Belle Paris

I went to Paris for Easter weekend. When I woke up on the morning of my flight, things did not look promising. I was sick as a dog. My head, was throbbing, my nose was running, and I was aching all over. Needless to say, I was miserable throughout the entire flight ordeal. I was lucky enough to be seated next to an extraordinarily kind russian woman on the flight from Munich to Paris. She got me tea with lemon and lent me some sinus spray. I haven't seen my own mother in four months now, so it meant the world to me to have just a little bit of mothering from this complete stranger. The tea helped me get through the flight, but I could barely stand by the time we got to our hostel. I felt no better the next morning, so I sent my friends off to Eurodisney (which luckily I had felt no desire to see) and spent the day resting.

Friday morning I finally felt strong enough to leave the Hotel, so we went to Versailles. I'd been before. In the off season. Nothing could have prepared me for the crowds waiting for us there. I did learn that because I go to school in the EU, I can get into museums for free in Paris. Yay!! Sadly i find the interior of Versailles ugly, but here's a shot of the gold gate.

The day after Versailles, we wandered around in the Louvre and through the Tuillerie gardens. We eventually stopped walking for a  pick me up drink in some little bar on a street of the Champs Elysees. After writing some very odd postcards and getting in a less "I'm tired and dusty and my feet hurt" kind of mood, we left the bar and decided to think about dinner. Right then I notice a little place across the street called Le Taverne Suisse, with the word Fondue under it. I pulled my friends over for a closer look, and in spite of the empty look of the place, we decide to go in. It was the most wonderfully decadent meal of my life. The wine was good, the food was uniformly exquisite, and the owner was the sweetest little old man in the world. We capped off an excellent Parisian day by walking up to the Arc de Triomphe and taking in the sights and sounds of Paris at night, and I remembered why I loved this city so much when I came here back in high school.

Le Louvre

Rose and olives at the Taverne Suisse

Champs Elysees

Arc de Triomphe

My last day in Paris was spent strolling around Notre Dame eating crepes, visiting the Eiffel Tower only to learn the top was closed, and riding along on a hop-on/hop-off bus taking in the sights. We then got hopelessly lost trying to get back to the village our hostel was in after the one train that would take us there closed. (what's a vacation without a few mishaps?)

garden behind Notre Dame

Love locks

I adore Paris. It's beautiful and lively and contrary to popular myth, the Parisians are always very kind to me. Of all the cities I've been in, it's the only one I could imagine living in