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Published: January 3rd 2014
View from Lisa's balcony
This was the first clear day in Germany! So gorgeous! Berlin - Bavaria - Paris - Bastogne - Christmas Markets -- our German vacation was so full of spectacular sites, that I just would not be able to fit it all in one blog! Therefore, I will write this in sections, with each major segment of our trip having it's own post. This is segment 3: Paris! We have been planning this vacation for years! Well, sort of. My friend and old co-worker, Lisa, is stationed in Germany. Ever since she moved there I have been threatening that I am going to come visit. It was always "maybe in the Fall", then "maybe in the Spring", "maybe just after I graduate"...you get the idea. Well we finally decided it was time and purchased the tickets...no going back now! We planned our trip in the winter on purpose...to coincide with all the German Christmas Markets! We spent 10 wonderful days touring the area, taking in the sights, eating the food, and learning more about their culture! To give you a little overview, we flew out of DC direct to Frankfurt. From there, we took a shuttle to Spangdahlem Air Base where Lisa met us and took us to her home Village, Dudeldorf.
We spent the first night there, then drove to Wittlich to catch a train to Berlin, where we spent 2 nights. From Berlin, we took the train to Munich. We didn't stay in Munich...that will be another trip I guess...but we got our rental car at the train station and drove down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavaria portion of Germany, where we spent the night. The next morning, back in the car we drove a brief stint in Austria to get to Hohenschwangau (back in Germany) where 2 of Mad King Ludwig's castles are nestled amongst the trees and rocky bluffs of the surrounding mountains. By mid-afternoon, we were back on the road and driving back to Dudeldorf for the night. The following day, we drove to Paris! After spending the next 2 nights there, we drove back to Lisa's, just in time for Thanksgiving. The rest of our trip was spent on day trips; first to Trier, then to Bettendorf and Diekirch in Luxembourg and Bastogne in Belgium, and to Bernkastel for our last night there. (Have a look at the map!) We took the shuttle again back to Frankfurt, and flew direct back to DC. It seems like
a lot, but it really was pretty relaxing. We walked a lot. And ate a lot! And I took A LOT of pictures! Over 1100! I won't post all of them, to save you some time, and I will try to narrate as best I can. Please be sure to notice the page numbers... I'll post this intro on all the entries...in case someone doesn't start from the beginning. 😉
Ah Paris! This was another dream come true for me! I mean, what girl does not fantasize about being in Paris! I took French in high school, and my interest hath been piqued since! When I learned that Paris was only 4 hours from Dudeldorf, I had to add it to the trip! So out went Prague (that was about an 11 hour trip) and in went Paris! Sorry Prague! We'll see you another time! 😊 I'm going to try to keep this short since I went into more detail in the photos. There are 222 of them and many of them have some subtext about what it is and why it's significant, so make sure you get to all the pages! 😊
So we left off at
Lisa's house in Dudeldorf. We were real leisurely about hitting the road. We just wanted to get there before dark really, so we weren't in too big of hurry. It was a perfectly sunny day! The first we have seen in Germany! They were always cloudy and threatening rain. It was still cold though...in the mid-40's Pretty much our whole trip was in the mid-40's, except for Garmisch and the castles where it hovered in the 30's! Brrr!
We headed our in our trusty orange sardine box around 10am. The stupid GPS had us driving through all these tiny little villages, on backroads, on roads that were closed! We finally got to a freeway, A4, and it was a strait shot from there! A4 is a toll freeway, so not free! One toll is a flat fee of 2€ and some change, and the other was distance based. So we were on about as long as can be and it cost 22€ each way! Bollocks! We were not expecting that!
We drove through little Luxembourg, and arrived at Disneyland Paris around 3pm. The plan was to park here and take the train into the city. Disneyland is just
on the outskirts of Paris. In fact, it's the last stop on the metro RER-A line. Driving in Paris is said to be a nightmare, and not one that we wanted to endure, so we parked in the abundant parking and caught the train in. It took some looking for...there aren't exactly signs that direct you to the train. In fact, we had to use the GPS to locate the train station! Turns out we had to walk a ways into the entrance of the park. The train station was just before the ticketed entrance. Disneyland Paris was so empty! Granted, it was cold, and a weekday, but really, there was no one there! And it was not very well cared for either. I don't think it's very popular over there.
