When you think of  Paris, what words come to mind? Stylish, coffee, croissants, people with places to go, art, smokers, interesting conversations. Those are the words that come to mind for me.  Paris was just like I imagined. I was so interested in the culture.  It reminded me a lot of New York, but old and not as compacted.  The food… um not as good as Italy but I think that is a personal preference, so don’t take my word for it. I did however have a couple of good meals, GREAT dessert, wine and champagne! I love how they sell crêpes everywhere, you can just get them anywhere and walk around.  At on point we stumbled upon a little bakery called La Boulanger Pasterrie. We had the best pastries and baguette. YUM! All carbs and I couldn’t have cared less.  The last meal we had in Paris was awesome! We dressed up and went OUT, what Ivan and I call out now a days, which means dinner and A LOT of wine. We went to Le Procope, the oldest restaurant in Paris. The restaurant opened in 1686. It is built like a home and so charming. The decor drove me nuts in a good way! From what we read the restaurant was a favorite spot for famous philosophers, historians and professors. There is so much history that took place there. I read that there used to be tunnels to allow these famous guys to go between the university and the restaurant. How cool, right! I wanted to keep roaming the restaurant, my excuse was trips to the ladies room. HA!  To start I had cold tomato soup. Weird right? BUT GOOD! For my main course I had Coq Au Vin (chicken in wine sauce) OMG delicious! For dessert, of course I ordered Crème brûlée, saying it was delicious is an understatement. It had a hint of coffee in it! I mean seriously, it was the best way to end this amazing vacation.

One of our days in Paris we did French wine tasting.  OF COURSE WE DID! Gosh we are so predictable.  Anyway, we went to O’Chateau Wine Loft. It is a wine bar but they do wine tasting in the cellar underground. I totally recommend it!  Ivan and I dared to take the stairs to the 2nd level of the Eiffel Tower. All 583 (maybe more) steps. After all our eating believe me we needed it.  From there we took the elevator all the way to the top, MAN IS IT HIGH. It was pretty awesome to see this beautiful city from way up there. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but still amazing.   This picture cracks me up! There was nothing I could do about my hair, the wind was so strong at the very top.   This city at night is even more beautiful. Holy! The Louvre is huge! We didn’t see everything, but it was quite interesting seeing some of the art we only read about in school.   Taking a picture of Ivan as he takes a picture of me.  How cool are these pigs?! These were in Napoleon III’s collection at The Louvre. Flash pictures, oh how I hate you.  On our way home from dinner we asked our Taxi driver to pull over and take a picture of us. Actually, I asked and Ivan rolled his eyes. I can’t wait to be back in this city… Paris was the only place I felt we needed more time. There was still so much  to see.  I’m not worried though, soon I will be planning my next European trip and I will find a way to include Paris again.

 Finally, I am done with posting vacation pictures. I know it took me forever.

Next post: Ivan will re-post everything all over again and tell his side of the story. KIDDING.

Happy Tuesday!