day.

The cruise was about 45 minutes long, and we got to see Paris from a different angle. It was very windy and cold that day, so we stayed inside the boat most of the time looking out the windows. However, when the captain announced that we were passing Notre Dame, we ran upstairs to get a few photos! On my next visit, I want to tour the inside of the cathedral, but I was happy to see the outside this time around.

Photos of Notre Dame!

            

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cruise ended, we went back to the hotel and got ready for Christmas dinner. We had gone up into the Eiffel Tower, but had not yet seen the view from Trocadero Park. We decided to head to the park and eat at a nearby restaurant.

Eating French food was one of the highlights of our trip. The first night we arrived we enjoyed a wonderful creperie just steps from our hotel, and went back for a late breakfast our last day after we checked out.

After our trip to the Louvre on Christmas Eve, we found an amazing little restaurant while walking around the city. We were able to enjoy escargot, French ravioli with duck, and creme brulee. The food in Paris was everything we dreamed it would be. Scarlett said she wants to move there but I quickly reminded her that if we lived in Paris we wouldn’t be able to eat out like this everyday as it would get very expensive.

Our last day in Paris

Check out time at the hotel was noon, but our flight didn’t leave until 8 p.m. the day after Christmas. Our hotel graciously offered to keep our bags locked up in order for us to use the extra time to look around Paris some more. There was one more thing we wanted to do before leaving. We wanted to visit Laduree, the famous macaron shop.

Laduree

This place was exquisite! From the ornate decor to the scrumptious tasting macarons and variety of teas, it was a fabulous ending to our Paris trip.

   

 

 

 

We ordered four macarons, but the waitress accidentally gave us the wrong one in the original order and allowed us to keep the extra at no additional cost.

My favorite is the one pictured to the left, the Rose. The aroma of floral rose coupled with the flavor of rose petals and sweetness was just how I imagined a macaron from Paris, France to taste. The hazelnut, pistachio, vanilla and orange blossom were equally delicious.

Scarlett and I ordered tea for our goodbye Paris “tea party.” I ordered the Cherie and she ordered the Mathilda. The teas both had a light flavor and didn’t need any sugar whatsoever.

I’m unsure if it was the ambiance of this fantastic establishment, or the quality ingredients, but this was some of the best tea I have ever tasted. For some reason Scarlett really wanted an order of french fries, so we got those as well.

Laduree isn’t cheap. For five macarons, two orders of tea, and french fries, it cost a little more than 30 Euros. It was well worth it!

After our afternoon tea, we still had a little bit of time left before our taxi would arrive at the hotel to take us to the airport, so we decided to walk around the Seine and visit the Eiffel Tower one more time. I have no complaints for our first trip to Paris, and we are looking forward to a future visit in this beautiful city!

 

Christmas in Paris: A Dream Come True (Part 2: The Louvre)

Our visit to Paris, though short, was magical. There were several places we wanted to visit, and were determined to make this a reality. Three nights and four days? No problem!

The Louvre Museum

Since the Louvre would be closed on Christmas day as well as the day after, we knew that we would have to go on Christmas Eve.  We didn’t have to wait long to get inside, and there was no line at all to get tickets. Children get in free, so I only had to purchase one ticket!

The Louvre originally opened on August 10, 1793 and at the time only housed 537 paintings. The Louvre Museum is now said to be the largest art museum in the world and has approximately 38,000 exhibits. It is said that even if someone were to go to the Louvre for 100 days straight, and only look at each exhibit for 30 seconds, that you still wouldn’t be able to see everything that this incredible place has to offer.  Knowing this, I made a plan.

Our Map and Plan

After we got our tickets, I looked at the map, and we made a B-line to the The Mona Lisa exhibit. This is easily one of the most famous paintings in the world, and I knew I wanted to see the original and relish in the work. There was a guard at the foot of the steps and we weren’t allowed to go up. We were told that they were taking extra precautions because of an “unattended bag.” (I am learning very quickly that the United States isn’t the only country to take extra security precautions.)

At first, I was a bit disheartened, but we tried to find another way around. The entry way eventually opened up, and we were able to find The Mona Lisa. There was a crowd of people, but I took Scarlett’s hand and we gently maneuvered ourselves around the side and up to the front. I wasn’t going to leave without getting a decent photo.

 

 

I have to say that The Mona Lisa has never been one of my favorite paintings. However, there is something surreal and magical about seeing such a notorious work of art up close. The original is actually much more beautiful than any of the reprints I have seen, as they don’t do the painting justice.

My heart did that fluttering thing it always does whenever I see something majestic, or meet someone interesting. I couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that Leonardo da Vinci painted this with his own two hands! It was the same feeling I got when I was 20 years old and shook former President Bill Clinton’s hand. At first, I just wanted to meet him because he was the president; I wasn’t expecting to feel anything but a normal nice to meet you feeling. When it hit me that I was shaking the most powerful man in America’s hand, my stomach got butterflies. But, I digress. I relished in the fact that we had a wonderful view of The Mona Lisa and then I moved to the side in order to give others a better view. I now have another thing to check off of my bucket list. 🙂

This place is massive!

After perusing more exhibits, we realized that we couldn’t find our map, and were lost in a labyrinth of Greek sculptures. My bladder was not happy, and when we finally found one of the exhibit employees, he didn’t seem to find my dry American humor about being lost in a labyrinth of Greek artwork humorous. Oh well. I’m not here to make him laugh. Seriously though, at one point I thought we were going to run into David Bowie’s ghost and he was going to show us our dreams.

One of my favorite sculptures of Hercules

 

 

This statue of the Sphinxes reminded us of The Neverending Story (I’m not quite sure why the Greek exhibits kept reminding us of 80’s fantasy movies)

After we found our way to the restroom, we looked around a bit more. After three and a half hours, we were exhausted, and we still didn’t make a dent! On our next visit, we will check out a different area that we didn’t get to. In the meantime, here are a few more photos for your enjoyment.

 

To skip the line or not

If you ever get the chance to visit the Louvre in the winter, the skip the line pass will most likely be unnecessary. I did some research, and several people said that the lines aren’t that long in the winter, so I opted to save the extra money. Don’t get me wrong, the museum was crowded, but from what I understand, not nearly as crowded as it can be. I imagine that if you choose to visit Paris and the Louvre in the spring or summer, the skip the line tickets would be a good investment. Either way, you should try to get there at least once in your life.