Paris!

I have been dreaming of going to Paris for as long as I can remember. Kenny has been promising me he will take me for as long as we have been together. Not that I didn't believe him and needed to be promised over and over again! But, he wanted to be sure I knew that he'd get me there someday. Well, he delivered!

I was pretty aprehensive about leaving Mira for such a long time. I wasn't concerned about her well-being.  But, I have this huge fear of Mira not knowing/understanding how much I love her and how badly I want to be a great mom for her. If I were to go down in a plane, I wouldn't be around to make sure she knows this! I was also worried about her feeling like we'd left and weren't coming back.

I did have a bit of a "moment" the night before we left. She wasn't going down to sleep like she normally does. She fought it - crying and calling out for me. I finally went in and picked her up and held her for the longest time. Her tears stopped and mine started flowing!

So, I held her until I was all cried out, she had gone limp in my bear hug, and my back was screaming hateful things at me. She was still barely awake and started to fuss just a bit more when I laid her back down. I went and watched her on the monitor until she fell asleep, and I could collect myself.

I decided I would write her a little note to sort of sum up the most important things I would want her to know if I weren't there to tell her myself. I know this is all sort of morbid - but, leaving your child for 6 days for the first time will make you think of all those "whatifs"!

The letter did make me feel better, it was cathartic to write down all these swirling thoughts and emotions.

So, the next morning, we were headed to the airport! I did pretty good on the "goodbye, Mira" deal. Thankfully, she didn't really get upset at all (she loves her Sheesa and feels perfectly safe and comfortable with her - plus, she was distracted with BUBBLES!), so I didn't lose it. Just a few quick tears after we pulled away, and then I was okay.

After 10 hours, four vegan meals (2 each), 2 free mini bottles of red wine (both for Kenny), and about 5 movies between the two of us....we landed in Paris!!!! The time difference is +7 hours, so it was the next morning before we arrived!

At the airport, we bought a Plan de Paris par Arrondissement (a really great map book) and got our Museum Passes (saved us money and time - got to skip some long lines).

We were ready to go, so we hopped on the train and went from Charles de Gaulle to Paris. Once we got off the train, we meandered around a bit trying to find our hotel, then we were off to see the sights!

The first stop was a little cafe that served pizzas, crepes, and paninis. I had a nutella panini (to die for) and Kenny had a pizza (sans fromage) and a banana and nutella crepe. Nutella is bought by the half-gallon in this city - THIS is why I love Paris!

From there, we walked north to the Musee Rodin and the Hotel des Invalides.

First stop, Rodin Museum to see "The Thinker"...yep, he's still considering, pondering, wondering, debating...!

Rodin's most controversial work - "The Kiss." It was thought to capture the passion of the lovers too realistically for public display. Looks pretty innocent compared to the heavy petting we saw on the streets of Paris!

Hotel des Invalides from the courtyard. Seemed to be a very popular hangout for young adults and their dogs.

That's Kenny there, if you couldn't tell, in front of the Hotel des Invalides. Pretty swanky place.

Ceilings are so lovely in Paris.

This is Napolean's "tomb." Can you see the little person in orange down there behind it? That may give you an idea of the scale here. Pretty sure Napolean had "little man's syndrome" - you could have fit about 15 of him in that big box!!

I took this picture in a patisserie and got yelled at by the shop owner. Maybe she was afraid I was going to reproduce this at home?? Ummmm....not likely. They're so pretty - they hardly look real! But, they are, and they are delicious!

That was about all we could handle on our first day. At this point, we had been awake for over 24 hours. So, we meandered back to our hotel (those Paris streets are tricky!) and just about collapsed! We took a nice long nap before going out in search of a vegetarian/vegan-friendly restaurant for dinner. We had done plenty of research prior and had a nice long list. It was just a matter of locating and arriving at the said location.

We did manage to find a vegetarian restaurant that evening. We ate at Le Grenier de Notre Dame - just across the river from Notre Dame. It was a lovely little restaurant and we highly enjoyed our dinner. I had the cassoulet (sort of a stew with beans and tofu topped with a bread crumb and baked) and Kenny had some sort of Seitan cutlet with roasted potatoes and mixed veggies. For dessert, we went the non-vegan route and had chocolate mousse. YUM! And, one more time...YUM!!!!

While in the neighborhood, we checked out Notre Dame at night. Very nice!

