Marcia in Paris

Attempted to make the most a long 7 hour layover yesterday in Paris and headed to the city, up the Eiffel Tower. 

Standing in a 2 hour line for 20 mins of viewing time is a bit of a commitment during a regular trip to Paris (especially judging by the complants of the couple standing behind me) but it’s was ultimately something I wanted to check off the list. Definitely happy I did. 

Paris: Train ride back to the airport

The train ride home is my favorite moment in Paris.

The Fool on the Hill

Please welcome guest wordbk blogger Marcia Howard:

Magical.

I've used this word a lot to describe the scenes and the sights of Paris. Its like god and man have finally began to conspire together to create supreme moments. The clouds would part, the sun would begin to shine. You walk for hours only to find yourself at the foot of the Sacré-Cœur, on a hill overlooking all of the great architecture of Paris. The air becomes just slightly cooler, a small breeze on your skin. The haze of city and the setting sun turns everything a rich pink, fading into magnificent purples as the sky darkens ever so slightly.

And to top it off, there in the background is a moppy haired boy with a guitar, face as sweet as an angel. Singing "Because maybeeeeee, You're gonna be the one who saves meeeee.And after alllllll, You're my wonderwaaaallllllll."

Wait. What?

Surrounded by a large group of what seems to be a mixture of tourist and 15 year old girls practically screaming along, here amidst the most dramatic scene in all of Paris, is a concert of contemporary alternative music (with the occasional beatles song thrown in so their parents feel a little love as well).

We kept waiting for the memo that maybe Jason Mraz would be up next performing "The Remedy." Followed by Hanson and "mmmmbop"

I'm almost sure that there has to be laws in Paris protecting the architecture of the city. Lots of rules and regulations that prevent developers from walking in and tearing everything down to build monuments to luxury. But where are the laws to protect those moments from being overrun by groups of teenage tourist (a large portion of whom, like the singer, were from spain) singing "Seven Nation Army."

Sitting there staring at the type of scene that nearly makes you weep, your moment stolen by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

During my time in Paris I saw lots of charming street performers. Yeah, they didn't know any John Mayer songs, but seriously who comes all the way to Paris to listen to stand on a hill, watch the sun set and listen to Pop?

I've got two words:

FAIL

- mh teenybooks.blogspot.com

Eiffel at Night

We hopped over to St. Germain for dinner. Apparently it is where all the famous stylish and beautiful parisian women are on a sunday night. It took me 6 days to find them and marcia 13)

journey to the eiffel

Yesterday i saw the Eiffel tower for the first time since the last ime i was at Kings Island in Cincinnati, Ohio. I'm sorry but as grand as it may be, all the year visiting the amusment park and or driving to cincinnati via i71 numbed me a bit. I've not seen it lit up at night yet and maybe that is when I will be truly awe inspired. Or maybe in a situation that marcia discribed on her wonderfully written blog:

"The couples made it more beautiful. 

I know its a cliche, but lest we forget, I am a girl and I do have a great big heart.  Seeing these two couples standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, one young, one older about twenty feet apart from one another standing  on the great big lawn/garden. They were both embraced, the younger couple just staring out across the at Paris, taking everything in, the older couple alternately kissing and looking up at the tower, whispering to one another in that secret language that two people in love share. "

read the rest 

We also took a little stroll through the Luxembourg gardens.

these last two shots are marcias.

Montmartre

Where I sleep: french edition

I was having quite a hard time finding a place to stay. I really felt the need to find a hip, boutique hotel for at least the final 3 nights. I found a place called the Five Hotel that seemed to fit my style perfectly but i was still without a place for the first 4 nights. Sonya and her sister visited Paris last year and i remember her saying how great it was to have rented an apartment for the week. So i started looking for a little apartment in the Latin Quarter / St. Germain area of town. After several days of not finding anything and having a hard time contacting a few that were avaible Marcia (who has been in paris for a week already) discovered this great little place. I was going to only stay for 4 nights and then switch off to the hotel for the final two. Well, once i got to the area, walked up the 4 flights of stairs and saw how perfectly french this place was, i immediately wanted to stay all 6 nights here. Instead of the 450 euro she was asking, i paid the full 650 for the week and that was that. No boutique french hotel this time.

The place has two rooms, a great bathroom, a full size and a half size bed, kitchen, free wi-fi (pronounced wee-fee by my french folks) and unlimited calling to the U.S.

1st Arrondissement

For those who haven't been to Paris, the city is broken up by around 18 neighborhoods called arrondissements. I'm staying in the 1st. We dropped our bags and the owner of the apt cleaned a bit while we walked around the neighborhood

A friend wanted to get stuffed in my suitcase but we figured that wouldn't work out so well. Instead she sent a photo and kindly asked if she could join me in various places in Paris. Here is molly riding the subway from the airport with me.

Bike rental stations throughout the city.

observing the lovers carvings along the Seine River

Yes, i'm going to come home with these tweed chucks.

hamburgers in france

Please read marcia's account of eating a plate of raw hamburger meat:

Last night, being the daring traveller that I am, I decided to try steak tartare. I think that because of the name, I expected raw steak, raw steak which seemed not so bad in the scheme of things, when considering how much I eat steak rare to the point that its only brown on the outside. Besides, I'm gutsy. I'll try anything once. When in Rome?

go to teenybooks for the rest

oh little mars, glad you could join us for dinner. I wish you didn't drink so much of our wine though.

I asked for a bottle of Bordeaux and just crossed my fingers hoping that it wasn't the 60 € (90 us) bottle. And instead of asking how much it was before i ordered the second bottle (i tried but failed) i just asked for another and again hoped it wasn't super expensive. turned out to only be 18 €.

Countdown to Paris

marica

This lil' lady here will be my travel partner for the week. She left for Paris this past sunday and is already seeing, doing and tasting all the things i can't wait for. Read her stories now and next week look at my photos (and you should probably still read her stories then too)

Marcia's blog: teenybooks.com