I love Paris in the springtime...

Even though I had already been to Paris before this trip, I was more than excited to come back with my husband. Because first of all, when I traveled to Paris in high school, I came during the beginning of winter, which was still fun; but this time around I was extremely excited to see Paris in the springtime. Secondly, I just can't help but want to go to Paris, no matter how many times I have been. Even after we just went a couple of weeks ago, I still want to go again! Though we most likely won't go again right away, I wouldn't be opposed to squeezing in another trip to the city of lights right before we move back to the States in a couple of years. There is just something so romantic and enchanting about this city. There is something about this city that everyone loves, that causes it draw to it over 15 million international tourists a year, making it the most visited city in the world.

We decided to make our trip to Paris over last Memorial Day weekend. We flew out of Verona airport on Ryanair to Beauvais Airport, which is actually an airport about an hour north of Paris. I wish we could have flown directly into Charles De Gaulle or Orly airport, but we saved a lot of money by flying through Ryanair. From Beauvais airport we took a shuttle bus which dropped us off an hour later at Porte de Maillot in Paris. We then took the Metro to the place we were staying. 

We rented an awesome little place in Paris. I found it on airbnb.com, which is a website where people can rent out their apartments or spare rooms to tourists. We stayed in what we think used to be an old college dorm room or something. It was just a little room with a bed, sink and vanity, and a shower, and then the toilet was down the hall. It was on the top floor of a gorgeous, old, art deco building in a beautiful, quaint, and quiet neighborhood. Unfortunately, however, there was no elevator so we had to climb up and down six flights of very steep stairs each night and morning. But it wasn't a big deal. Me and Dal were able to hack it. But the room itself was nice and clean and it was only 50 euro a night, which is a steal for Paris. It actually reminded me a little of Linguini's apartment in the movie, Ratatouille, because like in the movie, our room was small; but also like in the movie, our room had a view of the Eiffel Tower! It was very romantic.

It was nice to come home to this view every night.

After we found our place we were staying at we decided to head over to the Champs Elysees. We got some dinner at a little cafe, and then we checked out l'Arc de Triomphe.

L'Arc de Triomphe sits at the top of the Champs Elysees, one of the world's grandest and most celebrated streets. The arc was built in 1809 to honor Napolean's soldiers who were victorious at the Battle of Austerlitz.

Dallin and I at l'Arc de Triomphe (unfortunately, most people are really bad at taking pictures with our camera); the tomb of the unknown soldier; one of the reliefs on the arch.

After looking at the Arc de Triomphe we decided to walk down the Champs Elysees a bit, checking out all of the cool stores along the way.

♪♫ Oh Champs Elysees!!! ♫♪

Dallin in the Peugot showroom.

Looking down the Champs Elysees at the Arc de Triomphe.

Is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen?! These purses were rotating on the little ferris wheel.

After strolling down the Champs Elysees, it was dark and late so we hopped on the metro back to our Ratatouille apartment and slept the night away.

The next day was probably one of the busiest days of my life! We did so many things and saw so many sights in Paris. We only had about 3 whole days in Paris, so we knew we were going to have to cram in all of our sightseeing. After our second day in Paris I was so wiped out.

We started our day by visiting the Louvre museum, which was of course, amazing. 

The Louvre used to be the palace of the king of France. The glass pyramid was designed by American architect I.M. Pei in 1989.

We saw tons of amazing stuff, but these were the highlights:

The French King's crown jewels; the Winged Victory; the Venus de Milo; lots and lots of tourists (it was super crowded); Napoleon's coronation; Michelangelo's Prisoners

The Grand Gallery, featuring the best art of the Italian Renaissance

Me and Mona

After exploring the Louvre, we took a little stroll through the Tuileries Gardens and over the Seine to the Musee d'Orsay.

La Seine, et la Notre Dame.

The Musee d'Orsay is probably my favorite art museum. The museum itself, used to be an old train station, and it now houses the works of impressionist artists. Some of my favorites that we saw were...

Renoir's "Dance at the Moulin de la Galette"; Monet's Paintings of Giverny; Seurat's "The Circus"; Van Gogh's self-portrait; Degas' "The Dance Class"

After exploring the Musee d'Orsay we got some lunch.

Poor Dally literally fell asleep after eating lunch.  I felt so bad, he had a hard time sleeping the night before, because I guess I was sniffling all night, because my allergies were really bad in Paris. But then we got a loaf of delicious French bread and he perked up!

After lunch we walked over to Ile de la Cite, which is an island on the Seine River and is the historic core of Paris. I liked this area a lot. It is a very quaint and quiet area of the city. I would love to live there. 

Place Dauphine on Ile de la Cite.

