Saturday, May 23, 2009

Paris Take 4

Last week was my 3rd time in paris in less than 4 months (and my 4th time in 4 years) and I feel like I have a good grasp on the city.  When Josh and I were on top of the Arc de Triomphe I was able to point out all of the monuments in the distance.  Paris is also easy because the subway system is fool-proof.  
Thanks to the easy transportation we were able to see lots of sites in a short amount of time. We did the obvious -- Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Versailles, and the Champs-Elysées -- and we did a few things out of the ordinary as well.  For example, we visited the catacombs were we walked amongst piles of bones, it was like nothing I've ever seen.

 We also went to the Musée Rodin, a place I've never been.  It's a very pretty garden filled with scuptures by Rodin.  We were able to see "The Thinker" and we're shocked by its small size.
Another great thing we did was go to a Sangria bar, recommended by our guide book.  It was a cute little place, and we were able to meet a couple of locals.

We were also lucky in Paris because Nana and Papa and the Nedwicks were there too.  They took Josh and I to a really great dinner of traditional Lyonaise food.   Awfterwards we hit up a jazz club.  It was really fun to watch all the people dance, I think some of them must have been professionals.   Luckily we didn't eat anything at the jazz club because the next day we read in our guide book that the area we were in is known as "Bacteria Alley" by locals.

Nana and Papa also took us to Chartres Cathedral.  It was really pretty and we got a great tour from Malcom Miller, and English man who has been giving tours for over 50 years.  He was really funny and a great story teller, he made the trip to Chartres worth it.
Our hotel in Paris also worked out great.  (I had stayed there before in February.)  It's in a great location, just a few block from Notre Dame.  There was a full kitchen and free laundry. The only problem was the 4 flights of stairs we had to climb to get to our room.
The weather in Paris was quite shocking.  I think it was probably below 60 degrees the whole time we were there.  I had to wear the same outfit several days in a row (gross.)  
Overall, our time in Paris was very sucessful.  I'm glad we'll be ending our trip there in July.

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