Next stop, Paris!

I met my parents at the airport in Paris to start the next leg of my travels. After a bit of a tour of the airport, we eventually got in a vehicle that would take us to our hotel. Let’s just say it wasn’t part of the original plan!

The hotel was beautiful – Hotel Vernet – right near the Arc de Triomphe. This was their first time in Paris so I wanted to make sure we got to see as much as possible. Which I think we did a good job of! Lots and lots of walking – up hills, down stairs, up spiral stairs, down elevators. But overall, we had a lot of fun exploring one of my favorite cities. We even got in for the last opening hours of the Musee d’Orsay. One of my favorite places! And for those that have never traveled with my mother, let’s just say we saw the inside of a lot of shops and stores!

The Louvre took up a good part of one of the days. We saw the Mona Lisa and Venus of course and wandered around taking it all in. The stops for crepes and wine were very much welcomed with each passing day! And who wouldn’t take a break for this???! 

We did so well on the planning, Versailles even made it to the list. After a few trains and a metro croissant and caffé, we were on our way! I’ve seen it before, but it still amazes me. We did something different there – we walked!

Oh, and I might have made them wait one night till midnight just to see the Eiffel Tower light up and sparkle. It’s just too pretty to pass up.

The food in Paris was amazing. We had a lot of great recommendations from Glenn, Shaya and the hotel. Each and every one was fantastic!  I had what I think was the best hamburger I’ve ever eaten at Chez Andre and you can’t go wrong with tagliatelle with season truffles in a truffle cream sauce at Maison de la Truffe. And who can forget the steak frites at Le Fontaine de Mars – even President Obama ate there! We’re pretty important like that. :)

This was the first time I’ve been there without someone that can speak French, but we did pretty well. We even got about 75% of the way through a menu at the last restaurant we ate at (Le Congre) before cheating a bit with the English version. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t ordering anything gross!! :)

We had a great time in Paris and headed out very early the day of the Paris marathon. I would have liked to see some of the race, but Rome was calling our name. Sometimes, you just have to make certain sacrifices…..