While on the island we visited the Conciergerie, the former prison which held the victims of the guillotine during the French Revolution, including Marie-Antoinette.

The Conciergerie.

Next we went to Sainte Chapelle, which is one of my favorite churches that I have seen so far in Europe. This church is unique because of its beautiful stain glass windows that completely encompass the entire chapel.

The outside of Sainte Chapelle.

There are 15 separate panels of stained glass or 6,500 square feet. The glass depicts over 1,100 scenes fully retelling the history of Christianity. It was cool to look at the scenes and recognize the stories from the Bible.

Inside of Sainte Chapelle.

Next we went Notre Dame, the famous Gothic cathedral that was built in honor of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Can you believe that it took 182 years to build this cathedral?

Me in front of Notre Dame.

Flying buttresses.

The inside of Notre Dame.

After going inside of Notre Dame, we got in the immensely long line to climb to the top of the Cathedral. Good thing this guy was there to entertain us while we waited in line.

This guy was hilarious! He would walk behind people without them noticing, and then he would all of a sudden hold their hand. The person would turn and see that face and scream. Hahaha! It was so funny. I gave him a euro so he let me take a picture with him.

We finally got through the line and up to the top of Notre Dame, and of course, the views were spectacular!

Chillin' with the Gargoyles.

Bored gargoyle, the most photographed one.

Ahhh Pair-kheee!

Cute hubby on the top of Notre Dame; the bell tower; Facade of the cathedral; Me being cool (had a little too much fun in photo shop with that one); Gargoyles!

After Notre Dame we walked over a bridge to Ile St. Louis, another smaller island on the Seine. Over there we found a yummy crepe place and got some dinner. We then ate our ham, cheese, and onion crepes by the Seine.

After dinner, we of course had to get a treat! So we got some Berthillon, which is a delicious, very delicate, French ice cream. It was so yummy! Then we hopped on the metro and rode towards the Champs Elysees again to climb up to the top of l'Arc de Triomphe. We didn't climb up the day before, because we didn't have our Paris Museum Passes yet.

The view from l'Arc de Triomphe is an awesome one. I love looking down on the crazy traffic circle that encompasses the arch. It's crazy because the cars coming into the circle, actually have the right of way over the cars already in the circle. So weird. I also like to see all of the different roads that branch out or end at the arch.

Dal and I on top of the Arch de Triomphe.

View from the top of the Arch de Triomphe.

From the Arch de Triomphe we walked over to the Place du Trocadero, which was one of the best places to view the Eiffel Tower.

In front of the Eiffel Tower.

We paused for a moment at Trocadero and just gazed at the amazing Eiffel Tower. Then we continued to walk towards the base.

We then got in line to climb up the tower. I would not have minded paying to take the elevator, but the line was so long. However, as we were standing in line to climb up the 720 stairs to the second level of the tower, I was seriously wondering if I was going to be able to make it up. We had walked so much that day (as you can see by reading what we had done so far above) and had already climbed up so many stairs! We climbed to the top of the Notre Dame, then the Arc de Triomphe, and now we were climbing up the Eiffel Tower. Needless to say, I was already wiped out, and my back was aching. I felt like a 90 year-old woman! As I looked up while standing under the tower, I was seriously doubting my ability to get up to the second level. But we stayed in line, and when the climbing began, I was able to keep up with Dallin at a constant pace, much to my surprise.

We began our ascent up the tower at the perfect time of day-- after sunset. It was beginning to get dark, the sky was beautiful pink and blue colors, and the City of Lights was just beginning to glow. After making it up to the second level, we got in line to ride the elevator all the way up to the tippy top. I was excited to do this, because last time I was in Paris, I only went up to the second level. It's pretty exhilarating and just a little bit scary going all the way up to the top, because the Eiffel Tower is basically just an over-sized Erector Set. It's not a building, but just a metal structure. It is amazing though to be at the top. It's super crowded, because there is not much space up there, but to see Paris from that height was so amazing!

The final ascent; Me and my love at the top of Paris!

Paris: Ville des Lumières

We then rode the elevator and came back down to earth. It was dark by the time we got down, and the Eiffel Tower light show was about to begin. We found a spot on the grass of the Champ de Mars park, nearby lots of fun-loving Parisians having elaborate picnics, and laid down while waiting for the show to start. The light show was mesmerizing to watch. All it was, was a bunch of lights flashing on the tower, but it was beautiful to see the Tower twinkling like that.

Tour Eiffel at night.

After the show, it was late, and time to end Day 2 in Paris. It was a very eventful, tiring, but wonderful day. We rode the metro to our little apartment, climbed up yet more stairs up to our room on the top floor, and then slept very soundly.

