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| Sitting in the outside "courtyard" of the Louvre |
Just when I thought my Year of 50 festivities had come
to an end, up popped another trip.
My friend Kerstin and I had talked about someday going
to Paris. Someday got a little more specific
with both of our 50th birthdays approaching (she’s also an October
baby) and we contemplated going in 2018.
At first, I thought I could still swing it, even after
my castle adventure with Tammy in July. But after
paying my Visa bills from all my trips I decided that it would be too
expensive. I encouraged Kerstin to still
go, and she found two friends from Germany (where she’s originally from) to
meet her there.
In late October Kerstin mentioned that she had been
tracking flights and bought a ticket for around $600 and was going in early
December. The wheels began to turn in my
head. $600?! I’ve paid over $500 to fly to Connecticut when
traveling to The Hole In The Wall Gang Camp!
She gave me her flight numbers. I called Delta and talked to the nicest
woman, who helped me get on the same flights for $660. She asked the reason for my trip and I told
her about both of us turning 50. Then I
asked about exit rows and told her my height. She fixed us up with FREE exit row seats on
the way back (none were available on the way there). In a matter of an hour, I had booked a trip
to Paris!
A friend of mine had visited Paris in spring of 2018 with
her family and had recommended their Airbnb. I got the information from her and
booked it. It was located near Parc des
Buttes-Chaumont, a few miles northeast of the city centre. It was a great location – metro and bus
stations were down the street. I loved
checking out the park. We could even see
the Eiffel Tower from a distance at night.
Here are some of the trip highlights:
Legroom
The legroom in the standard seating area wasn’t
bad. After they closed the doors, one of
the flight attendants offered us two seats together in an exit row. Hallelujah!
Notre Dame
Notre Dame was first on our list and was
incredible. I’ve been in my fair share
of cathedrals, but this one ranks high up there, along with St. Peter’s
Basilica. So massive, and yet so
beautiful, with the rose windows and ornate decor. You can’t aptly describe it to others – you must
experience it for yourself. Watching it
burn on TV this past April made it that much more personal. I’m thankful that it was not a total
loss.
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| View of the back of Notre Dame and the Seine |
Deportation Martyrs Memorial
This memorial was listed in my Rick Steves Pocket
Paris book. Located underground behind
Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite, it is a memorial to the 200,000 individuals
deported from France to the Nazi concentration camps during World War II. I likened it to 9/11 Memorial. Very somber, but also beautiful in
places. I highly recommend.
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| Inside the memorial. Each light represents one of the 200,000 people deported. |
Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees
One of the most iconic structures in Paris next to the
Eiffel Tower, I think I took a photo of the arc at every angle. The day was rainy, but still enjoyable. We stopped in several shops along the Champs
Elysees (and a café, of course) to get out of the rain. The sun did eventually make an appearance and
made the sidewalks and street glisten.
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| I kept stepping out into the street to get a good view of the Arc. |
Eiffel Tower
We chose to go up into the Eiffel Tower at night to
experience all of the lights. Being that
it was December, the lines were relatively short, but we did stand in the cold
for a bit about halfway up. I would
rather brave the cold than stand in line for hours in the heat of the summer. What an amazing piece of architecture! And what views! The tower lights up in the evenings every
hour for five minutes. We timed it
perfectly and were back on the ground to catch the bedazzling show.
Louvre
I’ve heard how massive the Louvre is and they aren’t
joking. Again, we followed (mostly) Rick
Steves’ advice and hit the hot spots.
You could spend days in there!
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| Mona Lisa |
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| Venus de Milo |
·
Ponte Des Art – Love Lock Bridge
(from Sex and the City). I
love Sex and the City and had a short list of places featured in the last two
episodes of the last season. As we
walked around the city, none were quite close enough for me to say to the non
SATC fans, “Hey! Let’s go over there and
see the fountain where Carrie washed dog doo off her shoe.” I WILL return to Paris again, and I will
definitely see those places. The closest
I got to any of them was while inside the Louvre. I looked out a window and saw the bridge
where Big told Carrie, “…you’re the one.”
(Sigh) That was close enough. This time.
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| My view of the Ponte Des Art bridge |
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| Big and Carrie on the bridge |
Versailles
It’s
worth a day trip to see the Palace
of Versailles, the former French royal residence. Wow.
Beautiful grounds. Extraordinary
buildings and décor. So much
history. It’s interesting – Versailles
was created to be a “country home” away from the big city. Then they had to create a farm on the
property to get away from the country home.
The Queen’s Hamlet and the immense gardens and fountains were my
favorite part.
