Bonjour!

Paris was a really fun trip! I think we definitely packed in everything we wanted to see, and more! We had the Paris museum pass for 2 days which let us in unlimited museums for 30 euros per person. That was a great deal and I highly recommend it! Here is a little tour of our tour in Paris!

Side note: Paris Metro gets a HUGE thumbs down compared to the London Underground. I am so thankful that I am here using the public transit and not there! Multiple people pushed through the turnstile behind me on my ticket! That would never happen here bc there are employees at the turnstiles. Also, it was extremely dirty and smelled like pee and had graffiti everywhere! Epic fail Paris! It still got us from point A to B, although I think we must have walked close to 12 miles this weekend!

Day 1 we checked in to our hotel and walked all the way down the Champs Elysees to get some dinner and see the Arc du Triomphe!
Beautiful!
After dinner we walked all the way down to the Arc on the Champs Elysees

Walking to the cruise!
Jared looking handsome before we "set sail" with 500 other people on our romantic cruise! Including the middle school tour group from England...haha!
Sunset on the cruise to end Day 1!
Day 2 started out at Versailles. It was great to see once, but I will never go again! Too many people!
I can't believe someone actually painted all these ceilings!
As you can see, it was jam packed with people. Not the most fun experience. Esp bc many people did not understand that you needed to KEEP WALKING! Also, it must be an American thing to not touch things at art museums or landmarks. Esp. at the Louvre! People were leaning up against ancient Hellenistic statues to take pictures. What the heck people! I almost yelled at someone so Jared thought it was best that we leave! Haha!
Gardens...I think we walked a total of 5 miles just at Versailles that day!
Next we went to the Orsay Museum. It used to be a train station in the 1800s. Amazing impressionistic art inside! One of our favorite museums. They also had a very interesting exhibit called Crime and Punishment. No pictures allowed inside, so you don't get to see any of the art!
We finished Day 2 with the Pompidou Modern Art Museum and then got some dinner at a great French restaurant in the Latin Quarter.
One of Jared's favorites at the Pompidou. Deflated drums! Now that's my kind of drum set! JK!
My favorite at the Pompidou Center! I wanted to take it home with me!
Day 3 started out with the Louvre (we only made it through about 1/3 of the museum and it took 3 hours!)
Jared outside the Louvre
Outside the Louvre in the Place du Concorde
After the Louvre we walked through the Tulieries Gardens (we had some delicious savory crepes for lunch while it rained, and then it stopped right after we were done!)
Next stop, the Orangerie Museum housed 8 wall length Water Lily paintings by Monet. This was absolutely breathtaking!

Me in front of the Paris Opera! It was amazing for me to see this, considering the composer I just finished my thesis on last year was the conductor of the Paris Opera for a short time! Wow! An incredible building as well!

We went to Notre Dame and made it right before closing time (we also got to see the crypts which had ruins from a previous city that was found underneath the island)
Rose Window (Beautiful!)
We got to spend our last night in Paris with this view!

Bye Bye Paris!

The funniest part for me was going "home" to London after our trip. Our flights were great except I realized that German is a scary language. Both our flights were on Lufthansa which gave us a layover in Cologne. I don't know any German, so it was a little weird to try and communicate with some people in the airport that didn't know English. Maybe I should have learned a few German phrases. Oh well! It was hard enough to figure out some French...maybe before a trip to Germany, though! Stefani, I needed your help!

The best part of the trip may have been La Duree. It is a French tea room and restaurant. Very fancy and the best pastries/desserts, etc. I have ever had. We immediately looked it up when we got home, and they have one in London! We are super excited! If you come to visit, we will definitely take you there!