So we got to the metro ticket counter and bought our 3-day Paris Visite pass. Not a typo---that's how it's spelled! 😊 The Visite pass is a metro card that works on the metro and all the city buses. It's much cheaper than buying a ticket each time, especially after we discovered that some connections require a second purchase. The "train" to the city is all above ground
to a certain point. Then it goes below ground and becomes more of a metro. The RER is more like a train in form, than the regular metro lines are, too. It took us 2 connections and about an hour to get to the metro station nearest our hotel. So glad we were not traveling with huge luggage!
My first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower was from the train at a short spot where we went above ground. My fist thought was...omg it's huge! Our hotel was close to the tower. Close for Paris standards anyway. It was a cute little French hotel. Older, but nice. It needed new carpet and the elevator was scary old, but it suited our needs! We got to our room that was really just big enough to hold the bed (but free tv again! Yay!), opened the window and looked down the street to see the Eiffel Tower! Wow! I could not have asked for a better location! Ok, there are better locations, but not for the great rate we got!
When checking into our hotel, the desk clerk said she had a message for us from my cousin. My 1st cousin
twice removed (my great-grands are her grands) lives in Paris. I had spoken to her before leaving and we had planned on meeting up for dinner that night! So J and I mapped out a route to her apartment, and went to meet up with her! Well really, we mapped a route to the Hard Rock Café to get our collectibles, then to her apartment! I collect the HR pins, and J collects Zippos. We get one from every city we visit that has a Hard Rock! Well, except we didn't go in Berlin, or in Munich. In Berlin, it was clear across town and we were pooped and didn't want to pay a roundtrip taxi! In Munich it was across town and we just wanted to get to Garmisch before it got dark, cold, and the roads got too bad! So we'll have to go back and get those two!
Navigating the Paris Metro is easy after you've done it once! But doing it that first time is nerve-wracking! Trying to figure out which stop is close to you, and which stop is close to where you want to go, and which lines stop at each, and where
you can connect to get from one line to the other, all in a foreign language....it's a lot of figuring! But as I said, do it once and then it's a piece of cake! We got to the Hard Rock and the woman in line ahead of us was just discovering that she did not have her wallet to pay. It had been stolen! This, unfortunately, happens a lot in Europe! So use a front pocket wallet, gents! Ladies, use a purse with a zipper and zipper it closed always! And wear it cross-body! They are pro's at getting your money! In Germany, we saw ladies using their kids! The lady would distract your while the boy would take your wallet. He even wore gloves so it was a softer touch! In Paris, they would act like they were strangers to each other, but would be a team. One would have your attention, then the other could play "concerned citizen" and come put his arm around you saying you should move along cause you were being scammed, then one from the group would pick your pocket! It's like a profession over there! You just have to be aware of your
surroundings and of your things! Anyway...moving right along...
We took the metro over to Elizabeth's (my cousin) side of town. We had to walk a few blocks but it was nice! We found her building with no problems and met her up in her apartment! She was making us dinner! Here I thought we would go to dinner, but she was making it instead! So awesome! She decided to make us a very traditional French dinner from scratch! She got ideas from the French family she nannies for and created a 5-course masterpiece of French cooking for us! It was delectable! We started with a yummy ham and cheese quiche on a super flaky crust for the hors d'oeuvres, followed by the main dish of boeuf bourgiugnon and seasoned green beans. Oh my gosh! This was amazing! She put some bacon in the bourgiugnon, which is traditional French I guess. It was so good! Next was the greens and cheese course. We had two kinds of greens...Rocket and I forget what the other one was called. They were mixed with just some soft cheese and a drizzle of a vinaigrette. She offered us 3 cheeses to choose from: cow,
goat, and sheep! They were all good, but the goat was our favorite I think. The cheese course comes next, and that one included balls of the goat cheese, breaded and heated, then served with a specific bread. I can't remember what it's called, but she said it was peasant bread. It was very dense. I liked it, but she preferred baguette, so she served that too! Last was the snails. Chocolate snails! She was considering serving us actual snails, but they were not in season. The French eat only what is in season. Nothing is harvested and frozen for later use. If it's not in season, then they won't eat it! So we got the chocolate and caramel snails for our desert course! I wasn't complaining! Well, except for how full I was! It was soooo good! I'm pretty sure we both waddled happily all the way back to the hotel! We spent the rest of the night visiting with her, then headed back to get ready for the next day!
