Paris Day 7 - Si!! I mean, Yes!! Ugh...How About...Ja!! Come on...Da!! Sigh...Oui. Oui...That One Works...
February 9, 2012
It's our first full day in Paris and our expectations are high. We just needed to make it a slower morning. So instead of getting up at the break of dawn, we slowly made our way up when we needed to. Our breakfast is covered by the hotel and we expect to take full advantage of it. Bourdain said we're idiots (or used another more colorful word) if we utilize the hotel breakfast, since there are tons of other fantastic places to eat in the city (he was talking about Rome, but still...). Here's the thing...we don't make Bourdain money. I'd love to find an out of the way place for every meal and not have to worry about the cost of anything, but I just can't. We've been spending a ton of money on food and haven't bought much that's tangible. Any chance I can save a few Euros is alright by me.
Our first stop was where the first stop should be. The Eiffel Tower. I'm not sure what to say about the Eiffel Tower that hasn't been said. It's so big. And it is so very cool. We didn't go up into the tower, cause...why bother?? We will only see more of the city and not any part of the tower. Not to mention, it's already cold. Why would I want to go to higher ground, where it'll only be colder?? A bit of time was spent just staring at the tower and then began the walking.
I had been warned from the beginning, "You're going to walk everywhere." or "You don't need to worry about eating while you're in Europe, because you're going to walk everywhere.". And we are. We definitely are. That doesn't mean that I'll stop worrying about eating too much. It also won't stop me from veering off when seeing a Chocolaterie and Macaron shop. The first one I found, I did go in and get a macaron. I also pretty much ordered in French. Well, as much as I could. "Bonjour!! Une caramel macaron?? Merci!!" Yeah, that's about all I can muster. Half the time, I want to say Gratzi!! And I still want to say Bitte. Seriously, what in the world is with thinking Bitte?? Obviously, I am not a master of language. Sometimes, I can barely speak English...
The walk began at the Eiffel Tower, and crossed the River Seine. Our first bridge was relatively plain (compared to the next one), and on the other side, Adele pointed out the statue of a flame. This is the Liberty Flame, which is a replica of the Statue of Liberty flame. The flame is overlooking another bridge over a tunnel...the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed. The bridge is covered in "tributes" to Diana in the form of graffiti. It was really unexpected and interesting to see.
We continued along our way on the Seine to the Pont Alexander III bridge. This bridge is covered by very ornate decorations. Cherubs, lions, wreaths, all kinds of things. And in the distance, you can still see the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, where the sun was shining, the tower looked a bit hazy in the distance, but I liked that it was still there.
A few blocks away, we walked to the Place de la Concorde. This is an Egyptian obelisk with two fountains on either side. And it is also where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. Sweet. Well, Marie probably didn't think so...
And then we began the walk down the Champs-Élysées. We got about halfway through and needed a lunch break. We haven't had many set ideas of places to go each day. Because we didn't have any set plans for each day, we couldn't plan well for food. The result of this is that we get to the point where we can't function because we're so hungry and have to find places quickly to grab a bite. This is not how I like to go about things, but honestly, we've been doing pretty well. We ended up at a pretty good Brasserie. I had a roasted chicken that made me moan a little. Though by that time, the other table in our area was gone. So I wasn't *too* embarrassing...
We had decided to walk down one area where shopping was known to exist. The Chanel store was calling Adele, so we couldn't resist the lure. She was excited about a staircase...I didn't quite understand what was happening, but she was excited, so I went along with it. The walk continued down to the Louvre where we hit the souvenir shopping. There's nothing like the tacky souvenir shops. I got my magnet, a new winter hat and a scarf for pretty cheap. I thought about getting something "important" from this trip. But honestly, I don't know what it should be. I don't know what I want it to be. I have decided what to buy for my "new job" present, but that won't happen until I get home. I think I need Elias to come along for that shopping trip.
Our final stop today was at Angelina's. This is a tea room known for hot chocolate and pastries. I knew I wanted to go to one or two of these kinds of places. Adele isn't a sweets fan (merde!!), but she does like hot chocolate. So I figured she wouldn't mind the stop too much. I pretty much tingled with excitement when looking at the menu and seeing all of the glorious choices. Especially when I saw that they didn't just have the hot chocolate, but White Hot Chocolate. Yes. Just yes. Add a vanilla eclair to the mix and I was in sucre heaven.
At this point, the hotel beckoned. We hunkered down for the night (yes, hot chocolate was dinner...no judgement!!) and began figuring out tomorrow's plan. It involves Versailles and hopefully crepes. Fabulous!!
It's our first full day in Paris and our expectations are high. We just needed to make it a slower morning. So instead of getting up at the break of dawn, we slowly made our way up when we needed to. Our breakfast is covered by the hotel and we expect to take full advantage of it. Bourdain said we're idiots (or used another more colorful word) if we utilize the hotel breakfast, since there are tons of other fantastic places to eat in the city (he was talking about Rome, but still...). Here's the thing...we don't make Bourdain money. I'd love to find an out of the way place for every meal and not have to worry about the cost of anything, but I just can't. We've been spending a ton of money on food and haven't bought much that's tangible. Any chance I can save a few Euros is alright by me.
Our first stop was where the first stop should be. The Eiffel Tower. I'm not sure what to say about the Eiffel Tower that hasn't been said. It's so big. And it is so very cool. We didn't go up into the tower, cause...why bother?? We will only see more of the city and not any part of the tower. Not to mention, it's already cold. Why would I want to go to higher ground, where it'll only be colder?? A bit of time was spent just staring at the tower and then began the walking.
I had been warned from the beginning, "You're going to walk everywhere." or "You don't need to worry about eating while you're in Europe, because you're going to walk everywhere.". And we are. We definitely are. That doesn't mean that I'll stop worrying about eating too much. It also won't stop me from veering off when seeing a Chocolaterie and Macaron shop. The first one I found, I did go in and get a macaron. I also pretty much ordered in French. Well, as much as I could. "Bonjour!! Une caramel macaron?? Merci!!" Yeah, that's about all I can muster. Half the time, I want to say Gratzi!! And I still want to say Bitte. Seriously, what in the world is with thinking Bitte?? Obviously, I am not a master of language. Sometimes, I can barely speak English...
The walk began at the Eiffel Tower, and crossed the River Seine. Our first bridge was relatively plain (compared to the next one), and on the other side, Adele pointed out the statue of a flame. This is the Liberty Flame, which is a replica of the Statue of Liberty flame. The flame is overlooking another bridge over a tunnel...the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed. The bridge is covered in "tributes" to Diana in the form of graffiti. It was really unexpected and interesting to see.
We continued along our way on the Seine to the Pont Alexander III bridge. This bridge is covered by very ornate decorations. Cherubs, lions, wreaths, all kinds of things. And in the distance, you can still see the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, where the sun was shining, the tower looked a bit hazy in the distance, but I liked that it was still there.
A few blocks away, we walked to the Place de la Concorde. This is an Egyptian obelisk with two fountains on either side. And it is also where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. Sweet. Well, Marie probably didn't think so...
And then we began the walk down the Champs-Élysées. We got about halfway through and needed a lunch break. We haven't had many set ideas of places to go each day. Because we didn't have any set plans for each day, we couldn't plan well for food. The result of this is that we get to the point where we can't function because we're so hungry and have to find places quickly to grab a bite. This is not how I like to go about things, but honestly, we've been doing pretty well. We ended up at a pretty good Brasserie. I had a roasted chicken that made me moan a little. Though by that time, the other table in our area was gone. So I wasn't *too* embarrassing...
We had decided to walk down one area where shopping was known to exist. The Chanel store was calling Adele, so we couldn't resist the lure. She was excited about a staircase...I didn't quite understand what was happening, but she was excited, so I went along with it. The walk continued down to the Louvre where we hit the souvenir shopping. There's nothing like the tacky souvenir shops. I got my magnet, a new winter hat and a scarf for pretty cheap. I thought about getting something "important" from this trip. But honestly, I don't know what it should be. I don't know what I want it to be. I have decided what to buy for my "new job" present, but that won't happen until I get home. I think I need Elias to come along for that shopping trip.
Our final stop today was at Angelina's. This is a tea room known for hot chocolate and pastries. I knew I wanted to go to one or two of these kinds of places. Adele isn't a sweets fan (merde!!), but she does like hot chocolate. So I figured she wouldn't mind the stop too much. I pretty much tingled with excitement when looking at the menu and seeing all of the glorious choices. Especially when I saw that they didn't just have the hot chocolate, but White Hot Chocolate. Yes. Just yes. Add a vanilla eclair to the mix and I was in sucre heaven.
At this point, the hotel beckoned. We hunkered down for the night (yes, hot chocolate was dinner...no judgement!!) and began figuring out tomorrow's plan. It involves Versailles and hopefully crepes. Fabulous!!
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