Paris was everything I expected. I would have to disagree with the people who think it is overrated.
The first night John and I got to Paris it was quite late. We had just gotten off a long train ride and were ready to sleep, but we were in PARIS! So we did the logical thing and went out.
The Notre Dome was very close…so we made our way to it. I cannot describe how menacing this cathedral looked like at night. Mostly everything around it was dark, with yellow lights creping up the walls.
John and I were hungry from our long unanticipated trip so we found a place to eat near the Notre Dame. We had a very nice waiter and ate a good meal. I ate French onion soup and French fries.
We walked at bit more and caught our first glimpse of the Eiffel tower, but we were tired and full and ready to sleep…so the Eiffel tower was going to have to wait.
The next day we woke up to hungry tummies that needed to be fed. We got ready and headed out to eat a breakfast in Paris. We noticed that this one place by our hotel was busy so we figured that was a good sign…this was to become our first lesson in “French Cuisine 101”. Food in France is hard to order.
After we filled our tummies with bread, bread, and more bread (authentic French breakfast), we headed to the Notre Dame. It was beautiful inside. (What amazes me is that after all these years everything is still in tact, it is very sturdy. We need some of the engineering at home) Steering through the heavy traffic we made our way outside to see more of the city. The Louvre was our next stop. Since we would find out later the contents inside of the Louvre…we sat outside in the hot sun and put our feet in the water. We kept on our journey through the city by walking through the gardens. Our growling tummies were calling food’s name again, so we thought we would try and satisfy them…Second lesson in “French Cuisine 101”. When you don’t know what you are ordering it gets frustrating. Then guessing what you are ordering and hoping for the best does not work. After John sent his raw beef back and asked for chicken, we decided to stick to places that served Italian cuisine…pizza was the meal of choice for the rest of our trip. For other snacks, we went to the market. It was extremely crowded and we stood in line for 20 minutes. The lines formed down different food isles and we got “stuck” down the chocolate isle…by the time we reached the check out we had accumulated 3 bars of dark chocolate differing in % and some sour candy. Let me tell you, no one is safe down that isle.
We loaded up the groceries and walked out the door to the vision of the sun setting behind the Arc’de Triomphe. For the sake of adventure, we took off in its direction. After we bought our ticket to climb the top we reached the door and the ticket man looked at us quite strange…seeing as John was holding three bags of groceries…and told us we could not have food at the top. But being the nice French man that he was, he offered to hold them for us in his office until we got down.
After the dizzy climb up, we reached our destination. It was breathtaking…the entire city was in site…no words can do it justice.
We headed back to the hotel and ate some of our snacks. We decided to try out our chocolate. We both eagerly anticipated our first piece. (Now let me pause for a minute and explain John and my rational with chocolate. John had told me he had eaten 70% dark chocolate bar in Dublin, so we figured the higher the percentage the better it is) We opened up the first bar which was 99%, John gave me a piece and I waited as he took one for himself. We gave cheers to our chocolate and took a bite…immediately our happiness turned into despair…despair for a trash can. It was the most disgusting piece of chocolate I have ever tasted in my life. Next was 85%, which was better than the 90%, and last was 70%, which was very good. We learned a good lesson about chocolate…less is more!
posted by Michelle @ 9:40 AM
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