Paris City Streets
We've been back in California for a whole week since our whirlwind vacation in France. My jet lag has subsided enough to allow me to edit a few photographs so I've started with The City of Lights.
Having never been to France I was as nervous as I was excited about our trip. Will Parisians understand my broken French? Will we be able to navigate the Metro? Is our AirBnB in a good location? Will we be able to find vegetarian friendly restaurants?
The minute we stepped off the airplane, all of these fears melted away (possibly from the lack of sleep) and we just began living moment to moment.
At the other end of our train ride from Charles de Gaulle airport was a city unlike any I have ever imagined, never the less, seen! I suppose I was expecting a City much like San Francisco, except, you know, with the Eiffel Tower. What I found was, by American standards, an ancient City, with breathtaking monuments on every corner.
I expected beautiful architecture, but I did not expect all the structures to be so massive in scale. The name "City of Lights" doesn't just refer to street lighting, or the sparkling Eiffel Tower, when the sun touches many of these buildings, one can see glints of glittering gold guiding, everywhere.
The Seine River, Paris France.
As much as I was impressed with the buildings, I was as impressed with Parisians in general. There is an extreme sense of cultural unity here. Everyone walks. I mean everyone. We did as well, clocking seven to ten miles a day. I hypothesize that this is how the French stay so thin, it certainly isn't because of a lean diet!
Patisseries, boulangerie, and brasseries on every street. I have never been so obsessed with miniature cakes before in my lifetime. The baguette is something to be revered and enjoyed daily. Parisian's line up at their local boulangerie to pick up their morning breakfast and eat it as such, ripping off the heel and enjoying it on their walk to work.
Chris did have trouble finding great vegetarian options, so we fell back on Italian much of the time! We did find a few great cafes that offered amazing salad options like the one above. I of course ordered the Tartare. Wine was surprisingly inexpensive everywhere we went. Perhaps I am accustomed to San Francisco prices, but a glass of good wine for three to six euros seems extremely reasonable
Our two AirBnb homes in Paris we're located in The Marais. We chose this location because of it's medieval city streets, art galleries, and location near many of the attractions we wanted to see. Our first day in Paris and we found this colorful little street scene. What does this remind all my San Franciscan friends of?
Jardin du Luxembourg, the French Senate building
One thing I absolutely loved about France was the landscaping. Real Amaranth overflowed gardens and window boxes! This garden was at the rear of Notre Dame. More on this visit in a later post!
The medieval avenues, boutiques, and epic landmarks could have kept us busy for the full ten days, however as usual we had a pretty jam packed schedule with many more sites to see. Coming soon!
