May 18 - C'est Paris avec Dan and Sarah

Today we were off to Paris, just Dan and I, to celebrate our 6th Wedding Anniversary (which was on May 14th).

My don't we look young

Having to wake up at 4:30 am to leave the house by 5:00, we should have known that going to bed after midnight would not be a good idea. We were so tired, but made the best of it.


So, we had booked our return flight from Dublin to Paris before we had left on our trip, and got such a great deal with Ryanair. Less than $180 for both of us to fly return.


We had a few snags when we first got into Paris. The 1st snag in Paris - We didn't know that the airport that we flew into was an hour outside Paris and that we'd have to take a bus the rest of the way. (Not really that big of a deal).

A shot out the bus window

This next picture is where the bus dropped us off. I took this picture in case we didn't ever find our hotel and wandered around Paris aimlessly until we had to catch the bus back to the airport. I was thinking I could just show it to a cabbie and he would take us there. I'm glad I didn't have to use it for that purpose.

The BIG SNAG in Paris - Not bringing the address to our hotel with us - pretty big deal when no one is willing to speak English and you can't really speak French. After spending about 45 euro on cabs we figured out where we needed to go and finally reached our hotel.

We couldn't check in until 2 and we had a date with the Eiffel Tower at 1:30 so we were on our way. The lady at the front desk explained to us how to use the Metro (Subway) and we were on our way. OMG the metro is the way to go, so awesome!!


Did I mention that is was almost 27 degrees outside. Yahoo for warm weather. Warm weather and the Eiffel Tower are a perfect mix!!

So we waited in line for probably 30 minutes for the elevator to take us to the 2nd floor. We could have taken the stairs but we had already bought our elevator passes online and it was hot, and it's a long long way up when you're super tired. So finally we get into the elevator and see this sign -

Beware of Pickpockets!!

 When we made it to the 2nd floor it was almost surreal. We were on the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Eeek! I did not know that Paris was so big. It's huge!!! There is city in every direction as far as the eye can see.



Looking up from the second floor

Now we didn't go to the top, there was a 45 minute wait and well, we were tired. So we took the stairs down to the first floor (which you bypass on the elevator) and found ourselves a tequila margarita. :) Perfect!



After the tower we made our way back to the hotel and had a lil' nap. Then we were off again. We went to snap a few shots of the Notre Dame Cathedral. The architecture and sculptures are amazing!

Look at the detail in all the carvings. They are all different.

We stopped for supper just outside our hotel (We honestly didn't get very far from our hotel area, (but that's ok) and ate some escargot. Well we both tried one. Next time I'll pass. The meal was tres bon. We had the escargot, french onion soup (deliciouso) and cheese fondue (mmm). And for dessert I had creme brulee chocolat. Melt in your mouth delicious.


We wandered around the Latin Quarter after dinner, looking in all the different shops, checking out the different fashions. So interesting to take note of the difference between their culture and ours.

After dark we made our way to the Louvre. One thing that I wanted to do while we were there was take pictures of the Louvre at night time. Absolutely stunning.

And the Eiffel Tower at night.

And that was Paris. Let me know what you think!! Au revoir mes amies!