So with spending the evening with my cousin, and driving back to Dudeldorf on Thanksgiving day, we really only had one whole day to take in all
that Paris had to offer! My list of must-sees was fairly short---I really just wanted to be there! To walk the streets, breath the air, take in the sounds---I didn't need much else! But I did want to see a few choice things, so we set out a plan of attack, and then overslept! ha ha! You'd think having only one day would make us ready to hit the ground running! Well we slept till about 0830, then walked to the nearest Starbucks to collect our collectable mugs, grab some coffee and a muffin, THEN we hit the ground running! On our way to Starbucks we walked past Rue Cler. When I saw it I knew there was something significant about it, but I couldn't remember what. So I just took a picture and kept walking. Well now I discovered that the Rue Cler is the most famous market street in Paris! It has all the food shops, cafés, bakeries....everything! Man I wish I would have gone there for my macaroons! Next trip for sure!
So we set off on our adventure! I wanted to go to the Eiffel Tower first thing, since we only got to see the
top of it the night before, so we headed that way first. We came at it from the side of the Champ de Mars...the green park side. It was so breathtaking to see it up close, in all it's massive glory! Wow! What a marvel! At 1063 feet, the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 for the Exposition Universelle. It was only meant to last 20 years, but due to modern advancements, and encouraging scientific improvements, it has blessed us for more than a century! About 7 million people visit the tower each year. A person can purchase a ticket to take an elevator to the first platform, a ticket to the top, or a ticket to climb the 1665 steps to the top! Would anyone do that?
The ticket line was really short when we stopped by in the morning, but I had my heart set on going up after dark, and had a lot of other things I wanted to see, so we just gazed at it a while, snapped some photos, and said à tout à l'heure---see you later! We had originally planned on taking the metro down to our next stop, but decided on a
Our hotel...l'Hôtel Derby Eiffel
A cute boutique hotel. Not a chain, the elevator was tiny old scary! We had to give them our ket when we left so we would not loose it! Ha ha! They were very friendly though. Not at all rude. :) taxi instead. The metro station was still a little walk away, and we would have needed to connect again. A taxi was so much quicker! And fyi....there are taxi stands in Europe. You walk to the stands where taxis just wait in a line for the next fair. You don't "hail a taxi" in Europe.
So we had decided to start our walking tour at the farthest point we wanted to see, and work our way back. This meant we went strait to the Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Paris! Not Notre Dame University in the states---Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the largest and most well-known churches still in use. It was built in the 1100's. That alone is incredible! But when you look at the building; the architecture, the cavernous interior, the many stunning stained-glass windows, the carvings, the statues, the sculptures, the gargoyles.....it is awe-inspiring! I was on the verge of tears the whole time we were in there! It was so incredibly powerful and moving just to be in it's presence! I am so glad we went to Berlin first, because if I would have seen this Cathedral first, the Berlin Cathedral would have been wasted on me! I
wrote a lot of description in the photos of this, so I won't put it here again. The Cathédrale Notre-Dame du Paris is open every day and is free to the public. You can climb the stairs to the top of the towers to get a close-up view of the gargoyles, and a great view of the city for about 10€ per person. We had planned on going to the top of the Arc and Eiffel later in the day, and had a busy schedule as it was, so decided not to go to the top. We will definitely do it next time though!
We circled the cathedral and planned to walk up the opposite side of the river. We got to the bridge just below the cathedral and discovered it was completely covered in locks! Combination and key locks! It was the coolest discovery! So we bought a lock from the guy who sold them at the bridge, used his sharpie to write our names and date on it, and found a spot to lock it on the bridge! We kept the keys, so we'll have to see if we can find it there when we go back
Our room. Small, but nice
I forgot to take a photo what it was all made up, so this was us trying to fix our mess. lol! again! The side of the river we walked down, on the Quai de Montebello, was full of little stations for people to sell their wares. It was all art mostly. Paintings, posters, postcards, calendars, old retro signs and newspapers. There is an artsy part of Paris that we weren't able to go see, so I was sure glad we had this little bit here! We bought 4 prints from one of the first vendors we saw! And glad we did cause they just kept getting more expensive the further we walked! We walked up river, which is sort of west-northwest. We walked by many beautiful bridges, gorgeous buildings, St Michel Square, and up to the bridge called Pont Neuf, to cross the river and go over to the Louvre!
I knew that we weren't going to have time on this trip to go into the Louvre, but I at least wanted to see it and see the pyramids. So glad we did! Wow! I can't explain to you the sheer enormity, delicacy, and elaborateness of this building! There were statues everywhere! Ranging from just a face, to a head, to a full body! Even J was super impressed! And
you know how hard it is to "move" him! He was moved! I have never seen anything of such a grand scale. I can't wait to go back and see the inside! We took about 80 photos from every angle, then kept heading upriver, past the Arc de Triomphe de Carrousel (I wrote more on this in the photos) to the Tuileries Gardens. This garden was so serene and calm. Funny, really all of Paris was! Even though its a major metropolis, the energy is very clam and serene. Not like NYC that is very energetic, and Berlin that is very tough and defiant. Everything seemed leisurely in Paris, even though we were cramming a lot into one day!
