The Cabes in Paris

Friday afternoon, after Matthew and I got off work, we all took the train up to Paris for the weekend. After some drama the day before with the first hotel that I had booked, we booked at a great hotel right beside the Louvre. If you are headed to Paris anytime soon, check out the Grand Hotel du Palais Royal. They have the most comfortable hotel beds I have slept in while in France, and an incredible buffet breakfast that was included in our room rate. After figuring out which metro to take, we arrived at the hotel about 10pm. We decided to go for a walk since it was still light outside and we were all excited to be in Paris! We walked acrosss the street from our hotel, through a corridor at the Louvre that opened up to the big glass pyramid in the courtyard. From there we turned right and walked through the Jardin des Tuileries, crossed the insane 50 lane round-about (not really 50 lanes, but it seems that way!), and down Avenue des Champs Elysees. After a stop at Starbucks, we headed back to the hotel.

Saturday, we had a full day planned. The first stop was the Eiffel Tower. There was an insane line to go up the Eiffel Tower, so after some picture taking, we walked along the river and towards the Arc de Triomphe. We found a great market on our way, and were amazed at the different types of meat that were for sale. We even witnessed the unfortunate beheadings of some rabbits (already dead, although that didn't make it any better) that were being sold. I was amazed by all of the beautiful flowers. At the Arc, we climbed the spiral staircase to the top, where we had an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower and down the Champs Elysees. It was also quite amusing to look down and watch the cars drive in the round-about that goes around the Arc. There was one van, must have been a tourist, that got stuck in the middle and just sat there for several minutes, unable to move with the traffice rushing all around him. I was also able to find the name of my great-great-great grandfather- Louis-Nicolas Davout, one of Napolean's right hand men, known as the "Iron Marshal". Unfortunately, his name was spelled wrong in the engraving- Davoust. Just before an afternoon downpour, we ducked into a restaurant for lunch. After lunch, we did some shopping (mostly window shopping) along the Champs Elysees. The next stop was Notre Dame and Sainte Chappelle. Unfortunately there was a really long line for Sainte Chappelle, and they were stopping anyone else from getting in line. We then headed back to the hotel for a little R&R before going to dinner. We had asked the girl at the front desk for a restaurant recommendation and she had suggested a little brasserie just around the corner. Three waiters rotated taking care of us, each with a very different personality. We had a lot of fun joking with them, in French and in English. At the end of the meal (after some amazing creme brulee!!), our main waiter brought us all glasses of Champagne to thank us for being the best table of the night!

Matthew had to catch a flight to Canada right after breakfast on Sunday. After he left, Annette and Steven headed to the Louvre. Mike and I headed to the Montparnasse area for the Sunday art market. I was really hoping to find some starving artists with great deals on their artwork. We did find some amazing artists, but everything was much more than I wanted to spend. After a quick tour through the Montparnasse cemetary, we headed back to meet Steven and Annette for lunch. After lunch I headed to the train station to come back to Clermont. Steven, Annette, and Mike flew out the next day.

We had a great 2 weeks with the Cabe family. I don't think we could have squeezed anything else into our time together! Now Matthew and I have less than a week before Amy and Trey will be here! Keep checking back for blogs about their visit!

Christmas in Paris, Day 2

Monday, December 22, 2008

Monday morning we woke up and, after searching on the internet for the closest Starbucks, Matthew headed out for some coffee. Along the way, he stopped to help a stranded Parisian girl kick start her moped. After breakfast, Mom was fighting a cold, so Matthew and I headed out to explore the shops around our hotel. Apparently, the area we were staying in is known for its shopping. There were lots of discount stores (although most of the "discounts" included clothing that originally was 800 euros for a shirt, now reduced to a mere 250 euros!). There were a lot of stores that had affordable clothing, including a huge H&M store. I was on the hunt for a new handbag, and possibly some brown boots- if the price was right. Matthew says that we stopped to look at the windows or went into at least 80 shoe stores. I think that is a slight exaggeration!
Monday late afternoon we took the metro (we learned our lesson about walking the day before) to the Eiffel Tower. We arrived just as the sun had set and Eiffel Tower was being lit up with blue lights, starting at the bottom. We worked our way across the lawn towards the tower, stopping along the way to take pictures. The weather was misty, and the sky was pretty foggy. Luckily, the fog cleared enough so that we could see the top of the tower. The fog created a blue "aura" around the Eiffel Tower, that looked pretty cool in pictures. At 6:00, the Eiffel Tower started an amazing light show, with flashing lights covering the whole thing. The picture doesn't quite capture how amazing it looked in person.
We took the metro back towards our hotel and found a really cool restaurant for dinner. After dinner, and some excellent creme brulee with vanilla bourbon, we headed to the hotel.