Paris

Paris:

Andy and I were very excited to go to Paris. I mean who isn’t excited to go to the most romantic city in the world? We stayed in a quaint hotel in Madeline. Everything I saw was out of a picture book from the bars to the champagne cellars. To my delight they had champagne everywhere. The first night Andy and I had to go try to see the Eiffel Tower. After walking aimlessly for an hour there it appeared. Better then we both even thought it would be. It was dark so it was lite up from every angle. Andy and I both were speechless for a good minute. I couldn’t believe we were finally here, standing in sight of THE Eiffel Tower. It was an incredible feeling knowing that I got to see such a famous sight at 24. I felt very blessed J We weren’t able to walk to it that night because I was in some pain and we were both hungry.

We proceeded to a tiny little restaurant that was very French. All the tables were very close together which is something I had to get close to.  Andy knows I love my space. The food wasn’t that great and I was definitely thinking, is this it? Is this what I will experience the whole trip? Since there are so many Americans/English speaking people that visit Paris most everyone speaks English. It is a good thing since Andy and I don’t speak a lick of French. It really is the most beautiful language there is. I loved just listening to people talk, I might have no clue what they are talking about but it can be so fascinating.

The next day we knew we wanted to go see the Eiffel Tower up close. We ventured that way only to see that the line to go up it was about 3 hours long. We really didn’t want to waste all of our time standing in line so we decided no to do it. We did get some beautiful pictures in front of it though. We went to breakfast and were on our way. Breakfast in Europe is nothing like breakfast in the U.S. They have croissants, crepes and more croissants. They definitely eat a lot of bread. They stay so skinny because they walk everywhere J

Then we decided to just explore Paris. We went to about 5,000 cafes while we were there. What? We had to see how different they all were. Of course we had a drink at all of them. One of my favorite places was a champagne cellar. I have a picture from this! It was so classy and the colors were pink and black which I love. The bartender was extremely funny and nice. This reminds me. I was told my whole life that Parisians were mean and hated Americans. We did not experience this in the slightest. We came to the conclusion that it is a generation thing. All of the younger people have nothing against us nor the other way, so it’s all love and no war J

We went to the Louvre on the last day of our journey. We had to go to the Louvre. That is something we also hear about all the time. All I have to say about the Louvre is it is HUGE. Andy and I only saw 1/3 of everything because it was so tiring. I couldn’t walk that far with all my pain so we had to leave. All of the Christian paintings made me emotional. They were painted with such detail you could almost feel the pain that was felt. My most favorite was the mummy exhibit. I couldn’t believe that it was an actual MUMMY. Oh it just perplexes me so much. Andy had to pull me away because I kept looking at it.

One of the nights we went to the Eiffel Tower because it lights up at night. I’d have to say it was definitely the most romantic experience Andy and I have shared to this date. We bought a bottle of champagne off of these men that were illegally selling them. Supposedly there is no drinking there. We are sitting there enjoying the sight and police rush our area and run after these men. The men dropped their stuff and ran.  We left awhile after that and ran into some men from Peru. They were studying in Paris and some other countries. Very nice men, so we chatted with them for a bit. That is one of my favorite things about traveling. All of the random people you run into and learn about. I have learned about so many cultures and I am only 24. God has blessed me so much!

One night we ate at an amazing seafood restaurant. Of course Andy found this online so we had to go to it. Andy is amazing when it comes to traveling. He always does so much research to insure that we have a great time. He has never steered us wrong. This place was interesting because it wasn’t in the nicest of neighborhoods. I was a little reluctant thinking, really this is where it is? Foolish of me I know. The menu was on a whiteboard in French of course so the waiter had to read it to us. It is always interesting to me when a native speaker of another language is speaking fluent in another. In this case our waiter was Korean and was speaking fluent French.  Yes, I felt dumb. I had an oyster episode here. Andy always makes me try things. I usually am all up for it but I know that oysters don’t sound good to me. I don’t want to have put something in my mouth and immediately swallow it. EWW. Well I tried it because Andy was forcing me to do it and it didn’t end well. I immediately wanted to spit it out but couldn’t in this nice restaurant. The waiter was standing next to us and could see something wasn’t right. He asked if everything was okay. My face was pale and I just got out of my seat to try and find the restroom. Of course I couldn’t and this woman had to help me. SO embarrassing. Anyway our meal was excellent that night but that was not the last of events that happened. One of the woman waiters tripped right into the bucket that cools the alcohol. The bucket goes all over the table of Japanese men in their suits. She was beyond upset and didn’t show her face for about 20 minutes. I felt terrible. Another incident that happened was 2 separate women at different tables proceeded to wave their hands when they needed something. I couldn’t help but stare because this behavior is NOT okay in the states. I could not believe that they thought this was acceptable behavior. Andy and I liked it when one of the waiters saw them and looked the other way. No one should ever be treated like that. Lastly we were on our way out when Andy saw this recipe book that he had seen before. It was on a frail little stand so when he went to put it back it felt and bumped into 2 bottles of wine and they went crashing to the floor. I have never seen Andy’s face like that in 4.5 years of knowing him. I felt so bad because I didn’t want him to feel that way and then I felt bad for the restaurant for having to pick it up.