paris - day four

First, we bundled up and headed out to the ever popular, ever beautiful - Notre Dame Cathedral.  We got there at the tail end of Mass, I think.  The organ was playing and it was amazing.  There was tons of fabulous stained glass.  It is such an impressive building.    As we were walking around the outside I saw this little red door.  I wonder who uses that door? 

Tartletts and Pain du Chocolate at our favorite Brioch Doree! 

That was the largest pain du chocolate I'd seen!  Love it!

Then we went here.  The Garnier Opera House.

And sat in these plush red velvet chairs...

second row close

to watch THIS!!!

You got that right!  That is indeed a sneaky (frowned upon - but we couldn't help ourselves!) picture of the bows and curtsies of a real live French Ballet!  We got last minute, apparently quite hard to get, tickets to see it.  It was so marvelous.  So beautiful. 

THEN we floated out, caught the metro, and trotted about to find this:

My favorite monument.  The Arc de Triomphe.

I love it.  It is just huge and solid.  Like a paperweight holding down the city.  It rocks.  Really.

We climbed these stairs up, up, up, happily all the way...

And saw this sight...

Then off to dinner where I ordered this:

Boeuf Bourguignon
Like in the movie "Julie and Julia"
Yeah.  It was good.  I'm drooling just looking at it.

After dinner we went down these stairs...

Saw this movie poster...

Took the metro (again!  Our preferred mode of transportation.)

Followed these signs...

Took this escelator...

And fell fast asleep in our upgraded hotel room,

closing our eyes on our fabulous trip to an amazing city.

Thanks for inviting me Natalie!  Where too next?!!

paris - day three, part two

This place was cool.  Natalie had looked up this fabric shop online before we left.  She wanted to get some Franch fabric to make a dress for her little girl.  It was a treasure hunt!  A little tricky and some twists and turns down little streets, but we found the shop through an alleyway into a courtyard and next to an art studio.  So fun to trek through the streets of Paris.  I started taking pictures for Cally - I knew she'd love the place!  There wasn't too much fabric, but tons of ribbon, buttons, and yarn!  Natalie found the perfect fabric and pattern and we left there contented and in search of a tartlett or two. 

paris - day three, part one

You guessed it!  The Louvre! 

We could have easily spent three days there alone,

but we only spend 4 hours. 

And yes, I forgot to put one of my gloves back on after taking Natalie's pictures. 

It was a little bit cloudy and sprinkled for a few seconds in the  morning.

 Which was okay because that resulted in this little beauty:

Do you see it?  Not the funny silver monster statue...

the rainbow!!!

mmmm...so pretty.

This is another statue. 

There were a ton of them all in a big circle.  Kind of funny.

This is one end of the humongous museum. 

I know this is what you've all been waiting for. 

This was one of her better shots. 

I'll post a short video I took upon entering the room this popular gal was hanging out in.

She's a gem.  A little well protected gem.

And of course, Venus de Milo.  Just right out there in the open.   

(We saw a lot of  'openness' in the Louvre.) 

She's bigger than the Mona Lisa.

And just to prove I was really there...a speedily taken self portrait.

My next post is for Cally.  But I think there are a few of you out there who will drool as she will.

Wait?! K- how do I post video in this new format?  I...can't...hmmm...

Paris - day one, part two

We made it back to the hotel to check in and ended up in a horrible, stinky, dirty, old old room.  Sunken beds, stained blanket, crumbling bathroom...ugh and ick.  I almost started to cry.  But I didn't.  We couldn't sleep there.  I don't know if we were being spoiled American tourists, but seriously...it was gross.  So Natalie was wonderful and managed to talk them into giving us one of their more recently renovated rooms free of charge.  So much better!  The lobby was so nice and cozy and updated, I was so shocked when we saw the first room.  The second room fit in so much better.

So after we dumped our stuff in our nice clean renovated room (sigh of relief) and brushed our teeth we rushed off to our cooking class!  By now it is 8 am Alabama time and we were sooo sleepy, but we pulled it together and had a great class.  We heated cream and vanilla sticks and did that thing where you pour a little of the hot cream into the cool eggs...temper?  Something like that. 

We melted chocolate.  We "burnt" butter.  We zested citrus fruits.  And ended up with five great desserts. 

Now take a look at these beauties!

These are madeleines an almond financier.

This is a chocolate lava cake!

Then my most favorite thing ever!!!!

My very own creme brulee.  Oh my.  So delicious.

We also made a pear tart, but I didn't take a picture of that one.  Wierd. 

The chef even e-mailed us the recipes so I am determined to try these out. 

We had a great time.  There were 7 of us in the class. 

By the end of it we were beside ourselves with fatigue.  We'd been up for 30 hours and needed sleep.

And guess what? 

Expecting rain, we woke up to a sunny morning!

paris - day one, part one

I'm home. 

One of my favorite things about going on trips, no matter how great the place or time, is coming home. 
I love Home.

But I tell you.  Paris is fabulous.  Fab-u-lous!!!

We got there Thursday morning bright and early.  It was 6:30 am Paris time which meant we were feeling 11:30 pm home time.  7 hour difference.  So not too sleepy, yet. 

We got to our Hotel and couldn't check in until 3:00 in the afternoon so we checked our luggage with the bellhop and headed out on our first Paris adventure.  The subway. 

Their Metro is fantastic and will get you anywhere you need to go.  I really like it and feel so smart and empowered when I navigate it properly.

Our first destination was to the beautiful Sacre Coeur.  A beautiful Roman Catholic basilica on the highest point of the city.  So it commands a great view of Paris.

These are one set of steps going up to the church.  They are in a park I hadn't seen before. 

It was neat to approach the basilica from a new direction.

This is a view from the steps.

Here is our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower.

And here is the church!  Isn't it pretty? 

Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the city from here...

I think we were starting to feel the "home time" about now. 

We went in the church and got to hear some nuns singing.  It was pretty.

I'll fill you in on the rest of our day later. 

Right now, I need to go make my children some dinner

and make plans for our day off from school tomorrow.