Ah, Paris...who doesn't love Paris? I woke up Monday morning and decided to be adventurous and go for a run along the Seine. Shanta and Marc had to work all week so I had plenty of time to explore the city. By the time I stepped out, the cobblestone streets were bustling with people rushing to work. The air was cold and damp and the sky was gloomy, but the city still looked beautiful. I started my jog and ran past the jardins de Tuillerie, Palais Royal, and the Eiffel Tower. I couldn't really complain about the scenery of my route. ;)
Here is a shot of my jogging path (aka Seine)
To the left is the Palais Royal and the famous Diamond Pyramid from "The Davinci Code". Okay, I feel like a total scum for saying this, but I didn't even know that the diamond pyramid existed until I saw that movie. What? Movies can teach you a lot, ya know ;) From there courtyard, I wandered down the wide path to the jardin. I was immediately stopped by a girl who was holding a sign that read "Do you speak English?" I thought to myself "Why...yes, I do!" (Okay, you have to understand that at this point, I was craving for something I could finally understand) 
She gave me a piece of cardboard to read. Turns out that the girl was begging for money to feed her family. I quickly found out that this is how many of the people beg. I have to admit, I give them props for their cleverness at targeting clueless tourists. I quickly gave her a few euros and moved on before the other lady with the same cardboard could come up to me. I was taught my first lesson: Don't get suckered into people holding signs that read English. A few days later I was in the Latin district and learned my second lesson. I was walking down the streets, admiring all the shops and a lady was handing out free newsletters. So I grabbed one when I was passing. She turned around and started yelling at me in French saying that I had to pay 20 cents for it. *oops* So I gave her 20 cents and then she asked for MORE MONEY. She started gesturing how she needed to feed her baby and how her family was poor, etc. At this point I was thinking "Dammit! Why did I take the freakin' paper?! I can't even read French!" So I panicked, gave her 20 more cents, shoved the cursed newsletter back at her, apologized and ran outta there. Lesson 2: Beggars also take free newspapers and try to sell them.
Anyway, I digress. I reached the middle of the jardin and saw the Arc de Triomphe. I got super excited and started snapping away. I remember Shanta commenting about how the view from the top was spectacular. I looked up and thought "wow, it's kind of smaller than I thought and there is no way of getting up there! People would get stabbed by the statues at the top"...Well, I later found out that the REAL Arc de Triomphe was about a mile away. This was just a mini one. OOPS. So I got excited for no reason...not to mention I felt incredibly dumb since I've actually learned about this in art history and couldn't even distinguish the difference, but that's a different story. Below are some photos of the jardin:
From here, I went straight and ended up on Champs Elysees. It was not at all what I pictured. It felt like NY only prettier and cleaner. There were a ton of designer stores and posh restaurants and cafes. I had pictured small cobblestone pathways, antique shops and boutiques.
When I reached the end of the street, I saw this:
TA DA! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's the Arc de Triomph in it's full glory. I got all excited again and made my way over.
Do you remember what I said about the stairs in this city? These are the stairs to the top of the arc. They were evil. When I finally reached the top I was practically ready to pass out. As I was huffing and puffing, I spotted a sign for "ELEVATOR". WTH?! They need to make these signs more prominent! But to be fair, the stairs made a great photo! :)
Afterwards, I called it a day and headed back. The next day I visited the Rodin Museum, Picasso Museum, and Notre Dame.
Above is the Rodin Museum
Notre Dame - Definitely a masterpiece!
My next trip was to Versailles. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't really cooperating. It started snowing lightly when I got off the train. *brrrr!* The palace was amazing. Every room, every wall was saturated in portraits, sculptures, gold, ornate wallpaper, carvings, and tapestries. I found out that Marie Antoinette's estate was about a mile walk. I braced myself for the cold, sharp air and walked through her gardens to see her home. Most of the foliage in the gardens were dead but I can imagine that it must be breathtaking when everything is in bloom. Just another reason to come back ;)
Later that day I visited Sacre Coeur. I rode the metro and wandered the windy streets with my trusty map. It definitely had a different feel from the rest of Paris I visited. There were street markets everywhere. The buildings were more run down, which gave the neighborhood some character.
Isn't it beautiful???
Above is the modern art museum: Centre Pompidou. I loved the collection they had at this museum. Here are a few for you to enjoy!