We began Day 3 by making our way to the train station to catch a train to Versailles, the elaborate estate of King Louis XIV and the French kings after him. Versailles is such an overwhelmingly large and luxurious estate, you can't help but say, no wonder Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were beheaded, if they were living this extravagantly off of the taxes of their subjects! The cost of expanding the main Chateau alone was equal to around one half of France's GNP for one year. Madness.

We toured the Chateau first.

The exterior of the Chateau. Versailles used to be just a small hunting lodge for the King, but was expanded by Louis XIV by attaching the side wings.

This is the Royal Chapel where the King and his family would attend Mass each morning. The view of the nobles who were seated on the floor was directed towards the King, so they would in fact be worshiping the King, who was worshiping God.

Me in the Hall of Mirrors. I was excited to see this, because it was closed for renovation during the last time I was at Versailles. I know, I look so cool with my sweatshirt tied around my waist.

The king's bedroom and the queen's bedroom. I loved Marie Antoinette's bedding!

After touring the Chateau, we got some lunch and then walked around the expansive gardens.

Me and Dallin in the gardens.

More of the gardens

We followed the gardens into the area of the estate called the Trianon palaces which were smaller palaces that the king built to "get away from it all".

the Colonnade of the Grand Trianon; the Temple of Love; The Petit Trianon; Marie Antoinette's personal theater; inside of the Grand Trianon.

From the Trianon Palaces, we headed to my favorite part of Versailles-- the Queen's Hamlet. This was an ideal little village built for Marie Antoinette, so that she could escape from palace life every once in a while and live like a "commoner". Though she of course never did any real labor, Marie Antoinette enjoyed gardening, tending to the animals in the hamlet, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of country life. I love the hamlet because it is so idyllic and it was absolutely beautiful in the spring.

the Hamlet

After exploring Versailles, we walked back to the train station to take a train back to Paris. When we got to Paris, we went to the Hotel des Invalides to view Napoleon's tomb.

Napoleon's tomb. Within this red, porphyry tomb lies an oak coffin which holds another ebony coffin, which holds two lead coffins, then a mahogany coffin, then a tinplate coffin, then finally, Napoleon himself.

Then we ate a delicious dinner at this little cafe. It was so GOOD! And coincidentally, it was underneath the hotel that me and my family stayed in the last time we were in Paris, La Grand Hotel Leveque. This street that this restaurant and hotel are on is one of my favorite streets in Paris. It is a pedestrian only street, and all up and down the street are yummy bakeries, fromageries, meat shops, fruit and flower stands, and chocolate shops. It's just so... Parisian.

After we had dinner it was probably around 8:30 pm. But the great thing about Paris in the summer/spring is that it doesn't get dark until 10 pm! So, we decided to go on a walk through the charming Marais neighborhood.

This leads to the Place des Vosges a square of apartments built for the King and Queen and  other elites. This is one of the most picturesque squares in Paris.

Cafe Culture: There's nothing better than just sitting at a cafe and watching the world go by.

Dally in front of the "Homage to Stravinsky" fountains

Our walk ended at the Centre Pompidou, a modern art museum. The building itself is unique because everything that should be on the inside of the building (escalators, electrical wiring, air ducts, plumbing, and structural support) is proudly displayed on the outside of the building.

It was finally getting dark around 10 pm, so we decided to get on the metro and head back to our apartment for some much needed rest.

Day 4 was a nice day. We had done most of the sightseeing we wanted to do on days 2 and 3, so on day 4 we decided to take a walk around the Left Bank neighborhood, relax, and just enjoy the ambiance of Paris before we had to catch our flight back to Verona.

We got some yummy macarons and other treats at a patisserie.

We relaxed in Les Jardins du Luxembourg.

St. Sulpice church.

The lovely Left Bank.

Notre Dame et la Seine.

Me shopping at les bouquinistes. Les Bouquinistes are riverside vendors of vintage books. I loved browsing through their wares. They had lots of cool posters, old encyclopedias and novels, and vintage French children's books and comic books. I ended up buying a French vintage poster and some pretty paintings of Paris. They look lovely in my house!

After our walk around the Left Bank, we got a delicious lunch at a lovely little Tunisian-inspired restaurant called l'Ebouillante. We soaked up some sun outside while enjoying some delicious food. Then it was time for our lovely holiday in Paris to come to a close. We rode back to our apartment to pick up our bags, then we rode the metro to the bus station, and caught the bus back to Beauvais Airport. Right as we were driving away on the bus, it began to rain. It was so perfect. I can't believe how lucky we were to have such beautiful weather just when we were there. We had a blast in Paris. I love that city so much, and I really hope that we can make another trip there before we move back to the states!