Paris Top Ten

One of my favorite stops on my whirlwind trip to Europe was the week I met up with Russell in Paris. I had a LONG to do list for Paris, and he was great for putting up with my extensive list of my priorities. We tried to do a mix of just wandering around getting completely lost in the city and the touristy/standing on the corner with an upside-down map/couple-y things that you can't miss when you go to Paris. At this point, my camera had gotten stolen, so we shared Russell's iPhone as a camera. There were so many moments that felt so surreal. We had been talking about this trip for about 6 months, and felt so, so, so incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to do this.

Here's my Paris top ten (in no particular order):

1. The most decadent chocolate desert, salted caramel macaroon, and tea at Laduree:

I cannot express to you how delicious that desert was. Chocolate heaven on earth.

2. Tuileries:

3. Having a picnic of brie and a baguette in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was the last thing we did before we left, and we walked around for 20 minutes trying to find a bakery with a baguette, and it was so delicious and worth it:

4.  Escargot at a Michelin Star restaurant on Ile de St. Louis, my favorite place in Paris: 

5. Wandering around the catacombs deep, deep underneath the city. I got seriously claustrophobic toward the end and dragged Russell out of there. Picture walking for over an hour among the bones of 6 million people, 1.5 kilometers below ground, in the dark...Cool, but only for so long...

6. The Louvre at night. The Louvre is open until 10 pm on Wednesday and Friday nights, so we went and spent hours getting completely lost in the biggest art museum in the world. It was much less crowded at night, sometimes we were the only people in the gallery. How DaVinci code is this picture Russell took of the full moon and the Louvre pyramid?

7.  Getting lost at night. We spent pretty much every night just wandering around, keeping our eye on the Eiffel tower to see the lights going off every half an hour. This is a fantastic picture that was taken of me in the middle of one of these walks. Walking around with no where to go and nothing to worry about was one of the coolest way to get to know the city. 

8. You know those meals that you'll never forget, whether its because of the food, the atmosphere, or the people you're with? This was one of them. We went to Au Pied de Cochon late one night after our Louvre trip for dinner. This was one of Julia Child's favorite restaurants, and they are famous for their french onion soup. I don't think I can ever have french onion soup again after this one because it was so flawless. I'm drooling just looking at that picture. The atmosphere of the restaurant as well as the fact that it was so late at night gave the entire meal this surreal feeling. We were surrounded by wealthy old French people, and it was a fabulous place to people watch. 

This was technically Russell's birthday dinner because I couldn't
see him on the actual day, so we decided to splurge on creme brulee for desert:

No words.

We were clearly just broke American college students (ordering the cheapest thing on the menu) who couldn't speak French, but our waiter was so welcoming and friendly. This may have been my favorite night in Paris.

9. Sacre Coeur Basilica

10. Versailles. The palace was beautiful, but wandering around the extensive grounds was the most fun. There is a maze of bushes, fountains, and a man-make lake as Versailles backyard. It was a gloomy, cold and overcast day, but that somehow only made walking around even more perfect: 

We were incredibly lucky to be under 26 and EU residents at the time (Russell had his Spain visa, and I pretended that Villanova University was in Spain), because every museum we went to (except the Catacombs) was free for us. So if you're under 26 and studying abroad in Europe or have a Spanish/French/German/etc sounding university name GO to Paris and get one of the best deals Europe has to offer.

So sorry that this is so late and not very detailed, but I'm trying to productively procrastinate, and I figured it was about time. I left out mass at Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay (my favorite, but I don't have any pictures), Napoleon's tomb, Shakespeare and Co, Montmarte, Moulin Rouge, the top of the Eiffel tower at night etc, but you all get the picture.

 I wouldn't change a single moment about the week (even my extended missions to find the perfect French restaurant).  I am such an incredibly lucky girl to have spent a flawless week wandering around the city with the perfect travel partner, who was down for whatever.

Au revior until later my friends!