A Year Ago

Last year at this time Darryl and I had just left Paris to go visit a friend of mine in Lyon. Paris was much better the second time then the first. I had a much better idea of what to expect and it was so much fun to show Darryl around.

When we first arrived in Paris it felt a little like the Amazing Race. I knew which stop we needed for our hotel and had a brief idea of the metro(subway) system but not how to get from the airport to that stop. There are also two different "sets" of subways in Paris and we had to use one system to get to the other. Anyway after some confusion we made it to the platform we needed. The other thing I needed to do and fast was get my brain around french again. I can speak french, but don't do so on a regular basis, so to suddenly be immersed in french took a bit of getting use to. The other thing about Paris is that most Pariesen's ( from my experience) do not like to talk to tourists and especially do not like to talk to them in english. Anyway we ended up making it to our hotel and were exhausted. But to try to get use to the time change we decided to try to stay up as long as we could.

Our hotel in Paris was excellent. If anyone needs a good hotel in Paris we stayed at Hotel Monge. Certainly one of the best we stayed in. The only problem with it was the little shower. The shower was small, which normally would be fine, but it didn't have a shelf in it. As a women who was 7 months pregnant I could not bend down to the floor to pick up the shampoo every time, so I had to open the shower door and scoop everything from the toliet seat.

Breakfast was included in the price and so we had a wonderful traditional french breakfast every morning. In european culture we noticed that bread is very very popular. They defintly have it with most meals, and no margarine or butter on it. But it is white, very white bread all the time.

THe first day we headed to Notre Dame and climbed to the top. We also went to a a church St. Sulpice. Both were incredible even though we were quite tired.

The second day we headed to the Louvre which is the large and amazing museum in Europe. Saw the Mona Lisa. Then to the Eiffel Tower, which is larger then life. The up the Champs D'Ellyess, which is a famous street in Paris, where I asked for a "can of Coca". At the end of the Champs is the to the Arc de Triophe, which Napolean had commissioned but the first time he saw it was when he was wheeled under it to his funeral.

The last day we went to D'Orsay and were allowed to the front of the line, I'm not sure if it was because I was quite pregnant or they thought we may have the Musem Pass. Anyway doesn't matter at least we were at the front of the line. Then we took the afternoon off to relax and enjoyed some excellent treats and watch children play in the park. Amazing how children play the same games, whether they are in english, french or japanese.

That night Darryl and I had the best dinner of our lives. I can't find the name of the restaurant now but will and try to post it later. We stared with escargot then had rack of lamb and the best scallop potatoes. Dessert was also amazing and it came with great red wine. One thing about France is you can only get french wines there. But the food is so so so amazing. If you like food you should really go to France. Even the sandwichs are great. It is a wonderful way of life over there. I can't wait to go back.

Till Tommorrow and more of Lucas

Jenn