Our trip to Paris was an almost-impulsive add-on. My husband hasn’t been to Europe {not counting a layover in Germany on his way to a deployment}, so I felt it was the quintessential must-see, and since we were there, what better opportunity? That and, well, I just love Paris. I love the architecture, the art, the culture, the food – oh, lord, the food – the romance, the history, the stories…I could go on forever. There’s just so much to love about Paris!
I could have spent a month there, but we were on a time crunch. We took the Eurail from Barcelona to Paris on Friday right after the Reputation Institute’s conference ended, but then Scott and I had to leave Monday to meet our movers back at the house. What were we going to do with only two days in Paris? We did some planning on the train – but got distracted by the beautiful views zooming past us, too.
We’d reserved Sunday for Disneyland Paris because, well, we’re Disney people. It was also something familiar that I built in to get my less-traveled husband more comfortable with being immersed in two countries where he didn’t speak the language or know the routine. However, I wanted to get him as hooked on Paris as I am, so I pretty much designed the tasting sampler of Paris for our Saturday.
We started off by meeting up with one of my best friends for coffee and pain du chocolat just so we could chit chat and she could give us a lay of the land. Lisa is on her way to getting her PhD in language, literature, and Biblical studies, so she spends a lot of time wandering around the grand old places of Europe. We’ve known each other since we were five and have managed to keep in touch over the years despite being oftentimes on other sides of the planet!
She walked us around and showed us some of the sites, but one of the places we had to stop was the Pont de l’Archeveche across from Notre Dame, one of the famous bridges where folks have been coming to place their locks lately. No one really has a clue how the trend started or what it all means – a lot of the locals turn up their noses at it and the idea that something like a lock should symbolize love, but clearly a lot of folks believe in it since the bridge is covered in locks.
Being typical tourists and somewhat hopeless romantics, Scott and I put our lock on the bridge {that’s what we’re doing in the photo at the top of this post}, tossed our keys in to the Seine, and felt sappy and happy in the process. Karen captured the moment and made us this little collage. Just in case I haven’t said it enough, I love my sister – she is the sweetest person you could ever hope to meet!
The next stop was the Louvre! We couldn’t come to Paris and not see the Louvre, and I so wish we had more time there! We could have spent days just walking around the Louvre. As it was, we spent a goodly amount of time walking in and around the Louvre!
One of the things I love most about the Louvre isn’t the art that it contains, but the art that it is. The place is an amazing piece of architecture. It still contains rooms and effects from famous French royalty and aristocrats, and gives you a view of how the haves lived in a time where the haves and have-nots were hugely separated. Honestly, you look at the richness of old French aristocracy, and you understand the revolution. “Let them eat cake” takes on a whole new nuance. Eh, let me get off my lecture podium! On with the tour!
The original Palais du Louvre began as a fortress in the 12th century and was enlarged many times as various rulers moved in and decided they needed more space, until Louis XIV decided to up and move his entourage to Versailles in the 1680s. He kept the Louvre, though, to display the royal collection of art and sculpture, and it remained a place of art and sculpture through its occupation by the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, the nation’s most prestigious art colleges, a decision by the national assembly during the Revolution to use it as a museum, and a brief renaming as the Musee Napoleon. It was refurbished several times and enlarged still further. The glass pyramid, la Pyramide Inversee, wasn’t added until the 1990s.
And while the art and architecture described in The Da Vinci Code are there, we didn’t look for any of the clues. I have to give Dan Brown props for his research, though. I had a copy of his book Angels & Demons when I went to Rome and I actually found all of the sculptures he references, and they are pretty much where he says they are. Same here, just…slightly adjusted for the purpose of fiction. Artistic license. Anyway…
And for those of you who are wondering, we didn’t just stop to take a picture of Mona. We spent a goodly amount of time traversing the whole of the Italian Renaissance art collection, which spans throughout an entire wing. I just figured that if I was going to bring my husband here on his first trip, we needed to at least pop our heads in and say hi. We also passed through the lower level’s collection of Egyptian antiquities – it’s amazing how much history one place can store! There were pieces in there dating back to 4,400 BC!
