Oui Love Paris!

 

I was extremely nervous to go to Paris. People told me horror stories of rude French people and I was petrified about not knowing the language. I worked on my French for three months solid before I went in fear of causing an international incident! Well lo and behold Paris is full of the pleasant people, excellent service and every time I tried to speak my ridiculous French, I was greeted back in English (except for the last day...apparently my Bonjours had improved to the point where people responded back in French...and then I made a face like the ground just shook and they went back to English). 

Our first stop was the Louvre. I loved it! I know the Louvre is so large and so consuming that you either love it or hate it. I'm sad to say that I do not have a good grasp on art history and have not spent a lot of time in art museums. Knowing I was no aficionado, I was really surprised by how moved I was by the experience. I felt things! I was in awe! I even teared up occasionally. Brandon hung in there with me and seemed to enjoy it. 

 

This was one of my favorites. The picture doesn't do it justice. It just pierced my mom heart. If you could just see  how she looking at her child. I think I prefer paintings to photography because they typically convey emotion more authentically. You can't ask a model to look lovingly on their child and have it look as convincing as a painting does. It's also less awkward to stare at a painting than a photograph. It's easier to be immersed without self consciousness.   

 

In the Louvre, they had a whole section dedicated to the apartments of Napoleon I and Napoleon III. I've known about the French Revolution and how destructive it was to French artifacts and history, but to see their crown jewels (above) compared to the entire museum display of London's made me sad. Granted, I've been to Versailles and after seeing that luxurious monstrosity I would have wanted to riot, ransack and melt down all of their booty too. 

 

I cannot say enough about how many stairs there are in Europe. And I cannot say enough about how grateful I was for them...because I ate a lot of really tasty French food and this is the only way that I was able to fit in a single seat on the flight home. 

 

This was the Palace de Vendome which was right outside our first hotel. We stayed in a great spot. We were able to walk to just about anything we wanted to see and had some great restaurants nearby. 

 

Our first full day in Paris we did a historic walking tour and I loved it. We started here, at the very center of all of France. It's called Point 0 and it's right in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral. On our walk we saw street performers, bought art in the street, went to the Deportation Memorial, and saw some of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen. 

 

While I loved Notre Dame, it was no Westminster Abbey. In Westminster Abbey I lit a candle and added our family to their prayer roll. At Notre Dame I would have had to pay 5 euro for the same. Pfft! 

 

The inside of Notre Dame, which was SO beautiful. 

 

And of course, being the good Mormons we are, we stayed for Mass. It was challenging. I didn't know when to sit, stand and kneel and it was in French, but I can still say I've been to Mass at Notre Dame which is something!

 

This was taken inside San Chapelle which is famous for it's stain glass windows. It has depictions of over a 1,000 scenes from the bible and is breath taking. 

 

The Supreme Court of France. Their lawyers wear black robs and ruffled collars. I am going to try to bring that back. We look so scruffy next to them. It was really a neat thing to see. 

 

We popped into a museum that was a former castle which was turned into the prison where they held prisoners before they were executed during the French Revolution. This is a letter from Robespierre who himself was held in this prison and eventually executed. They had a display with a name listed for every person who was sent to the guillotine along with their crime....one included just being the sister of a royal.   

 

We had a great dinner right by the Eiffel. I had all the good stuff- foie gras, escargot. Brandon tried the foie gras but when I told him it was force fed fatty goose liver, he turned as green as hericot vert! We didn't actually go to the top, we stayed at the bottom and had a lack luster crepe, sat by the Seine, watched the dazzling light show and had a wonderful time. 

 

Mr. Paris himself. Right after we took this picture we found a rat who was running around in the gardens nearby. It was kind of a nice sight. Paris and rats like peanut butter and jelly. 

 

You can't really tell, but this is right by the river. I love that there are so many places you can walk right to the water. What I do not love? Paris is rather stinky. I sat by some stinky people and boy! can you smell when you're in the metro.

 

Who got a free suite upgrade? 

 

Of course we had to do Versailles. The chateau, the gardens, the summer homes...all 1,045 miles of it.  It was beautiful! At the end of the day, we paid 7 euro and took the tram back to the chateau. It was funny because pretty much everyone on the tram was overweight and American. Being European is a lot of work!

 

We decided to rent a row bot and row on the canal. It should have been romantic except A.) I was constantly concerned we were taking on water. B.) We had a bit of a language barrier with the boat rental guy. He was telling Brandon in French to put his oar in the correct place and Brandon looked at him, panicked and answered, "Como Estas?" 

 

I had to see my man Napoleon's tomb. It was inside the army museum and was super interesting. We spent a long time on their WWII section. Learning about WWII while being in a city that experienced it first hand made the experience much richer. I learned a lot and it made me proud to be an American. 

 

Rodin museum. We went inside, saw all his sculptures and I left swearing that Abby could never date or marry an artist. It was so disturbing. I knew his more popular pieces like The Kiss and The Thinker...but I didn't know what a creepy deepy he was. I'm pretty sure he had a problem with women and I therefore have a problem with him.

 

We had to walk the Champs! And see the Arc. It wasn't my favorite thing to do. It felt a lot like Caesar's Palace here in Vegas. 

 

Who got ANOTHER suite upgrade at their second hotel? Two spoiled Leavitts, that's who!

 

This marks the square where they chopped off all the heads. I don't know why an Egyptian obelisk was chosen, but I didn't ask any questions....for fear they'd chop off my head. We ate great, lived large, but ultimately our heart is with.... 

 

Home and Abigail! She loved her souvenirs. Our hotel was write by thee Opera house which is the one depicted in Phantom of the Opera. Since she wants to be Christine for Halloween, we bought her this mask and fan and told her it came from there (shh, it's really from the British Museum).