What We Did > What We Did (18)
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Eiffel Tower
We even ate at a restaurant a couple blocks away, where I could see the top of it from. We wandered around this spectacle, and were mesmerized when the lights began to sparkle.
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The Notre Dame
Pinned as the second most visited site in Paris (Eiffel Tower first), it was no doubt the place was jammed with people. Thank goodness it was a week day, otherwise I don't think we would have been able to move. The magnitude of the space is unbelievable and I kept questioning aloud how they built such a spectacle.
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St. Germain Neighborhood
We were staying just one block off of St. Germain, so spent a lot of time walking around this area with all it's adorable boutiques and amazing Cafes.
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Grand Palais Exhibit with Nancy and Richard
The highlight was not the art installation, but seeing Nancy and Richard after so many months of being away. The exhibit frankly wasn't so inspiring for me, and parts of it just looked like a construction site.
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Stroll through the Louvre
We didn't actually go in the musuem, but walked around the outside of it. I was shocked at how insanely sprawling and spread out this museum was, and I in turn was scared off from it hearing how overwhelming it is to many people. We'll see if I have a free day to check it out.
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Carla brought us to Laurent's Art Gallery
Very creative mind this artist had, creating an entire story and world around his art pieces in a unique art space. It was fun getting to see this side of France, on a more interpersonal level.
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The Pompidou Musuem (aka France's MOMA)
Very interesting pieces of work. The building itself is a piece of art with it's glass tubes on the outside, which have escalator's that lead you to the next floor. You could spend a full day walking through this fascinating and large musuem.
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Arc de Triumphe
Our new hotel is just a block from here, so we see it everyday. I climbed to the top of it with Nancy and Richard, and had the best view of the town from that vantage point.
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Dinner in St. Germain de Pres with the Bonhomme's
We had such a lovely evening first going to their home for cocktails, and then heading to this adorable restaurant that Nancy and Richie recommended. It was lovely getting to know this very nice family. We ended the evening with gelato, as you can see everyone is indulging.
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Versailles
We opted to not stand in the 2 hour line to get into the palace, and went with the 30 minute line to check out the gardens. They were expansive covering many acres. We also managed to catch the water show, which we were thoroughly unimpressed by. Basically while musice was playing in terrible speakers throughout the garden, the fountains shot out some water (not even in tune with the music). Somehow we managed to get lost on our walk back to the train station, and ended up having the worst experience with the rudest taxi driver ever.
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Champagne
Nancy, Richie and I took the TGV (fast train) to this region just 45 minutes from Paris. WE rented a car, and explored the area, walking down the Avenue do Champagne in Epernay. The scenery in this area was stunning, and we really enjoyed the afternoon. We toured the Moet and Chandon champagne house, which was quite interesting.
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Night out with Adrien
We had so much fun having drinks at Jade in St. Germain de Pres, and ending the night with a crepe and some more wine.
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Musee d'Orsay
This was a beautiful museum with a special Cezanne and Picasso exhibit. We did the audio tour so Jason could try and understand the art. I'm surprised Jason is still smiling in this picture we snapped after our hours in the museum, since it was a long afternoon of exploring the exhibits (I think he's just excited for lunch!)
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View of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero
This elevated area above the Eiffel Tower on the Right Bank has the most gorgeous view of the tower. The entire platform area was mobbed with on-lookers, and also had a lot of street performers that were fun to watch. At 10pm all the lights on the Eiffel Tower sparkled for 10 minutes, which is what most people come to view!
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Relaxing in Places des Vosges in the Marais
We hung out on a bench here for a while, just watching everything around us. We were very amused with the pigeon whisperer who attracted masses of the birds.
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Quick walk thru of the Gardens in the Musee Carnavalet
As we were stolling along the Marais district we happened upon these amazing looking gardens and stolled through to check them out. There are so many gems and neat things to take in the city.
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Rue des Rosiers
This Jewish street was hustling and bustling with activity. We strolled along here until we found just the perfect coffee shop to eat some ruggelah and have a coffee at.
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Picnic in the Luxembourg Gardens
The second to last day we were in PAris, we had the most beautiful, gorgeous weather, and were finally able to have the picnic we'd been talking about all week. We first enjoyed going to all the cute local shops and picking out just the right ingredients for our feast -- we ended up with some cheese, salami, bread and advocado -- what a delicious meal!