Paris, France

Josh and I traveled to Paris on Feb 27th and stayed until March 1st. We had a great time, and saw pretty much all there was to be seen. The weather wasn't the greatest but I didn't complain because it wasn't cold. After the initial stressors of traveling to a new country, we managed to figure out the transportation system and arrived at our hotel. After unpacking our backpacks we heading out and started at the Eiffel Tower. It looks very different in person, just not as big as I had always imagined(which becomes more and more the truth the longer I'm in Europe). We thought about going up to the top but the 3rd level was closed so we changed our mind. Then we headed over to the Notre Dame church, which was impressive but I'm not a huge fan of Gothic architecture. I liked the churches in Rome, they are much more impressive! We didn't go inside, so I can't tell you what it was like. By this time our stomachs were starting to get hungry, so we set out to find our favorite restaurant when we travel.....McDonalds!!! Which at first it seemed impossible to find, but once we found one we found them on every corner! After finally finding something to eat we headed to the Arc De Triomphe and the famous Champs-Elysees Blvd. I loved the Arc, it looked like such a neat monument! We wanted to go over to it, but it appeared to have a ceremony going on under it so we didn't want to disturb. After a lot of pictures we started our stroll down the Blvd, I could have spend SO MUCH money in those stores. Josh even encouraged me to go into the Louis Vuitton store (no I didn't buy anything) the cheapest item in there was a hair clip and it cost 259 euro, which is close to 275 dollars. (CRAZY!!!!) After we had drooled over the watches, sunglasses, and clothes we headed back to the hotel. By this time it had started to rain, so we were trying to decide if we should venture back out in the rain and see the Tower at night. We did, and I'm so glad we did. Josh and I had fun walking in the streets in the rain( I was smart and wore rain boots). By this time it was close to 11 at night and we noticed that the tower was taking people up to the top, so us being us decided that we needed to do it! The top was so neat, it was super windy and I didn't get great photos but come one how many people can say they have been to the top of the Eiffel Tower! By the time we got back down to solid ground it was after midnight, so we headed back to the hotel for the night. Well after a late night snack from a pizza stop right next to our hotel! Our hotel had zero channels in English so we instead watched the Olympics in French!!! It was fun!

Day two: We set out about 9, finally found the Mcdonalds close to our hotel and had breakfast( I enjoyed the free Wi-Fi). Then headed to the National Army Museum, this was Sunday the day of the terrible storm in which 50 people died in France!! We had not watched the news/weather so had no idea this was all going on. Instead we just commented on how windy it was and didn't let it slow us down. We spent 3 hours in the Army Museum( I was ready to go in about 30 min : ) ). I let Josh man the big camera, and he didn't fail! He took over 200 pictures in the museum alone! Men and war stuff, I will never understand! We got to see Napoleon Bonapart's tomb, which is the biggest tomb I have ever seen!!! After Josh finally gave the okay that we could leave we headed over to The Louve, I wish it would have been a nice and sunny day, because I think I could have sat around that area for a very long time. I loved the Pyramids! We got through the ticket line pretty quick and started to follow the crowd to the Mona Lisa. I'm not sure if this is planned out, but she was at the VERY end of very long maze! Same goes for the Sistine Chapel, it was at the VERY end of the Vatican. Maybe they think that is the only way they can get people to walk all the way through it, who knows. Anyways, when we finally found her I pushed my way to the front of the crowd (throwing elbows and all). I was amazed at how small it was, I'm talking MAYBE an 11x14....Not to mention the enormous security glass that covered the wall almost. After we had decided we had enough photos and video, we wondered around and took some more art in( we aren't huge art lovers..but Josh liked the Egyptian stuff). After the Louve we decided to start souvenir shopping, which we quickly discovered was going to be a pain because most everything was closed on Sundays. The huge shopping gallery was even closed! We had one more sight to see before we left and that was the Statue of Liberty. Many people don't know that there are actually three Statues'(one being in Paris), I only knew this because of the movie National Treasure. We found via internet that she is in Luxembourg Gardens, so we mapped out the metro and decided it wasn't too far away. We wondered around for awhile, to find out the Gardens are closed during the winter!!! Real bummer, because we wanted to say that we have seen the Statue of Liberty in Paris, before we have seen the one in NY. Oh well.... After two days on our feet we were starting to wear down, we decided we wanted to eat dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. Which I was thrilled about, I had amazing Chicken Tenders (of course!) and some awesome Macaroni!! To wrap this up, we flew out the next morning!

I liked the atmosphere in Paris, it was just how I imagined. Romantic, and man did we see a lot of people who loved PDA!!!!! I've never been a fan, so rest assured Mom that we did not partake! Paris was one big city that I have dreamed about seeing and now I can mark it off my list!!! I'm so lucky and blessed to have these opportunities! Thanks to my amazing husband for my Valentines gift!!!! It was one to remember and we have many memories!!!! Also thanks to the Chris and Megan for watching Buddy for us!!!


I'll finish this up with some picture, even though you have seen them on facebook!! Miss you all, and I will post another update soon!

Ciao for now!!