paris in winter

On Friday afternoon, we hopped on a train to Paris. The trip was mostly due to Mark being invited to a rugby match on Saturday night, but we decided to make a weekend of it - do some site seeing, visit some familiar Houstonian faces, and speak English in full sentences to someone other than ourselves!

We made it to the Arc de Triomphe right before dark

 and decided to climb all 284 stairs to the top...

 

 

you can just barely see Sacre Coeur (at the top of the hill) in the photo on the left

and back down.

 

It was pretty cold at the top of the Arc, but we decided to walk to the Eiffel Tower despite not being able to feel our fingers and toes. It seems in France if you just glance at the sky the wrong way, it starts raining. And it did. And we forgot our umbrellas at the hotel. We spotted a bar, Sir Winston's, with a sign for apertifs (before dinner drinks) and darted inside! After a Manhattan (for her) and some whiskey (for him), we were feeling a little warmer and continued on our trek!

 

 

We stumbled upon the BEST French food restaurant since we've arrived in France and even better - they had an ENGLISH menu!!! It was small, with only 9 tables and it seemed like everyone knew each other. The menus were written on large chalk boards - one side French, the other English - and the waiter would move them strategically around the restaurant near the ordering table so you could read it. After filling ourselves with escargot, wine, and dessert, everyone was up mingling, yelling "sante" (cheers) and sipping their digestifs (after dinner drinks) - including the owner! He was very interested to know where we were from, taught us a little French, and even gave us an digestif on the house! We will definitely be returning!

 

On Saturday, we visited the Cathedrale Notre Dame...

 the detail was beautiful!

 

 The cathedral bells are being replaced and a few were displayed inside.

This one weighed over 13,000lbs!

 

We also had time to see La Sainte-Chapelle, built in the 13th century. It's a shame not many people know about this - it's difficult to find, but one of the most breathtaking things I've ever seen. After climbing through a tight spiral staircase (hello claustrophobia), you turn the corner and WOW! - that's literally what came out of my mouth!

 

Stained glass fills every wall illustrating the Bible

 

 

Some of the windows are being restored so it was impossible to get a full picture of the inside.

 

Other highlights of the visit:

- Mark witnessed his first rugby match and the crowd chanted Allez les Bleus (Go Blue!) just like Michigan

- I got to enjoy a CHEESEBURGER! I didn't realize how much I was missing some American grub!

- We walked to the Louvre on Sunday

- It SNOWED!!!

 

As we were leaving, we both agreed that Paris is very different from where we live! Because of the tourism, there is a lot of English and more American-ized things. Don't get me wrong, it is France so moving there would still be a huge transition! There was also a little jealousy when our friends were talking about the ex-pat American groups they've joined and the friends they've made. We are pretty sure we are it for Americans in our city so we know there isn't much of a chance to make friends unless we become fluent in French! But it's also exciting to know that we are experiencing the real French lifestyle! It's nice that Paris is an easy weekend trip and I'm really looking forward to visiting again and seeing more sites when it gets warmer! I think the temperature is part of the reason this is called off-season!