I was glad I brought a good pair of walking shoes with me and I'm sure my feet are thankful. :) Did you notice that I have not mentioned any SHOPPING yet? Here you thought I was being good. HAHA! I withheld all my shopping urges and saved it for the day before I was leaving. (Plus, I wanted to share my shopping experience with Shanta ;) ......... ok... secretly, I have to admit, I was really intimidated to go into a store by myself :P Yes, I was chicken and needed some suport) One time I walked into a flower shop and asked the guy working there in french if he spoke English and he replied "No." and proceded to ignore me until I left. Soo yeah, not the greatest experience but most of the people there are really friendly and if they see that you're at least trying, they'll be kind. So Saturday rolled by and Shanta took me to a well known tea shop to have brunch.
Shanta with her berry tart. Yum!
Enjoying our tea and tarts. =)
She gave me a piece of cardboard to read. Turns out that the girl was begging for money to feed her family. I quickly found out that this is how many of the people beg. I have to admit, I give them props for their cleverness at targeting clueless tourists. I quickly gave her a few euros and moved on before the other lady with the same cardboard could come up to me. I was taught my first lesson: Don't get suckered into people holding signs that read English. A few days later I was in the Latin district and learned my second lesson. I was walking down the streets, admiring all the shops and a lady was handing out free newsletters. So I grabbed one when I was passing. She turned around and started yelling at me in French saying that I had to pay 20 cents for it. *oops* So I gave her 20 cents and then she asked for MORE MONEY. She started gesturing how she needed to feed her baby and how her family was poor, etc. At this point I was thinking "Dammit! Why did I take the freakin' paper?! I can't even read French!" So I panicked, gave her 20 more cents, shoved the cursed newsletter back at her, apologized and ran outta there. Lesson 2: Beggars also take free newspapers and try to sell them.
Anyway, I digress. I reached the middle of the jardin and saw the Arc de Triomphe. I got super excited and started snapping away. I remember Shanta commenting about how the view from the top was spectacular. I looked up and thought "wow, it's kind of smaller than I thought and there is no way of getting up there! People would get stabbed by the statues at the top"...Well, I later found out that the REAL Arc de Triomphe was about a mile away. This was just a mini one. OOPS. So I got excited for no reason...not to mention I felt incredibly dumb since I've actually learned about this in art history and couldn't even distinguish the difference, but that's a different story. Below are some photos of the jardin:
When I reached the end of the street, I saw this:
TA DA! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's the Arc de Triomph in it's full glory. I got all excited again and made my way over.
Do you remember what I said about the stairs in this city? These are the stairs to the top of the arc. They were evil. When I finally reached the top I was practically ready to pass out. As I was huffing and puffing, I spotted a sign for "ELEVATOR". WTH?! They need to make these signs more prominent! But to be fair, the stairs made a great photo! :)
Afterwards, I called it a day and headed back. The next day I visited the Rodin Museum, Picasso Museum, and Notre Dame.
Above is the Rodin Museum
Notre Dame - Definitely a masterpiece!Later that night Shanta took me to have dinner with her co-workers. It was so much fun. We ate, wined, and dined. Before we knew it, it was already 2 am. One of Shanta's coworkers was a wine expert and ordered enough wine to buy out a vineyard. It was great. :D
My next trip was to Versailles. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't really cooperating. It started snowing lightly when I got off the train. *brrrr!* The palace was amazing. Every room, every wall was saturated in portraits, sculptures, gold, ornate wallpaper, carvings, and tapestries. I found out that Marie Antoinette's estate was about a mile walk. I braced myself for the cold, sharp air and walked through her gardens to see her home. Most of the foliage in the gardens were dead but I can imagine that it must be breathtaking when everything is in bloom. Just another reason to come back ;)
Later that day I visited Sacre Coeur. I rode the metro and wandered the windy streets with my trusty map. It definitely had a different feel from the rest of Paris I visited. There were street markets everywhere. The buildings were more run down, which gave the neighborhood some character.
I finally found my way to the Sacre Coeur was stopped by this:
Gaah! More stairs!
Gaah! More stairs!
Isn't it beautiful???
Above is the modern art museum: Centre Pompidou. I loved the collection they had at this museum. Here are a few for you to enjoy!
The last day I was there I FINALLY got my picture of the Eiffel Tower.
I also visted my favorite museum, the Musée d'Orsay. It used to be a train station and they turned it into a museum. Most of the artwork includes impressionism, art nouveau, romantism, classism, neo-classism, etc.
