Thanks guys : )
Jill - A graduation trip to Paris sounds AWESOME!!!! My $.02 is that you'll need at least a week and forget doing a tour. Part of the charm of the city is sitting and relaxing at outdoor cafes and strolling through the streets, not trying to rush from site to site. Get a good map of Paris and stay somewhere fairly central (or near a metro stop) and explore : )
Here's the re-cap of the trip:
Flight over: We had a direct flight from Cleveland which was awesome. We all managed to sleep on and off the whole flight until Cori got sick upon the approach. She was a trouper though and felt better the second we landed. I need to talk to her pediatrician about stronger anti-nausea/motion sickness meds.
Day 1: We took the metro to the hotel which went smoothly and saved us a bunch of money. With the dollar being so weak against the Euro, it was expensive akin to New York City prices. We stayed at the Hilton Arc de Triomphe with hotel points. It was an art deco building in an amazing neighborhood in the 8th arrondisement between the Arc de Triomphe and Parc de Monceau. We were 500 meters from the Arc and less than 1/2 a block to the park.
Our room was ready when we arrived so we unpacked, gawked at our view of the Eiffel Tower from our room and then set out. We managed to walk for three hours and went down to the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower and through a huge outdoor market selling all kind of foods, flowers and even clothing and bags. Chris and I could have spent 1/2 a day in the market alone but Cori was getting tired. We ate at an outdoor cafe and went back to the hotel for a 2 hour power nap.
After the nap, we went for another 2 hour walk to explore the Park and the neighborhood around our hotel. We bought sandwiches, breakfast for the next day (and drinks) and dessert at Lenotre and headed back to the hotel to eat in our room. They had set up a small cafe table by the windows which opened so it was a great place to eat.
For the most part that was our food routine - breakfast in the room from a local boulangerie, a largish lunch, a small snack in the afternoon and then sandwiches or bread and cheese for dinner. This helped us save on costs but I loved being able to eat the biggest meal at lunch time. (I came back only 2 pounds heavier and I'm still puffy from the flight back ; ).
We crashed at 7 pm.
Day 2: After our lovely breakfast in the room, we walked for six hours through Montmartre and Sacred Coeur. We stayed for mass which was amazing. They had a choir of nuns that honestly sounded like angels. Amazing experience. We ate lunch at a cafe that was also an art galarie and then we strolled down to the Opera house and walked up the Champs d'Elysees . We went back to the hotel around 4ish for an hour rest and then headed back out for a few more hours and to pick up dinner.
Day 3: This was our crazy non-stop walking day. We walked for over 10 hours all over Paris. Down the Champs D'Elysees to Place de la Concorde, followed the river to Notre Dame and through the Isle, down to Luxumbourg Gardens, into Church of St. Sulpice, back up through the Marais district to Pompidou center down to the Place de la Bastille and then back to the hotel for a quick rest before dinner. Back out again for a few additional hours. The crazy part was that Chris and I were EXHAUSTED and Cori was skipping down the hotel hallways when we got back that night.
Day 4: We took the train to Giverney to see Monet's home and gardens. It was Cori's 8th birthday that day and that's what she wanted to do. I'm SOOOO glad she did because this is not a side trip I would have taken myself but it was totally worth going. The town is absolutely beautiful dating back to the medieval period. Monet's home and gardens were spectacular and it was easy to see how he was so inspired. A definite must see and super easy to get to.
We returned to Paris around 2:30 and had a late lunch and then spent the rest of the day window shopping and strolling through Ave. George V where all the fashion houses have their flag stores.
Day 5: We spent most of the day at Musee D'Orsay. Fantastic museum and an amazing building. This was the only day we ate in a "real" restaurant. All my reading said to eat in the museum's restaurant and they were totally right. It was like eating in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles except the room overlooked the river and the food was out of this world.
After the Museum, we walked over to an area near Ste. Marie-Madeleine church where all the gourmet shops are and just window shopped. This is where I was bummed that I didn't have a kitchen to cook in or a way to bring back some of this food! There were entire shops devoted to caviar, then next door, the house of truffles (the fungus not the chocolate), etc...
Day 6: We took the metro to Versailles. We were out that day from 8:45 a to 11:45 p and it was another amazing day. Versailles was crowded though which was hard inside but the gardens were fabulous and we went off the beaten path so had parts to ourselves. I was especially excited to have gone to the Trianon and Petit Trianon as the gardens were stunning and not many people found their way down.
When we got back into the city, we walked through the Eiffel tower area, over to Napolean's tomb, had a larger dinner (we had a picnic at Versailles in the gardens) and then went on a river cruise at night. We walked back up George V and Champes d'Elysees afterwards to see everything lit up. Many momunments were not lit though which was a disappointment but the Eiffel Tower does a light show for the first 10 minutes of every hour after dark which was cool.
That was a stretch for Cori because it didn't get dark until 10:30 pm but she did great.
Day 7: Our last day was spent walking down the Rue de Rivoli and exploring that area just north of the Louvre. There were "hidden" passageways that weren't on the map that we explored and loved. We tried to tour the Opera house but rehearsal was going on. We finally made it inside the Madeleine which was beautiful and finished with a lovely last dinner at a cafe and dessert at Fauchon and Hediard. We had drinks at the hotel to end the night and it ended up being another 12 hour day.
Flight back was uneventful until the descent when Cori got sick again. I will say that the food was much better on the plane coming home even though we were still on Continental.
Out of our beliefs are born deeds; out of our deeds we form habits; out of our habits grows our character; and on our character we build our destiny.
- Henry Hancock