Montmartre/Sacre
Coeur
Montmartre is an artistic part of town that sits on a
hill north of Paris’ city centre. Our
first stop was to tour the Sacre Coeur (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of
Paris) and go up into the tower for a spectacular view. After our tour we grabbed a crepe at the
market at Square Louise-Michel and sat on a bench people-watching and basking
in the warmth of the sun before wandering through the narrow, cobblestone
streets.
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| Sacre Coeur |
We meandered down Boulevard de Clichy to see the famed
Moulin Rouge. We didn’t catch a show but
was fun to see the building.
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| Moulin Rouge |
From there we came across Montmartre Cemetery, which
was fascinating and reminded me of cemeteries in New Orleans. Everything is above ground. It looked like a neighborhood complete with
“house” numbers. Really
interesting. One grave stood out and I
learned about the Italian actress and singer, Dalida.
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| Montmartre Cemetery |
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| Stunning memorial to Dalida |
Rodin
The Rodin museum is miniscule compared to the
Louvre. The original sculptures are
housed inside, while larger replicas are outside in the lovely garden.
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| The original Thinker |
Food!
While in Paris, we had to have crepes. I had several variations – sweet and
savory. I had a wonderful Nutella crepe
in a café along the Champs-Elysees. One
night we had fondue (us non-vegetarians had meat and potatoes along with
bread). I had a great pasta dish at Tribeca
on Rue Cler. My mission was to have
boeuf bourguignon in Paris and I was successful. We even found a great Chinese restaurant
near our apartment. We ate breakfast each
morning at the apartment – what a spread!
Wonderful breads, fruit, jam, yogurt and avocados.
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| Crepes! |
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| We stopped at a cafe for some sweet treats and a hot chocolate |
One of the best parts of traveling is finding things
that are not on the list. The Christmas
market at Jardin des Tuileries was our best find of the trip. We loved it so much we went twice. The market was a feast for the eyes and the
stomach. Photos cannot do it
justice. As we walked through the
market, we made mental notes of what we wanted to come back and eat. Not enough euros and not enough room in the belly. Brats, vats of potatoes and cheese, frites, hot
pasta that they would ladle onto a wheel of cheese on its side to soak up the
cheesy goodness, chocolate, pastries, nuts.
Along with the food, there were carnival rides and gifts, and some
drinks as well, but I saved my money for the food (and a hat), opting for an
enormous serving of cheesy potatoes with ham and onions, and cut up
sausages. We returned the night before
we flew home but that night was very cold so we didn’t stay as long.
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| Ferris wheel at the Christmas Market |
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| Croustillons are like large donut holes with sugar |
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| So much chocolate! |
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| Cheesy potatoes with a brat |
Airbnb
As I mentioned before the Airbnb was a great
find. The size suited us, with one
bedroom and one pull-out sofa in the living area. Kerstin’s two friends (another Kerstin and
Natalie) stayed for the weekend so we had our own rooms for the rest of the
stay. There were a couple of funny
occurrences. One night as we played cards,
we started hearing noises. We stopped to
listen, and realized people were having sex in another apartment. We heard it one other night as well. Thin walls!
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| View from apartment |
Parc des Buttes Chaumont
This public park was a few blocks from our apartment. At 61 acres, it provided a great morning workout, with winding paths and hills. I walked two mornings and came across a couple of groups - one was older people doing Tai Chi, another was Asian women doing some kind of line dance (that's the only way I can describe it.) I wanted to join in both, but just observed as I walked by.
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| One of the many paths in the Parc de Buttes Chaumont |
Friends
I’ve known Kerstin for almost 20 years. What fun it was to meet two of her lifelong
friends. They spoke English very well
and we had lots of laughs during the weekend they were with us. One evening back at the apartment we played
Spot It, which is a matching card game.
After several rounds I decided to learn a new German word for each
subsequent round. (When you lay down a
card that has a matching photo, you say the name of that item – pencil, car,
etc.). I learned baby bottle
(babyflasche), lightning (blitz), car (auto), apple (apfel) and lips (lippen).
Another time, as we walked through a train tunnel,
they were all talking in German and Natalie turned to me and said something to
me in German. I smiled and nodded. Then she burst out laughing, realizing what she'd done. Apparently she was comfortable with me pretty
quickly.
As I look back on my Year of 50, it feels a bit
extravagant. Thankfully I had the
vacation days and the means to make these trips happen. Most importantly, I was able to share these
experiences with my current (and new) friends. That is the
greatest blessing. Here's to the next 50!
