There were likely not residents of the greater-Indianapolis area more excited about the new Delta nonstop flight from Indianapolis to Paris than us. We booked as soon as tickets became available. The first flight was on May 24th and we left on the 30th. You know, I wanted them to try it a few times before I flew. ;) The idea of going directly from home to continental Europe was just too exciting for words.
 |
| Let's do it!!! |
Our flight left on Wednesday, May 30th at 6:12 p.m. and got us to Paris at 8:35 local time Thursday morning. We intended to sleep on the flight, but were unsuccessful. We did watch a ton of movies, though. I'll post more of about those later.
We got through customs only to find that the train from the airport to the city's center was being repaired and unavailable. Ugh. We had to get an Uber to take us into the city which is a fixed fee of roughly $50 which was far more expensive than the train. Expense aside, the traffic coming from the airport was atrocious and it took about 1.75 hours to go roughly 20 miles. It was brutal. We finally made it to the hotel, though. We dropped off our bags and hoped they may have a room ready for us but it was still too early. We decided to go explore the neighborhood for a bit even though we were deliriously tired. We grabbed an iced coffee to share at a Starbucks so we could use their wifi to get an idea of where we were and what we wanted to see in the area.
We ended up getting some Euros from an ATM, getting a quick bite to eat from a bakery and then going back to the hotel that blessedly had a room ready for us early. We took showers and then napped from about 2:30 local time until about 6:00 before deciding we'd better not waste the entire day snoozing.
 |
| Gorgeous old buildings everywhere you look |
We'd heard good things about the rooftop of our building so we went up and were stunned to see the view when we got off the elevator. There she was: the Eiffel Tower!!
 |
Jackson beaming almost as brightly as the sun
at this view! |
We'd been to Paris before as we celebrated New Year's Eve here in 2009 going into 2010.Shockingly, that was eight and half years ago now. Time flies! I thought since I'd been here before that the novelty of it all may have worn off. It did not. I was still breathless seeing the Tower in the distance. Our last trip to Paris was in the winter so we were excited to see what life was like in the city in the summer. We found our way to a train station actually selling tickets (kind of an adventure) and took a train out the the Montmatre district of Paris. It was LOVELY.
 |
| Lovely neighborhoods |
 |
| WE ARE IN PARIS! |
This neighborhood is known for many things, but mainly the Basilica commonly known as simply Sacré-Cœur. It is a Roman Catholic church built high above the rest of the neighborhood and is just gorgeous.
 |
Sacré-Cœur
(Sacred Heart) |
 |
| I mean, honestly. |
 |
| We cannot deal. |
 |
| Check out Jesus in the upper right hand corner- I love it! |
 |
| The dome was just amazing |
 |
| The entire place was just amazing |
 |
| A view of the city from the church's steps |
 |
| The church's view of the Eiffel Tower |
Once we'd toured the church, we decided to walk down to the Moulin Rouge just to see it. The neighborhood it is in is a little more...seedy.
 |
| Hey Sister, Soul Sister |
 |
| Already tired of photos?! |
We eventually caught the subway back to our side of town for a late dinner al fresco. I'd seen a guy dining on steak frites earlier in the day and decided that was what I HAD to have for dinner. We went back to place where I saw him eating because it looked delicious. Luckily the restaurant had an English menu and our waitress spoke English and wanted to practice with us so we didn't have the same crappy interactions that we did last time we were dining in Paris.
 |
| "Let me sit with you. It feels Parisian." |
 |
Thankfully he took a hint and moved to his rightful place
when our food arrived |
The steak frites did not disappoint. SO GOOD! I enjoy just walking around and seeing the little shops. A lot of the time their signage is entertaining.
 |
I was very confused by them naming tacos for
our past president |
 |
| Dessert? YES, PLEASE! |
In 1997, though, Princess Diana died in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel underneath the flame and it became an unofficial memorial to her. As Prince Harry had just gotten married there were lots of flowers and tributes to Diana still at its base. I found this both eerie and touching.
