Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart!

Are you familiar with that song? Well, if you'd spent the weekend with us in Paris, you would be now because we sang it an awful lot there. Turns out we don't know many other songs about Paris. Hm.

So yes, Paris. It was Memorial Day weekend and our last little break for a while, so on Wednesday evening I turned to Ray and said,

"Ray, what do you want to do this weekend? What do you want to see?"

To which my dear husband replied...

"Kailin, I'd like to go to Paris."

So I booked us a hotel, got us tickets to Versailles and Disneyland and on Saturday morning, we were off!

Apparently we like to plan last minute trips

 First of all, I am happy to report that I drove us most of the way to Paris, including getting us to Versailles- and I did it all in a stick shift... without stalling once. Go ahead, applaud. I deserve it ;)

Second of all, an even larger round of applause for Ray who actually drove us from Versailles to our hotel which was in the heart of Paris. He also drove stick (obviously), but more importantly, he navigated the streets and CRAZY Parisian drivers without getting us lost or in any sort of harm. 

Our hotel was right across the street from the major metro stop Gare du Nord, which was very convenient. We parked the car in a garage and did the metro for the rest of the weekend- it's the only way to go. 

On Saturday, after the tour of the Palace of Versailles, we decided to go the Eiffel Tower to see it light up for the night. It was absolutely gorgeous. I highly recommend seeing the tower this way; it's impressive by day, but stunning by night. 

Even if you pre-order and print out your own tickets, you still have to wait in this crazy long line to get into Versailles.

Pulling the classic Hall of Mirrors photo

 On Sunday, we woke up bright and early so we could beat the crowd at the Louvre. This worked out remarkably well, too! We walked in and went straight to Mona Lisa so we could get some good pictures with her without battling the seas of people. After that, we were free to just meander and see whatever we liked. My personal favorite were all the Greek statues- sculptures are my favorite art form turns out. Ray's favorite were the pristine apartments of Napoleon III. Branching out from the very popular items, the Louvre was still and silent. Sometimes we'd be the only people in an entire room. It was wonderful, and allowed us to really appreciate what we were seeing. 

I really enjoyed making captions for each
statue. For example, this one is saying,
"What is this mess doing here? Didn't
I say to clean it up 10 minutes ago?!"

Me no dum-dum. You dum-dum.

Napoleon the III's Grand Salon (a.k.a. the Hangout Area)

After four hours in the Louvre (I know it hardly seems like much, but it did allow for a breeze through of all three wings), we headed for the Catacombs. This was something I had entirely forgotten was in Paris until my stepdad reminded me of it. I'm so glad we went, which may sound weird, but it was absolutely fascinating and such a unique experience. I'll admit, being around 50' under ground with the bones of 6 million skeletons was a little unnerving at first, but I calmed myself and ended up really enjoying the 45 minute walk through. 

"Stop! This is the Empire of the Dead" What kind of face do you make for a photo like this? Clearly we didn't know.

                                                                                                                                                                                               







For those who don't know, like I didn't, the catacombs are a labyrinth of passageways from as early as the 1700's that were carved out as Paris was quarrying limestone to build the city. Later, as public cemeteries began getting overcrowded and posing health risks to neighboring homes, skeletons were exhumed and entombed within the now abandoned quarry halls. Bones were stacked high and deep, and large stone plaques mark which cemetery each group of bones came from. 

Right after the catacombs, we stopped off at the remarkable Notre Dame; which is currently celebrating its 850th year. Going inside is free and the line moved quickly, so we jumped on in. We are so glad we did because being inside Notre Dame became both of ours highlight of the weekend. We also happened to be there right during Mass, which only added mystique and beauty to the high arches and magnificent stained glass windows. 

At this point, our feet were pretty much screaming at us, so we headed home, bought some French baked goods and other delights for dinner, and then parked it in our hotel room to pig out and relax. Ahh...

An example of our French delicacies: a crepe with chocolate pudding inside, then dipped in chocolate on each end. Yum!

It's a good thing we got our rest because on Monday, we went to Disneyland Paris! Ray may not love Disney quite as much as I do, but he really likes it :) We had so much fun at the park. We quickly discovered that Space Mountain 2: Supernova, is much better than Space Mountain in Anaheim, but that Indiana Jones in Paris pales in comparison to the original Indy. We saw some characters and made our way through all the lands and a bit of the second park (Walt Disney Studios) before literally dragging ourselves to the car to complete the 4 hour drive home.

Lookout from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse

Walking down Mainstreet USA, it was almost like
being back in Anaheim, CA.

 

     It was a crazy weekend, but we loved every second of it. Turns out, we really like French too. Even though all we could say was "Merci" and "Bonjour" we were a little sad to get back to Germany and begin reading signs in German again. Also, I'll really miss my jambon-fromage sandwiches.