The next morning, we woke up and headed to Versailles to check out the Chateau. We managed to get ourselves on the right train and go directly to the Chateau! Unfortunately, when we popped into the Tourist Information Office to get our tickets (this is a way to save lots of time standing in line at the Chateau), they kindly informed us that the Chateau was closed due to a strike! Sure enough, we walked on over and it was on lock-down!

We went ahead and toured the gardens, which are just about as spectacular as the castle itself. It was beautiful weather...until it started raining! But, that wasn't too bad, we ducked into a restaurant there on the grounds and had a very pleasant, almost-entirely-vegan meal! They always get me with the dessert!

So, here is the exterior of the Chateau de Versailles. Originally, Louis XIII built it as a modest hunting lodge, but his son, Louis XIV had other ideas and embellished it to the point of being a grand palace.

Louis XIV was a modest man...

A.K.A. the "Sun King"

The bright side of being locked out of the chateau? Getting great pictures through the gate with hardly any people in the way! 

You can see the Grand Canal waaaaay back there. This "garden" is HUGE!

Lots of Greek and Roman art scattered about.

Then there's the modern Japanese art by Takashi Murakami....can't say we were fans.

Since our Versailles trip was cut short, we decided to visit the Eiffel Tower after we got back to Paris.

C'est magnifique!!!! 

Taken from the Place de Varsovie across the Seine.

I think this is the only picture we have of the two of us together on the trip. It's pretty classic!

On Friday, we headed back up to the Notre Dame Cathedral to see it in the daylight and go inside.

Sainte Jeanne d'Arc

The "relics"

Gotta love that Gothic architecture!

Flying buttresses and gargoyles!!

Next stop...Le Louvre!!

The famous pyramid!

This is a HUGE place!! It wraps around in a long U shape.

That's a BIG painting!

Another BIG painting!! I was pretty impressed and made Kenny pose beside this one. Not so much the content, just the size! How does one paint something that large and get all the proportions right, etc.?!!

Their she is! La Jaconde!!! There was a huge crowd around the Mona Lisa, so I had to squeeze up to the front for a quick picture. There was a barrier to keep people about 15-20 feet away, and she was behind glass!

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Venus de Milo

The inverted pyramid underneath the glass pyramid above ground.

The next day we visited the Musee d'Orsay at which we were not allowed to take pictures. It's a very neat museum with more modern works of art than that of the Louvre. But, not "modern art" - they had a lot of Van Gogh works which were neat to see up close and in real life! Unfortunately, "Starry Night" was out on an exhibit at some other museum while we were there, so we didn't get to see that one. We did get to see his self-portrait, which was great!

I fell in love with Paul Chenavard's "Divina Tragedia" and stared at it for quite some time. Chenavard had the idea of illustrating the history of religion with Divina Tragedia, in counterpoint to Dante Alighieri's work: The Divine Comedy. This painting was originally accompanied by a long commentary that started: "As the ancient religions came to a close and with the accession of the Christian Trinity into Heaven, Death, helped by the Angel of Justice and the Spirit, struck down those gods doomed to perish". The painting was met with incomprehension from both critics and the public alike. It was considered to be too complex, overloaded with references and ideas that the painter wanted to express.

I like it. But, much better in person - the details and realism are amazing!

After the Orsay Museaum, we made our way over to the Avenue des Champs Elysees and walked to the Arc de Triomphe. Along the way (despite the freezing cold, blustering wind, and icy rain), we stopped and got some sorbet at Haagen-Dazs. I think we must have looked pretty silly huddled up in the cold eating our frozen treat!

Obelisks can be found just about anywhere, it seems!

On the Av. des Champs Elysees - The Louis Vuitton store had a line that was as long as the one coming out of Saint-Chapelle's Cathedral. LONG! Just to get IN the store!!

We made it to the Arc de Triomphe at Place Charles de Gaulle. Six Avenues intersect here creating a star and the world's largest round-about! Crazy tourists were sprinting across, dodging cars and buses left and right to get to the Arc in the center! We took the more sensible approach - an underground passage that leads you right to it.

A crazy tourist (ahem...Kenny), took a picture from the median.

We climbed all 180-some-odd stairs to get to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. I thought I was going to faint from vertigo after all those spiraling stairs! It was much worse going down!

But, the breathtaking view was worth it and made us feel quite....triumphant!!!

