Americans in Paris

Today we fell in love with Paris. I can't even count how many times Dave turned to me and said, "I really like this city." We have been going since 8:30 this morning and we milked Paris until midnight. We had so many great experiences today, from sights to sounds to taste - it will be difficult to share them all.

The day started after a solid 9 hours of sleep. The sun poured into the windows and I actually forgot that I was supposed to feel jetlagged. The first thing I did was get outside for a 5-mile run through Luxenbourg Park. I could get used to running there every morning. There was a nice path around the entire edge of the park along the fence. I ran for about a quarter mile and then the park opened up to a gorgeous garden with perfectly manicured lawns (with dozens of people lined up in perfect rows on pilates mats) and the most vivid pink and purple flowers I think I've ever seen. And at the end of the gardens was a huge palace that has been used as a home, a prison and as a Senate. Running around that park loop three times was a great way to start the day.

When I got back, I woke Dave up and we headed out to explore. First things first, we were starving, and Dave needed his coffee. We wandered into the heart of St. Germain des-Pres and found the famous Cafe de Flore (frequented by literary types in its early days). We sat out on the sidewalk and had a wonderful late breakfast. I had a vegetable quiche and cafe au lait. Dave had a ham and cheese omelet.




Fully fueled for the day, we headed along the Seine over to the Musee D'Orsay to soak in some great impressionist art. We spent about 90 mins there staring at works by Degas, Renior, Monet, Rodin, Van Gogh. It was wonderful.

Then we took a long walk through the Place de la Concorde (previewing where the Tour will be rolling in two weeks from now). From there, we took the metro up to Montmarte. We were spilled into hilly, narrow streets lined with stores, markets and cafes. Sure, it was touristy and crowded, but I loved it anyway. We wandered up to the famous square filled with painters selling their art. I vividly remember going there 11 years ago with my mom. She told me to wander around the square and find the artist that I liked the best and she would buy me a painting. I did that, and found a small canvas painting of a Paris city scape. My mom took a picture of me with the artist and we glued it to the back. Well this time, Dave and I wandered the square - and there he was, the same artist, selling the same paintings. And I still liked them best. I talked with him and he said that he's been painting there for 35 years. I told him the story of how I bought a painting from him 11 years ago. He was very kind and very happy that I came back. The moment made me realize how special it was that my mom took me to these places when I was young, and why the trip was so important to her. I missed her a lot and was very thankful for the memories we made together.

We headed further up the hill of Montmarte to the beautiful church of Sacre-Coeur that paints the sky in the hills high above Paris. The views of the city from the hill were spectacular. But it was toursity, with a street performer doing a not-so-good rendition of a Michaeol Jackson song in a big group sing along on the steps leading up to the church. Nevertheless, it was beautiful - and an important site to see.

We had long since burned through our breakfast, and so we did a typical Parisian thing and bought crepes and sat on the side of the road in the square and enjoyed our yummy treat.

From Montmarte we took the Metro back toward our hotel, and I took Dave over to see Luxenbourg Park. Apparently all of Paris enjoys that park in the afternoons. It was a gorgeous day and we sat with our feet in the giant fountain and people watched until it was time to go back to the hotel to change for dinner.




We had a 40-min break in the hotel room - which I used to Skype with my grandparents back home (where all is going well!). Then we headed out for a night on the town. I had made 8pm dinner reservation at La Boussole, a few blocks from our hotel. It was a wonderful little restaurant with stone walls, hardwood floors and cafe chairs. It's specialty was French food with a heavy use of spices. I orderd goat cheese wrapped with filo pastry, followed by a wonderful lamb tarine with couscous. Dave had carpacchio as a starter and poppy-seed crusted chicken with an avocado cream sauce. It was all really tasty.

The great thing about Paris is that it stays light until about 10:30 in the summertime. It was 945 when we were done with dinner and we headed over to the illuminated Eiffel Tower. It did not disappoint. We sat in the park under the tower and just stared up at the momument for awhile. Then we walked until we were standing right under it looking up. And all of a sudden we heard a huge roar of a crowd nearby. It turned out that on the other side of the tower the city had a giant screen set up and thousands of people were gathered to watch the final game of the World Cup. It was quite a celebration and it was great to be there. When Spain won, fireworks went off and people ran through the streets celebrating with their Spanish flags draped around them. The metro was pretty animated with Spain fans on the ride back to St. Germain des-Pres as well.




Back in our home neighborhood, Dave found some lemon ice cream and we wandered back through the side streets, holding hands, tired, but happy and found ourselves back at our hotel around midnight. All in all, it was a wonderful, very full, first day in Paris. Now, we're beginning to remember what jetlag feels like. Time for bed!