Paris ... the rest of the trip

Where did I leave off? Oh right, it's Christmas Day! Christmas was the only day I was actually allowed to sleep in, because most places were closed and we only had plans to visit the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe.

We hopped on the train and made our way to the Eiffel Tower, which was not nearly as small as I had sized it up in my head. For my Bostonian people, it makes the Pru look like a lego building. Naturally, since it was one of the only places actually open on Christmas day it was mobbed, so I didn't take any pictures with my good camera. Torin and I climbed all the way up to the top, and didn't use the elevator except to get to the tippy-top, but those stairs don't really count because they aren't meant to have thousands of people walk up and down them a day. (Let me just casually add that I did it in heels.)

The one above is looking up from the second tier, the one below is looking up at it from almost directly under it.

This is the view from the street... Can you tell it's gigantic?! Nope.. Not at all.

When we finally made it back down all those treacherous stairs, we went in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. I was hoping to get to the top, because I was told the view is even better than the Eiffel Tower, but it was closed due to bad weather. Regardless the Arc is another landmark thats size surprised me. It's size and beauty was really quite remarkable. 

Along our Christmas day journey, I discovered macaroons. Let me just start by saying, you have not lived until you have had a bag full of street vendor macaroons. I have never in my life tasted anything so scrumptious. Even Torin liked them, and those who know him, know this is a big deal because he "doesn't do sweets" (except, evidentially, macaroons and white chocolate truffles). What flavors were they you ask? Heavenly, amazing, Nutella, delicious and perfect.

Christmas night we came home, had a lovely meal of cheese, baguette, oranges and macaroons. We got to Facetime with all of our wonderful family members and then we watched classic Rudolf thanks to Youtube.

NEXT DAY!

We made our way to the Hotel Invalides - which is not really a hotel, this confused me every time Torin said it's name. It's actually a museum dedicated to war and wounded soldiers. It used to be a hospital to help rehabilitate veterans, now only part of it is a rehabilitation center and the rest is museum. We entered into hubby's paradise, there was armor and guns and all kinds of things war related. And might I share that these people were SHORT. The armor was about as tall as I am, but think about all the layering they wore under it. 

After Invalides, we wandered the streets and came across my museum paradise... CARTIER. Yes, that's correct, there was a Cartier exhibit while we were in Paris. It was another exhibit that was really crowded, but seeing all these beautiful jewels was totally worth it. There were tiaras, pearls the size of my fist, rubies, diamonds, everything you could imagine, with a little bit of Cartier history thrown in the mix.

Since this was our last full day of Paris (and our Paris museum pass - totally worth the investment) we decided to head to the Pantheon. There are a whole bunch of famous dead people buried here, Voltaire was the only name I recognized... It was under construction, so I wasn't able to get a full picture of the outside dome and pillars of the Pantheon. (The construction is projected to be finished in 2015 for those of you planning to travel to Paris.)

After the Pantheon we took the train back into Paris to go to the Musee Rodin. This museum is dedicated to the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. The actual museum is former Hotel Biron, which is where Rodin produced a large portion of his work. You can see his sculptures throughout the garden that surrounds the museum. I was pretty impressed by the sculpture pieces and I am willing to bet that garden is spectacular in the spring and summer.

After Rodin we strolled up and down the Champ-Elysees to grab dinner and HOT WINE! Umm, hello!? Why was this the very first time I'd ever had hot wine? Who knows. Let me start by saying YUM. It was a really great experience, and Paris is so eco friendly (or maybe not) that when you buy the wine it comes in a re-usable cup and if you bring the cup back to the vendor where you bought it you get money off the next time you refill your cup.

We headed back to the hotel beeecauuuuseee, it was time for my Christmas present. My husband is the most ingenious gift giver, this year for Christmas he made me a card from my Cricut that said good for two tickets to Moulin Rouge (champagne included) WITH a puzzle of the front of the Moulin Rouge. Please go on to tell me how crafty your husband is.... I'm willing to bet he has nothing on Sgt. Google.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, they turn off the lights and will kindly ask you to leave mid show if you're caught, so I got this one picture of us from the outside. But if you want to go and see what it's all about you can click here and see the different type of performances they have throughout the show. (Be advised, there is a snake performance. It scared the daylights out of me.)

Our last day in Paris was spent doing exactly what I wanted to do... SHOPPING. Okay, I didn't actually buy anything, but I looked, and I touched. We went to Louboutin, and I almost tried on a pair of shoes. I didn't though because the last time I had a pedicure was about a year ago, and I felt my disgusting feet did not deserve the shoe decadence of Louboutin. Don't worry, when I go back I will most certainly give myself a pedi every day for a month before I head there so I can try the shoes on.

After Louboutin we wandered around trying to find Chanel... We found Chanel jewelry, and then decided to just go to Galeries Lafayette. 

That's outside the Chanel jewelry store. Galeries Lafayette is a HUGE designer department store, and so I thought for sure I'd be able to find something Parisian and fabulous that I could bring home and show off. Alas, it was mobbed by fat tourists and Asains. The line to get into the Chanel boutique was wrapped around the first floor. Needless to say, I came home without anything overly expensive and fabulous from Chanel or Dior.. (Yes, I cried as we left the department store.)

Torin and I were so happy to get on the plane and come home to our little Quinto town and Zeusy Bear, as fabulous as Paris was, we both had enough of the city.

PARIS EXTRAS:

xoxo