L & J Adventures...: Paris, Day One

Up bright and early today, our flight to Paris left at 6:00 this morning and we had an eventful time trying to get to the airport on time! We planned to leave the apartment around 3:15am and head to the bus stop, which was right outside, across the highway. Problem #1, the bus only came every 30 minutes because it was “considered a night bus” and they don’t run as often, so we had to make it! Problem #2, we were unsure what side of the road we needed to be on, granted they was a giant highway splitting up the road so we couldn’t just run to the other side. Problem #3, we were running late as usual! Using josh’s phone to navigate and tell us where to go, I questioned it (even though it does know where it is going most of the time) and we headed to the stop opposite of what the phone was telling us because in my defense, we rode a bus from the airport and it went that way. Then we asked a lady that arrived which side we needed to be on and she said the other side to get to the airport. So we, (mostly my fault) were wrong and watched bus 502 pass us while we were running over the bridge. Before freaking out, we had to figure out another route quickly. Was it worth it to walk a few blocks and hope to catch another bus or should we just suck it up and pay for a taxi? After a few minutes, we decided that the taxi fee would be minimum to the amount of money that we invested in this trip and that we could potentially lose if we didn’t hurry up and get to the airport. Josh called the taxi company, orders us a cab to come ASAP, but problem #1, we really didn’t know how to tell them where we were except to give them the bus stop name, not to mention a language barrier and problem #2, we didn’t know which side of the highway to tell them that we were on. Nothing was going our way, not to mention it was already 4:15ish. The taxi company said that we would have to wait up to 15 minutes before it arrived; seriously we didn’t have any time to waste! Although we already had a taxi lined up, we still had our eyes open for any available cab passing through as well as our cab that could potentially stop on the other side of the highway. Finally we see the yellow cab and guess what, it was on the other side of the highway waiting for us. And do you know what my crazy husband decides to do, run across the highway (thank goodness it was not busy at all) and catch it before it left. He hopped in; they drove down the street, made a U-turn and headed to pick up our luggage and me! Finally we were on our way to the airport, we had about 30 minutes to relax until we had to face the ticket and security lines and then after that I could relax (not really, cause I hate flying so after we got off the plane in Paris, then I would relax). We reached the airport, got our bags checked, passed through security, not too long of a line and found our gate! We were both so thankful that we made it; I seriously think we got there just in time! The plane was older and our legs were a little squished, but it was okay cause I slept the whole way, not sure what josh did during the 2-hour flight! We landed in Paris, got our bags and then began figuring out how to get to our hotel.

We took a train from the airport to the closest station to our hotel. They get you with those “you have to buy ticket to and from the airport for an expensive rate” at 9,50 euro each, ouch! So we sucked it up and rode the train into the city. Thankfully our hotel was very close walking distance to the train station; we were able to locate it fairly easy and were able to store our luggage while we went out to explore the city.

First stop was to get some much needed coffee and breakfast. We got 2 very small coffees and some kind of pastry at this café down the street. The coffee was so strong, sugar and milk would never make it taste any better, josh drank both mine and his and said that it tasted like a shot of whiskey, obviously why I didn’t like it, it was gross. Now we know not to order coffee while here! We got a map of the city while at the hotel and we decided that until we knew what we were doing, that we would just walk around and get a feel for the city. We walked to the Louvre Museum, along the river, across the famous love bridge and ended up at the Notre Dame Catherdral. Admission into this beautiful church was free, you just have to stand in a super long line but it was totally worth it! The interior (along with the exterior) is absolutely beautiful and breathtaking. It began construction when Pope Alexander III laid the first stone in 1163 and was completed in 1330. The gargoyles, stained glass windows and flying buttresses make this gothic masterpiece one of the well-known churches in the world. After we walked the interiors of the cathedral, we headed over the bridge and to Sainte-Chapelle. After waiting in another line to go through security, we entered the site and decided to purchase museum passes that would allow us to visit many different sites among Paris and outside the city and saves us time by not waiting in the long lines. Sainte-Chapelle was our first stop and it is best known for 15 original stained glass windows that surround the upper chapel, which depicts 1,113 scenes from Genesis through Christ’s resurrection.

Next we decided that since the weather was rainy and cold, that we would endure the Louvre Museum today and hope the weather would be better other days to be outside. We were able to walk right in with our museum passes, which was nice, got a map and started down one of the many wings of the museum. We saw everything, rarely skipped any exhibits at the beginning. I mostly waited for Josh while he enjoyed the sculptures and paintings and was happily content sitting down. We saw most of the important pieces known in this museum, Venus de Milo, The Raft of the Medusa, Marly Horses and of course the Mona Lisa. Its crazy to me that everyone wants to take a picture of this famous painting, what makes her famous and not others in the museum that are just as beautiful! Also to think that she is protected in a climate controlled, bullet and I’m sure flash proof container is so crazy! But hey, josh was one of those people pushing in front of others so that we could get “that” picture so who knows. We spent a good 3+ hours walking around the museum and still didn’t see everything, I’m sure that you could spend days in there if they wanted to, but I will pass!

We were exhausted by the time that we were finished and ready to head to the hotel to relax. We walked to the hotel, more than a mile from the Louvre, found a grocery store and picked up a few items to eat for dinner. Our hotel is super modern and nice, we splurged a little bit and also got this great deal on the nightly rate that we couldn’t pass up! We got settled in our room and ate bread and cheese for dinner, such a delicacy, and went to bed early to do it all over again tomorrow! Hopefully it won’t be as eventful as this morning!

Also birthday shout out to Bob, Josh's dad, hope you have a wonderful day! We wish you were here in Paris so we could celebrate! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks! Love you!