Paris est toujours une bonne idée.

“America is my country and Paris is my hometown”. –Gertrude Stein

Let’s just be honest… France was incredible! There’s no place like Paris anywhere else on earth, no matter what Paris, Texas says.  The culture was fantastic and everything is so deliciously old. Everywhere you look there is some sort of architectural display of character and flair. It’s impossible to accurately describe what the city is like as it’s hard to believe it even when you standing in the middle of the Champs-Élysées staring around at it all.

“Paris is always a good idea”. –The movie, Sabrina

Some of the things we saw that were absolutely incredible were:

The Eifel Tower- Duh! This one is actually surprising as I went in with extremely low expectations. I kept thinking, oh it’s not going to be that big and it’s a gigantic hunk of metal, and how nice could it be? Yeah… it’s HUGE! And the iron is so intricate and delicate looking. We went up the tower (in several elevators) at night, which was one of my favorite experiences. The whole thing glows starting at 8pm and then every hour for ten minutes it sparkles. Yep… sparkles!!! From the top it’s amazingly apparent that Paris is the city of lights.

I would not want to know what that electric bill is like...

Notre Dame- This was probably my favorite because I love old churches and also because Hallie and I decided to pay 6 Euros to climb up to the top of the bell tower a la Quasimodo. This was a great decision though we nearly froze in the endeavor. (It was the only day that measured in at -6 degrees. And that’s Celsius by the way.) The gargoyles were so much cuter in person and if you’re careful about who is watching, they let you touch them!

Here is my gargoyle friend…

“I like Frenchmen very much, because even when they insult you they do it so nicely”. -Josephine Baker

This is the question I get asked the most about France… are the Frenchmen as rude as everyone says? The answer is both yes and no. Hallie and I experienced this several times, though not as much as we expected. When you consider that Paris is the most visited city in the world as has 30 million people (I swear mostly American and Chinese) clogging up its streets a year, we both agreed that they should have been much meaner than they were.

The trick to speaking to a Parisian is to start very softly. Say something, or at least attempt to say anything really in French. As the Parisian is chuckling at you, quickly interject whatever it is you want in English and hope that they think you are so cute and uncultured that they’ll answer you right away. Don’t assume that everyone speaks French and if it’s not looking good- get out of there immediately and move on to someone else who looks more bilingual! (There is actually a certain “bilingual” look, in case you were wondering.)

More later about the food and other amazing sights I visited. Au revoir chéri!