After a mild breakdown because he'd forgotten to pack his dress pants, Jackson was able to get himself together for our evening tour of the Louvre. The last time we were in town he'd denied my request to tour the museum so this time he agreed to take an evening tour. It was like a date you'd see in the movies. I was SO excited.
We purchased our tickets in advance so our wait was not long at all, we just had to get through security, and then we were off to find my girl. Now this is where things went a little wrong. In my haste to see Mona I'd passed all of the information stands offering maps of the museum in English. I was a woman on a mission. Luckily there are signs EVERYWHERE pointing the 6 million (the actual number, I looked it up) visitors she gets annually to her exact location. She hangs in a climate-controlled enclosure behind bulletproof glass. She's magnificent.
Mona is insured for $800 million, but she is actually considered priceless as the world's most famous painting. Back in 2014 it was proposed that selling Mona would ease France's national debt, but it was found to be illegal to make such a sale so she's still on display in the Louvre. Thank goodness they didn't sell her before I got to see her!
 |
| THE MONA LISA |
 |
| She's watching you. |
 |
| Mona and Jackson |
Jackson kept saying that he didn't see why Mona was so famous and that it was so small that the other paintings were more impressive to him. Listen, she was not THAT small. I'd prepared my heart that she'd be the size of a postage stamp. She was not. There are some scientific reasons that her smile shows up on when you're glancing at the painting, but I still think it is a cool trick. Keep in mind that Leonardo da Vinci painted her at some point between 1503 and 1506 so the fact that we all still love her and find her fascinating is nothing short of amazing.
 |
I liked this painting, too.
I cannot name it or anything because our Louvre map was in French
and I was struggling to maintain my cool after seeing Mona. |
We wandered around looking at other paintings and just taking it all in. We got in on the Friday evening passes so the crowds were thinner than normal, but still pretty large.
 |
| The grounds of the museum were amazing, too. |
 |
Old sculptures showing me that men have not
changed a bit through the years- HA! |
 |
| An early Heisman trophy? |
 |
The guy worked for a long time to nail
this pose |
 |
| The famous pyramid entrance to the Louvre |
The visit to the Louvre was awesome. Sure, I could have done a little research so I knew which other paintings it housed. I also could have tracked down a map in my native tongue. We learn lessons each day.
We wandered back to our neighborhood and decided that steak frites sounded good again so that is what we had. The one drawback to Europe is that smoking is VERY accepted and EVERYONE smokes. They smoke while they're eating. I loathe smoke so that made dinner less than lovely as this Friday brought out every smoking Parisian, but that's OK.
We were exhausted from a big day of exploring the city so we crashed a bit early. We were supposed to have an early train on Saturday morning headed for Geneva, but the French rail workers were on strike so many trains were canceled. We ended up getting those tickets refunded and rebooking a train leaving at noon that was double the price and took an extra 1.5 hours to get to Geneva. Cool. Thanks, French rail workers. Ugh!
Jackson went out to grab breakfast while I packed us up. We loved the chocolate au pains (translated to chocolate bread which should be explanation enough for us loving them) and cappuccinos we'd grabbed from a nearby cafe the day before so he delivered those again. I was quite pleased!
 |
| Cappuccinos and chocolate au pains |
We called an Uber and headed towards to Paris-Lyon train station. As typical Americans we arrived earlier than we needed to because we are used to security lines when traveling. They don't have security before you get on trains so we just made sure to find our assigned seats and wait for the journey to Geneva to begin.
 |
| On the train from Paris to Geneva |
The train experience is a great one. Again, no security, you can move around whenever you want (no seatbelt signs), there is a restaurant car and ample room to store luggage. I truly wish we had a more robust rail system in the United States. We arrived to Geneva in about 4 hours and, after a little adventure finding our Uber driver, made it to the Intercontinental for the posh part of our trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment