A Joyeux Noel Indeed

A Joyeux Noel Indeed

One of my fave pics taken - from top of Arc du Triomphe,  unintentionally wrong aperture and speed.

Its amazing what a difference a 7 hour flight can make. We  had been on vacation (officially) 2 days and were already in the happiest mood!  We stayed in the 2 Arr. which is perfectly located in central Paris. We were able to walk to the Galerie Lafayette and Printemps on Friday evening, which was ...hectic to say the least. It was beautiful but felt a little like Times Square - a gazillion people + shopping. To avoid the crowds we ducked into a Monoprix and did some shopping to stock up on the essentials. On the way back from our jaunt we stopped off at the Rue Montorgueil - gorgeous street lined with shops, markets, brasseries, boucheries, boulangeries and cafes! Needless to say that a few hours were spend eating escargot and sipping cafe in one of the quaint cafes. Its amazing how much people watching goes on over here; where we were seated was facing the sidewalk and it seems like a national past time to people watch (and smoke!).

Day Two was spent touring the Jardin des Tuileries and walking all the way down the Champs Elysees to the Arc du Triomphe. The day was brisk and sunny so it was perfect weather for walking; we were able to check out some of the Christmas Market at the Champs Elysees and to also see (and climb) the Arc du Triomphe; a gorgeous Napoleonic piece of history. (I can still smell the sweet scent of vin chaud and crepes being made as we walked by each stall)

Christmas dinner was at Le Train Bleu at the Gare du Lyon ; a famous resturant constructed during the late 1800s with elaborate frescoes on all the ceilings. A sumptuous 7-course meal was  presented in traditional French - fare and we were stuffed by the end of our meal to say the least.

Since most of the boutiques and cafes were closed - or running on holiday time - we decided it would be best to explore some the churches on Christmas. Once of which included St. Eustache ( which was a few minutes from us) as well as attending an organ concert on Christmas night in Notre Dame Cathedral. The concert itself was played on the large organ and the movements were very long; can't even imagine what is must have been like to play there as an organist. The sound was beautiful because it echoed throughout the entire church and surprisingly it wasn't as packed as we thought it would be!

Versailles was on the docket for the next day and while it was beautiful and grandiose in all of its French splendor, the hoardes of tourists was quite a bit much to handle. Still we enjoyed walking the grounds and seeing a bit of French history.

The rest of the week was spent walking around the various arrondissement and randomly finding ourselves in cafes and restos. We were able to see the Eiffel Tower (of course) and it was much more stunning in person than from far away. You always seem to see it peeking between buildings in the skyline of Paris, so being able to see it up close was really special.

We spent a few days touring the museums as well including the Musee du Louvre and Musee D'Orsay. Which I must say D'Orsay was our favorite - impeccably curated with tons of works from the big names in Impressionist paintings as well as post-Impressionism and pre-Modern. Absolutely breathtaking to see all those Monets, Chagalls, Renoirs up close!!

New Years Eve was spent back out at the Jardin des Tulieries - because you have a view of the Eiffel Tower without having to brave the huge crowd!! It was actually really wonderful to ring in the new year watching the lights glitter of the Tower at midnight, magical almost.

As you can tell Paris has left a huge impression on us Chais; we definitely cannot wait to make a return trip to Paris and hopefully next time to the countryside as well. (Granted, since we have been back we have been having some serious carb-withdrawals -I can't even begin to explain how good all breads/pastries are over there. In fact I don't think we had a meal that we disliked! Definitely miss being spoiled by that!)

I'll be posting a link to our photo album since I didn't want to bog down this page with all the pics!
Paris Album

Au revoir!
S