Here’s Mona. I’m always kind of struck by how small the painting is. I don’t know why, but I always expect her to be bigger. But there’s just something about her, about the way she’s looking out at you, that grabs you and makes you want to look back.
Suffice to say, we could have spent days in there looking through the wonderful works, taking pictures, sketching, absorbing. We spent about three hours in there and only barely scratched the surface! I think it’s safe to say we’ll definitely be coming back to the Louvre!
We speedwalked out of there so that we could catch our lunchtime cruise on the Seine. Sabrina booked that for all of us when we were still in the planning process, figuring it would be the best way to see the architecture of the city – and get lunch in the process. Our cruise departed from the Seine at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, so we took a little bit of time to walk around the tower and check it out.
Our lunchtime cruise, operated by Bateaux Parisiens {yep, Paris Boats} was a two hour affair that started at the foot of the Eiffel Tower, went up the river past Ile de la Cite, where Notre Dame lies across from the Hotel de Ville, not far from where we were staying, and then the boat comes around and goes back down the river to the Statue of Liberty. Yep, there are two of them! And you thought you could only see the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty together in Vegas. For shame.
The boat we took looks like something out of a science fiction or James Bond movie, doesn’t it? I was amazed at how smooth and comfortable a ride it gave us, and with the mugginess of the day, it was nice to be enclosed by glass. The top and sides of the boat are all glass, so you get all the sunlight without risking anything getting in your food – that’s a win in my book. And the food was great! I was too busy taking pictures of the sights to snap the food, so you just get a picture of the kir aperitif here for now. The menu can be found here if you’re interested. Fabulous.
We were also treated to wonderful tunes from a local crooner. She was extremely talented and set the mood perfectly.
After disembarking back at the Eiffel Tower, Scott and I had to flag down a cab and dash over to La Cuisine Paris for our cooking class! There, we learned how to make the fabulous macarons that I shared with you yesterday. If you missed them, click here 
Since the class was nearly full when we all tried to sign up, Karen and Sabrina gave us this class and decided to take a croissant class the next day. They kept touring while we were cooking, and we decided to meet up after our class at this magnificent work. Recognize it?
Let me give you a larger picture.
Yes, it’s Notre Dame de Paris, Our Lady of Paris, one of the most beautiful pieces of French Gothic architecture still existing today. It purportedly houses not only the archbishop of Paris, but some of the most important relics in modern Catholicism. The crown of thorns and one of the nails from the original cross are said to be housed in here, along with pieces of the cross.
The cathedral wasn’t built with the flying buttresses you see in the picture below. Those were added later as the strain of the church’s weight pushed down on the ornate walls to keep them from collapsing. My sister tells me you can see the bowing of the walls from the roof – she and Sabrina came back later during their stay to take a floor-to-ceiling tour of the cathedral which included walking around on the roof. I wish we could have been there to try that out, but chalk that one up for next time!
As we finished touring around the cathedral, it started to rain, so we decided to pack it in and go find a place to grab some dinner. On the way, we passed a variety of street performers, undaunted by the rain.
After grabbing dinner near the Opera, we decided to go get some rest. We’d had an extremely packed day and were leaving early the next morning for Disneyland Paris, which I’ll tour you through next week! Why next week? Because I’m taking a small blogging break – tomorrow is, amazingly enough, Scott’s and my first anniversary and I’m rushing out of here to catch a plane to Orlando so we can celebrate together!
Hope you’ve enjoyed the tour so far, and have a great day!
KCS
For more on Paris, try:
A Macaron Class | A Whirlwind Day in the City of Lights | Disneyland Paris (coming soon!)
P.S. Sorry for the low resolution and quality of some of these pictures. I’ll reload them when I can, but the internet in lodging right now doesn’t allow me to upload my usual resolution! 
