Thursday, March 27, 2014

Baguettes, Brie, and Berthillon

For the sake of documenting our fabulous trip to Paris, this posting will be a bit more detailed than usual in the hopes that it will be recreated by myself and others. 

What. A. Trip. I keep writing sentences and deleting them because my words aren't coming anywhere near to capturing just how lovely it was to spend four days exploring the beauty of Paris with my two dear friends. Each time I visit, I fall more in love with the city that I once detested for its haughty waiters, sketchy metro and long lines; having visited a few more times, my previous perceptions couldn't have further from the truth. While I am certainly no expert, this past trip was a perfect "First-Visit-to-Paris" adventure that I feel compelled to share our itinerary with the hopes that others will be able to use it as well!

On a Monday, we took the 6 AM train to the city and navigated the crowded metro to our apartment near Notre Dame. I've taken to seeking AirBNB properties in the St. German/Latin Quarter Arrondissements (had to look up the spelling of that one!) because I love the proximity to the sites and the little shops peppered throughout the streets. We stayed here, and seriously it was one of the nicest places I've stayed at with AirBNB; plus the owner was incredibly nice and helpful. Stay here if you go!

weee! I slept up here!

After checking in we immediately set out to explore. If you're doing Paris for the first time, don't attempt to cram it in to a couple of days because you'll end up hating it like Mike & I did in the beginning. (The girls and I were sad to leave even after four days of being there!)

We started our stay with Notre Dame and walking along the Seine. Can I say how much I loved visiting in March when there were no lines and it wasn't miserably hot? So worth the risk of spring showers; I think it helped that we visited during the week as well. 

Hey! It's Notre Dame!

 shot #1 that I was berating myself for not lugging the big camera on this trip...

The Latin Quarter came next... quite touristy but fun to walk through nonetheless. Whatever you do, don't get sucked in to the restaurants there. No bueno.

Our stroll continued along the Seine stopping quite frequently at the used book stalls that line the street, eventually ending up at the Louvre. I insisted the girls take the obligatory "Look at me I'm touching the top of the pyramid!" shots:



No shame in dumb tourist photos!

It was also on this day that we went down into the Louvre to buy the "Paris Museum Pass" to use later. More on that in the next post, but according to our sweet friend Kate, you can find a secret entrance to the Louvre by the mini Arc du Triumph (called the Carousel) instead of "waiting in line with the schleps at the pyramid." Thanks, Kate!

Because the metro happened to be free that day, we opted to take it to the Eiffel Tower. Surely you can walk, but I've found that you're less exhausted at the end of the day if you figure out the metro or awesome bike system that Paris offers. 


Behold...the Eiffel tower in all it's glory!
And crepes. Not the best if you get them from right next to the tower, but sufficient. 



Now, for my biggest travel tip of the day-- wherever you go, consider taking a bike tour on your first day to get an overview of the city! Look on TripAdvisor for a highly rated company and just do it, regardless if you haven't been on a bike in a while. We had a FANTASTIC time on the Fat Tire night tour (I've done it in Paris twice now) which takes you to the major sights at night and gives you a little history about each one. At the end of the tour, you take a boat tour on the Seine and watch the Eiffel Tower all lit up sparkly while drinking wine. Yep, real life. 

 i love to ride my bicycleeee i love to ride my biiiike

Riding our bikes in circles around the courtyard of the empty Louvre was easily one of the highlights of the trip!


Did I mention you stop for delicious ice cream half way through? Forget that your hands are already freezing and dig in!


We were quite tuckered out by the end of the day, what with our early train and walking 11 miles that day. But oh, what a good start to an amazing trip! More to follow in the preceding days... I'm late for our weekly Thursday night brewery visit :)



Day 1 Itinerary
-10 AM arrival, check in, freshen up
-Grab a baguette sandwich on the walk over
-Notre Dame (1 hr)
-Latin Quarter (stop for macaroons) 
-walk to Louvre, through Tuilleries on way to Metro 
-Metro to Eiffel Tower (eat a crepe)
-6PM Fat Tire Bike Tour (ice cream & wine on trip) 






Thursday, March 13, 2014

German Carnival

A couple weekends ago we decided to give Carnival a try. Now, I don't know how the rest of the world celebrates, but in Germany, it involves a lot of old guys dressing up in sweet costumes and strutting around like they own the town.



Mike, Dan, Martha and I took the s-bahn 45 minutes out to Mainz, a smaller city near Frankfurt known to have a decent Carnival scene. We waited an hour and a half for the parade, which we soon realized was for children. And by 'for children,' I mean it was a parade with the local kindergarteners as the marchers, with your friendly local marching band donning short skirts and playing the triangle. It was strange... maybe we should have known when realizing we were the only adults hanging over the railing trying to score candy. 



At least the day provided excellent people watching opportunities!




 I have my "I-love-Germany" face on again...



On the way home, Dan was accosted by a drunk lady on the train who wanted to draw a heart on his face with her mascara. She was relentless, even to the point of chasing Dan up and down the aisles. Finally, Martha had the brilliant idea of telling her to draw someone on the police officer's face, who promptly kicked her off at the next stop. Win for Martha!



The next three days we traveled to Cologne for their own celebration with our friend Vikas and his own two friends who flew in from the states, this time festively dressing up in costumes of our own. They had American flag onesies; people kept asking them for a picture!




Mike was a parrot, and I was just red and warm. Feel free to ignore the beers in each hand. And the special facial expression. 

We found a great local bar with older people dressed up and decided to park it for a while. Cologne is proud of its kölsch beer which comes served in smaller glasses, and traditionally will continue to be replaced one after the other by the server without you asking until you tap out and place your coaster over the top. 

 Imagine loud German music and this guy twirling his scarf over his head. Yep. 




The Americans and the communists attempt to find a common ground




So completely inappropriate, but kind of funny at the same time. There were quite a few people dressed as monks/nuns/Jesus/terrorists, stuff that wouldn't fly in the states...


Phone died after this, which was probably a good thing. 



Oh! And there was a cathedral--an incredible one at that:




(Not the main cathedral) 


Check that one off the bucket list!