Paris (Part 1)

Aer Lingus airlines took us from Chicago to Dublin to Paris. This was my first long flight ever and it was great. We watched movies, read, slept, ate and enjoyed ourselves. Once we arrived in Paris we were a bit tired but after a 20 minute rest on the hotel bed we were ready to hit the ground running.

We stayed in a tiny tiny hotel room in the Marais area of Paris. Our hotel was called Hotel Saintonge. It served its purpose. Allowing us to sleep, change clothes and take what we call "ShaBaths". We learned that hotels in Paris don't always come with showers. The elevator was the smallest I have ever seen. It was fun to try and fit both of us and our luggage in on that first night.

We were blessed to visit Paris with my best friend Jennifer and her husband Adrian. Jennifer speaks fluent french so on top of being my best friend she was also our handy dandy interpreter. It made experiencing the culture so much more enjoyable. I am terrible at french and felt really rude not being able to communicate with people we met along the way.

The first night we decided to keep ourselves awake as late as possible to ease the jet leg. We headed over to see the Eiffel Tower and take a boat cruise. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower area and when still on the train we came up from underground and there it was. We snapped several pictures of the tower throughout the week. It was fun to see if from various locations.


After staying up until 10pm we all crashed and slept until 9am. Each morning we met Jennifer and Adrian at their apartment. Just a short walk from our hotel. We enjoyed breakfast their together. One of the best things in Paris is the abundance of bread and bread shops or boulanger's. On the second morning Phil and I got to stop and pick up the bread. The lady in the shop did not speak English so I was a bit nervous but we were able to manage. Luckily one of the first things you learn in French class are the names of foods and how to count. We also used our pointer finger and left with several goodies for breakfast including a piping hot fresh baguette for only 80 cents! Below are some pictures of our breakfast treats.

Our first full day in the city began at 9am. We then set out to the French Army Museum and Napolean's Tomb. The museum part was not my favorite but I enjoyed looking at the architecture and the paintings inside the chapel were beautiful. The place where Napolean's tomb is actually used to be a part of the church. The following are pictures from our time at this museum.


In the afternoon we ventured across the river to go on a walking tour of the Latin Quarter. This was both mine and Phil's favorite part of our time in Paris. Our tour guide was great and best of all the tour was free, although we ended up giving a donation of 5 euros at the end for great service. We learned a lot of different facts about the city. We saw the oldest church and the oldest tree in Paris.

One of the oldest churches in Paris - St. SeverinA sign telling us where the Latin Quater is

Our tour guide was nice enough to take a group photo for us!

We enjoyed our first morning/early afternoon in Paris. Come back in the next few days to see pictures from our trip to Notre Dame, and Montmarte.