I was glad I brought a good pair of walking shoes with me and I'm sure my feet are thankful. :) Did you notice that I have not mentioned any SHOPPING yet? Here you thought I was being good. HAHA! I withheld all my shopping urges and saved it for the day before I was leaving. (Plus, I wanted to share my shopping experience with Shanta ;) ......... ok... secretly, I have to admit, I was really intimidated to go into a store by myself :P Yes, I was chicken and needed some suport) One time I walked into a flower shop and asked the guy working there in french if he spoke English and he replied "No." and proceded to ignore me until I left. Soo yeah, not the greatest experience but most of the people there are really friendly and if they see that you're at least trying, they'll be kind. So Saturday rolled by and Shanta took me to a well known tea shop to have brunch.
Shanta with her berry tart. Yum!
Enjoying our tea and tarts. =)We spent the rest of the rainy afternoon running from one store to another. I fell in love with Zara and KooKai. :) We also went to La Maison du Chocolat and got "real" hot chocolate. You know what I'm talking about, not that watery crap that we have here. Have you ever watched how hot chocolate made in the movie, "Chocolat"? Yea, it's that stuff. The GOOD stuff. Oh geez, I'm drooling... Again, another reason to return to Paris!
My last night there, Shanta and Marc took me to a famous restaurant that looks over the train station. It's called "Le Train Bleu". The restaurant looked like they took a room from the Palace of Versailles. It was covered in beautiful wallpaper, gold gildings, and paintings. They were so nice that they even gave me thier menu! (I have no idea what I'm going to do with a giant 2 foot menu, but still) It was my last French meal in Paris and I wanted to make it really good. I recall the last time I was in Napa I tried the tar taras an apetizer... yeah, you heard that right. I ate raw ground beef. It was mixed with all these spices and served on peices of toast. This was my only experience with tar tar. So, I thought to myself, since I'm in Paris, this would be the best place to order it. I decided to share this with Shanta and Marc and I could see both of their eyebrows rise. They both thought I was insane, but I kept insisting that it was really good. As we waited for our food I kept dreaming of little slices of buttered toast with a dallop of meat. I waited with anticipation. As our food came, I got this:
Dude...WHERE ARE MY LITTLE PIECES OF TOAST?! :*( I blinked and stared. I think they slaughtered a whole cow and served it to me. (oh yeah, in the upper left corner you can see they served fries on a silver plater! hehehe...) This was not what I was expecting. It was just a huge pile of raw meat, like what you would have if you made burgers. I was horrifie. To make matters worse, it's pretty rude not to finish a meal in a restaurant. What was I to do?! I did what any polite person would do:
I ate it!
Okay...I only was able to eat about 1/8 of it.
Mmm...Yummy...
Marc enjoying his fish
Shanta making her crawfish say "hello!"
This concludes my trip to Paris. I was on a plane the next morning to return to sunny California. My last night there was definately unforgettable. ;) Thank you Shanta and Marc for taking such good care of me! I love you guys both! Au revoir!
My last night there, Shanta and Marc took me to a famous restaurant that looks over the train station. It's called "Le Train Bleu". The restaurant looked like they took a room from the Palace of Versailles. It was covered in beautiful wallpaper, gold gildings, and paintings. They were so nice that they even gave me thier menu! (I have no idea what I'm going to do with a giant 2 foot menu, but still) It was my last French meal in Paris and I wanted to make it really good. I recall the last time I was in Napa I tried the tar taras an apetizer... yeah, you heard that right. I ate raw ground beef. It was mixed with all these spices and served on peices of toast. This was my only experience with tar tar. So, I thought to myself, since I'm in Paris, this would be the best place to order it. I decided to share this with Shanta and Marc and I could see both of their eyebrows rise. They both thought I was insane, but I kept insisting that it was really good. As we waited for our food I kept dreaming of little slices of buttered toast with a dallop of meat. I waited with anticipation. As our food came, I got this:
Dude...WHERE ARE MY LITTLE PIECES OF TOAST?! :*( I blinked and stared. I think they slaughtered a whole cow and served it to me. (oh yeah, in the upper left corner you can see they served fries on a silver plater! hehehe...) This was not what I was expecting. It was just a huge pile of raw meat, like what you would have if you made burgers. I was horrifie. To make matters worse, it's pretty rude not to finish a meal in a restaurant. What was I to do?! I did what any polite person would do:
I ate it!
Okay...I only was able to eat about 1/8 of it.
Mmm...Yummy...
Marc enjoying his fish
Shanta making her crawfish say "hello!"
This concludes my trip to Paris. I was on a plane the next morning to return to sunny California. My last night there was definately unforgettable. ;) Thank you Shanta and Marc for taking such good care of me! I love you guys both! Au revoir!