So we wandered through the gardens, got a croissant from a vendor (OMG yum! No one does them like the French! No one!!), watched the sun peek out of the clouds, and took another 100 photos! 😊 Did I mention that I have over 500 of just Paris? Well I do. Consider yourself lucky that I narrowed them to 222! The Tuileries end at Place de la Concorde, where a huge 60m (197-ish feet) ferris wheel is currently housed! In
my research, I discovered that it is not always there, just for the end of year celebrations. So we were very lucky to have gone when we did! We rode it and took some more photos. Back down in the courtyard stands the Obélisque de Luxor, an ancient Egyptian Obelisk gifted to Paris. You can read more in the photos. Wish I would have gotten more and better photos of it! I bought a fresh caramel crepe from a vendor there....luscious!
Crossing at Concorde gets us to the bottom of Champs Élysées, finally! The Champs Élysées (pronounced shaumps lee-say) is to Paris what 5th Avenue is to NYC. It's the major high end shopping district. It houses all the nicest hotels, and most expensive apartments. It is the prime real estate of Paris. And we just happened to visit while it was decked out in an awesome Christmas Market! We wandered up the street looking at all the little huts. They had everything from specialty foods, to crafts. It was awesome! I got a true French beignet that had a Nutella filling....heaven! They are Nutella fanatics! I have never seen such huge jars of Nutella before! J got this
The lovely streets of Paris!
They have these parking lanes on the side of the avenues. potato-ham-cheese dish that he is still drooling over. Their food is so fresh, and so so good!
We purchased a few things, including a knit hat for me! Did I mention it was like 40°? And it was getting close to sunset, and getting colder, and getting windier, and we were heading to the top of the Arc...so ya, I got a hat! We walked the rest of the way up the Champs Élysées, ooh-ing and aw-ing as we went, (more details in the photos) and finally got to the Arc de Triomphe d'etoile. The "e'toile" translates to "of the star". The Arc sits in the center of the largest roundabout in Paris. Twelve avenues merge in a crazy traffic dance around the Arc, and from above, the 12 avenues fanned out resemble a star. It's really quite breathtaking! The Arc is massive at 164 feet tall! It's so much bigger in person than any photo I have seen! You can't cross the traffic circle, so you have to go down into the metro station to gain access to the Arc. All the walkways are underground. We got back up to the arch and it was even more impressive
close up! We ended up getting stuck behind a huge group of Asian school kids, so had to follow them up the 284 steps of a very narrow spiral staircase, of which I had to stop and catch my bearings and let my legs rest a few times! It was so worth it once we got to the top though! We had planned to be on the top of the Arc just before sunset, so we could see Paris in the day, and in the night! It could not have worked out more perfectly! We watched the sunset sort of behind the Eiffel Tower. It was so perfect! I still can't believe I ever was able to witness something so magnificent! It was windy up there though, and you know that hat I bought....well the bag somehow managed to find its way out of J's hand! We backtracked our steps around the viewing platform. He even went back down to the attic level and looked there...nothing! So ears frozen, but totally on cloud nine, we headed back down the winding stairs to make our way over to our last stop of the walking tour-- the Eiffel Tower!
As we
The lovely streets of Paris!
Rue Cler. The most famous Market street in Paris...wish we would have walked down it! Next time! were leaving, I thought of asking if there was a lost and found at the ticket booth. Naturally, they had no idea what a Lost&Found was, but she did understand that we had lost a blue bag and called on her radio to see if one was turned in. The guy on the other end said yes! We met him at the elevator, wait---there's an elevator to the top!?! lol! He had the bag and I had to tell him what was in it before he handed it over...kind of difficult with the language barrier. He understood white knit hat though, and ta-da...there it was! Woohoo!! Remember what I said about pick-pockets? Well not only did we not get pick-pocketed, but when we did actually lose something, and some nice person turned it in for us! 😊
So on goes the hat, and off we go to the Eiffel Tower! The walk took about 20 minutes maybe. I don't know...time is a mystery to me when I'm touristing! 😊 I remember we got there just after 6pm. We turned the last corner of buildings that was obstructing our view of the tower as the 6 o'clock lights went off
The lovely streets of Paris!
