Trip to Paris

First things first. It was a great trip and we have very few complaints. So, to the country of France, or at least the Parisians, you have earned a truce. That doesn't mean we're (America) gonna come bailing you out of any wars in the near future, but it does mean i'll go easy on the French jokes for a while.

The city of Paris is magnificently built. It has beautiful buildings and architecture mixed in with a ton of semi-fascinating history. The way the city is put together is fairly traditional European in that it surrounds the paramount church, Notre Dame cathedral, however over the past few hundreds of years it has expanded considerably.

Our first night was spent in a very Parisian restaurant, small and packed with tables making it next to impossible not to say something to your neighbor at least once, very French. We were blessed with some light entertainment which included two men, one with an accordion and the other with a guitar playing mostly French love songs with a splash of good 'ol rock & roll to keep it upbeat. The two men did a great job including the patrons of the restaurant in their show. They demonstrated a great sense of humor with a hint of perversion. This wasn't our first time in France, but it was our first opportunity at traditional French cooking which of course included escargo. If you want to know what that was like, you'll have to ask Alicia.









After our meal we were taken on a bus ride tour of Paris by night where our guides weaved us through the streets pointing out buildings and explaining their historical significance. One thing the Parisians have done a great job of is keeping some of their architecture in tact by revamping retro buildings for modern usage. Their oldest buildings have been rehabilitated as museums, hotels and government buildings, which keeps them in use and open to the public.

On day two we continued our bus ride tour tracing much of the same route as the night before but also included some new routes and stops for taking pictures. Still to this day many of Napoleons markings can be found throughout the city on arches, bridges and monuments. We stopped at a military parade ground where they have a monument to peace, go figure. It was a place for some photos of the Eiffel tower. The tower itself is very grand when your standing under it. It stands almost one thousand feet tall and was built by Gustave Eiffel, a bridge engineer, around 1889. Many people of his day though it was hideous and fled the city in protest (that worked). It's definitely unique and nothing is more fitting in Paris than a giant phallus seen by the entire city. After the tower we grabbed a bite to eat in a restaurant before heading into the Louvre Museum. The Louvre was originally the royal palace of Phillip II and was expanded many times over again into the building that we know today. It's huge! Our guide told us that if you spent one minute on each item in the Louvre, it would take you a month to see everything. We had only a couple hours, so we checked out the top ten: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and a bunch of others... It would be great to go back when we have more time.

This was Valentines Day so once everyone was ready, we went back to the hotel and freshened up for dinner at another Parisian restaurant. No snails this time, but we did try some Foie Gras (fattened duck liver pate) which wasn't too bad. There were no perverted musicians to entertain us though, so we had to entertain ourselves and each other, oh well. After dinner we were treated to a boat cruise of the river Seine.

On our final day we headed to Le Sacre-Coeur which is a roman catholic basilica that overlooks Paris. Around the corner is Artist Square where you can purchase some local paintings or have your portrait sketched for a small fee.

When all is said and done, Paris is a great big city that would take a lot more time than two and a half days to explore, but the time we did spend was well spent. The food was good (except the rhum cake) and the people were nice and i'm sure we'll go back soon.