So, at this point, I, along with my trusty LB-ing sidekick, had searched for 3 letterboxes at 3 different sights, and we were 0-3! It was starting to look like I wasn't going to make it home with a single stamp from Paris! I only had one more set of clues for a box planted near the Arc. It was still raining that icy rain, but Kenny was fantastic and trudged along with me to search for the letterbox. It was actually very easy to find and we got the stamp!!! I was SO excited! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who will march through the swampy woods of Florida or race along the chilly streets of Paris just to humor me and find a little box with a stamp in it! 

That evening, we went in search of my birthday surprise! Kenny had found the address for the oldest Chocolatier in Europe! In 1800, Debauve left his job as pharmacist to King Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and opened up a chocolatier! It's still there in the original shop 210 years later!! It was beautiful and the clerk was very friendly and helpful. We aked a million questions and then each chose about a half-dozen pieces of yummy, delicious, Parisian chocolate!!! We ate them all in one fell swoop! Happy Birthday tooo-oooo ME!!!

Dabauve et Gallais, 30, Rue de Sts-Peres, 7th - you should go there!

The next morning was Sunday, my birthday, and our last day in Paris! We had left this day wide open when planning our trip. We decided it was worth it to head back over to Versaille and try to see the inside of the palace.

Fancy schmancy velour wallpaper. You can't really tell in this photo, but as you looked through the doorway, you saw this same paper in a million different colors on the walls of each of the rooms! It was beautiful!

From inside the palace - this was the huge line that we stood in to get inside. Have I mentioned it was freezing and windy and raining?

Yes, Louis, I guess this fireplace which accomodates ENTIRE trees will have to do....

More lovely ceilings.

Another example of Mr. Murakami's work - INSIDE the palace! Could this be any more out of place??? You can see more of the Versailles exhibit here. It's not that I don't appreciate the art or artist, I just don't think this venue/artwork match-up is flattering for either.

Hall of Mirrors - you want to be sure you look good when appearing before the King!

Hey, I'm trying to imagine myself in the 18th century here! Could someone move the Pepsi and Heinz Ketchup - it's blocking my view of the Baroque furniture and the hand-carved wood paneling!

Ahhh...thanks - that's better!

The "crispness" and consistency of this architecture puts me in a happy trance. I could stare at it for hours in meditation.

Glad we made the second trip to the palace. We got to see the beautiful interior AND there was a "spectacle" going on - they had all the fountains on and classical music playing throughout the gardens. Splendid!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped and had fries (French is implied since we were in Paris) at McDonald's, picked up a couple of slices of chocolate cake from a boulangerie, and grabbed some cafe mochas and "American" pancakes ("French" pancakes are crepes) from Starbuck's. This was my birthday dinner!!! YUM!!

That just about sums up our trip! In between all this sight-seeing, we were shopping, eating baked goods and pastries, and people watching! It was wonderful and I'm definitely glad we didn't cancel the trip due to my being nervous about leaving Mira.

I didn't have any Mira-withdrawal related melt-downs on the trip, but, by the end, I was having to talk myself down from the crazy-lady ledge! I was fighting the urge to ask random people if I could hold their baby - just for a second, I promise I'll give them back....Yeah, that would have seemed a bit bonkers. I resisted. But, I was so excited on the flight home - I couldn't wait to see and hold Mira!

When we got back, Mira and Sheila were waiting for us on her front steps. When Mira realized it was us in the car, she literally squeeled with delight and clapped her hands together! It was heart-melting! I'm pretty sure I was opening the car door before it had come to a complete stop and was out before Kenny had it in park.

I grabbed Mira up and held her tight. I couldn't believe how amazing she felt in my arms! Finally, I had this huge release, and I just couldn't stop crying! I'm such a cry-baby! It was like when I was pregnant, and the whole 9 months I couldn't wait to meet her. Then when she was finally here, and I got to see her and feel her, it was just more than my heart could comprehend! I thought my chest was going to explode from all the love I felt for her. She kept smiling and staring at Kenny and I as if to make sure it was really us. We couldn't believe how much it seemed she had grown in just a week, how much more she seemed to be talking.

It was so lovely to see Paris with my best friend and the love of my life - a real dream come true -, but it was sure nice to be back home and back with our Mirabelle!

We had a wonderful time in Paris! The weather started out a bit warm, then perfect, then turned cold and rainy!! But, even standing in icy rain with too little clothes and no umbrella while waiting an hour to get into the Chateau des Versailles, Kenny and I had plenty of laughs and enjoyed spending time together. So, after 5 years of marriage and 2 years of parenthood, we still like each other! Woo hooooo!!