Some of the ducks still had feathers and almost all still had heads! 0.0 (more details in the photos!), then we were still standing in the ticket line when the 7 o'clock lights went off, and we were walking away as the 8 o'clock lights went off. The line was much longer this time, but again....so worth the wait! It cost 14,50€ (again, not a typo. We use the for currency, they use the ) per person to to go the very top. It was windy and cold, but it was clear and I was so thankful for that! The night before was very cloudy and we could barely see the top of the tower. The lower elevator of the tower goes up at a diagonal. Very disorienting! Then the upper elevator just goes strait up, fast and far! Each foot of the tower has an elevator, and I think they open more in the busy season. As it was, kind of slow, only one ticket counter and elevator was open, and it was on the SE foot of the tower. We came back down, as I said, it was about 8pm, we still had not eaten dinner....or a lunch really, my feet hurt, and we were cold. I had wanted to go
walk the other side of the Christmas Market at Champs Élysées, but I was pretty done at this point. We didn't even go back to the hotel to drop off our stuff cause I told J that if I got to our room, I would probably never leave! So we just went to the restaurant by our hotel that we walked by every time we left. It was called the Café des Officiers...probably something to do with the military school nearby. We had cheeseburgers and fries....amazing mouthwatering, perfect French fries! They are wide like steak fries, but not thick so they curl a little bit. So good! (though my favorite fries were in Belgium, and we'll get to those in the next blog!😉) Servers in France have a reputation for being rude, but, again, we had a good experience! He was friendly, attentive, and very professional! We still had to call him for the check though, because even in France, they take their time with dinner and will sit there for hours!
The food really revitalized us! We talked about what to do and decided that we are in Paris and should experience all we could! I still had
Eiffel Tower!
It. was. massive! Nothing could prepare me for how huge this was! Majestic! That's the only word for it! not bought macaroons, or an ornament, or postcards! So we headed back to the room to drop off some stuff, mapped a metro route to the Place de la Concorde, and went back to the Champs Élysées to walk the other side of the Christmas Market! I'm so glad we did! The other side had so many different booths! We walked up to the roundabout at Avenue Montaigne, where the large globe displays were! I wish I could have captured them all on one photo with no traffic! They were so magical! Then we walked back down the other side of the Christmas Markets back to Place de la Concorde. We got to the end of Champs Élysées just after midnight. The booths closed at midnight and the last 6 or 8 were closing as we walked by. We got back to the metro and back to our hotel to see the Eiffel lights one last time! *sigh* I could spend every day like that!
I'm sure we slept amazing that night with all the walking we did! We got up at a decent hour the next day, because it was Thanksgiving and I wanted to get to Lisa's
well before dinner! We took the hour long train ride back to Disneyland, and got the amazing super fresh and tasty orange juice! I think we were on the road by 9 or 10, and headed out on our 4-hr, expensive drive back to Germany! Funny story: we stopped at a gas station, one we had stopped at on our way in, and I found a box of what I thought were 30 macaroons at a great price. So I bought them thinking I would offer them for Thanksgiving dinner. At the register, I could understand enough to know that the one checker was asking the other if we could speak or understand French. I thought it was because we told him what gas pump we were on in French. Anyway...fast forward to Lisa's house and me presenting to her the box that has macaroons all over it and the #30 clearly understandable....she opens it...Not macaroons! But now I do have a super cool macaroon baking set with a cookbook with 30 recipes!! Ha ha! No wonder it was so cheap! Luckily I had brought her some fancy macaroons from Paris! 😉
So we spent Thanksgiving with them and
Eiffel Tower
One of my favorites! :) some of their friends that came over! We had all the fix-ins! Fried turkey, baked ham, pumpkin bread, sweet potato soufflé, and a pineapple roll cake! Frank, Annika, and their sweet baby Kathrin came over from Luxembourg, so we got to meet them, and they will be heavily featured in the next segment---Battlefields and Bastogne!
I know I said I would keep this short, but really, I was reigning myself in! I was completely smitten with Paris! I know I will go back! There were so many things I wanted to see that we had to skip! A person really would need to spend a week in Paris just to get a decent tour of it! And even then, you would still miss a lot! Here's hoping that I will get a return trip, I will get a second chance to see the things I didn't know I was looking at, and a chance to see a lot more that I missed! I hope this gave you a little taste of Paris! See you in the next segment! 😊
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Mom & Garry
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Your tour of Paris
Thank you for your tour and wonderful narrative of the places you went. I could almost smell the air and hear all the sounds. So happy you and J had a trip of the lifetime. Hope there are many more to come