Day 1 in Paris--December 30, 2011

So my sister and I went to Paris for New Years!  We left the kids with a family that we love, and they had a blast.  They kept asking to go back even after we came home!  That was such a blessing, though, to know that they were in the very loving, capable hands of this family.

So on the 30th, we woke up at 4:00 AM to get to the bus. We went with a group, which I had thought would be nice. Well, at least I thought it would be safer and a better deal than booking a Eurostar ticket and hotel on our own.  It wasn't bad, but the driver had us stop WAY too many times.  I think he just needed a cigarette break, but we were all just tired of stopping! It's 3 hours to Dover and then about 3 more to Paris.  However, with all the stinking stops, plus the 90 minutes ferry across, we didn't get to our hotel until after 4 PM!! Ugh!  Well, now we know.  Here I am in Dover with our bus behind me.

My sister was suffering from a cold I gave her. I felt so bad! I had it a few days before we left and slept a ton one day and then felt much better.  She was still having some bad sniffles, so the first thing we did when we arrived was to ask the hotel clerk where we could get her some medicine. Luckily, there was a pharmacy right up the street in the market.  As we started walking in the direction we were pretty sure it was, I saw some parking guys and decided to stop and make sure we were getting close.  "Excuse moi, ou est la pharmacie?"  I was so proud of my French! But then he started spouting out the answer and I had to shake my head and say, "Parlez-vous anglais?"  He didn't, but he pointed to where it was and we recognized the word "green."  So we were off.  It was harder than we expected inside, though, as only one worker knew English and we could NOT read the medicine boxes! I don't remember that much French from high school! (In fact, I don't think we really learned medicinal terms.)

Our next adventure was the RER.  Whew! We had a small map, but they gave us a more detailed one when we bought our tickets. It took us a long time to make sure we were getting on the right train, but we did it!  It was so nice b/c our hotel was right at the stop. So no more than 20 minutes and you are pretty much anywhere you want to be.

Our first stop was to the Printemps shopping center. The lights they had up for Christmas were awesome.  You can barely see them in this picture, but you can see the big shopping center behind me.



Arc de Triumph!



We left the Arc and walked down the Champs Elysees. That was fun! Then we headed over this bridge and caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower! It was SO foggy, but you can see the bottom in the background.

We tried to go to the Hard Rock for dinner, but there was a 2 hour wait.  Their food is good, but it was after 8PM and I get cranky when I don't eat.  We had seen this cute fondue place down the street, so we headed back down. Oh my yumminess!  I got the most gorgeous cheese fondue in the world! Oh!  It came with potatoes and lots of bread, but my sis was worried I wouldn't have enough to eat. No worries, though. I was stuffed and it was SO good!  This is a total goober picture of me, true to life, though, eyes closed and enjoying fondue.

 

Opera Palais Garnier 



Yes, there is a story here. I saw these pictures as we were walking to go under the tunnel under the Arc de Triumph.  They were selling them 1 print for 6 Euros or 2 for 10.  But the canvas paintings were a million times better and 65 Euros for the large ones. He said, "Oh, I have smaller ones!"  He was selling those for 35. Those were nicer and more in the price range I was willing to pay.  He says, "For you 28." Still, we were ready to walk on. I wanted one, but didn't want to walk around with it and it was still a bit pricey. He asked what I would pay for them, and I told him 2 for 20.  (Hey, I needed one and my sister needed one, right?)  He pretty much laughed in my face, but in the end, yep, that's what we paid. Definitely the best deal we got all weekend. I was very proud of my bargaining skills.  (Mine is the one on the left and my sis got the one on the right.)