The bed at Hotel 7 was the most comfortable we’d slept on the entire trip, but despite the good night’s rest, Kyle woke up not feeling well. Perhaps it was our constant activity (yes, we know we’ve squeezed a lot in to this trip!) or lack of sleep, but I knew it wasn’t good since Kyle doesn’t get sick often. He had a slight fever, his lymph nodes were swollen and his mouth hurt, but being the trooper that he is, he said he’d take some Tylenol, drink some water and keep going. He decided that if he was still feeling sick, he’d go see a doctor when we went home in just a couple of days.
Powering on, we walked to the nearby market to get croissants from the boulangerie. The croissants were light, flaky, and buttery all at the same time. They practically melted in our mouths. Like the sandwiches we had in Florence, these first croissants in Paris are a food memory we will always cherish.
Over coffee Kyle asked what I wanted to do while in Paris, and I immediately rattled off a list of 10 “must dos.” A bit overwhelmed, we prioritized the list knowing that there’s no way we could do everything in just the 3 days we had left—we already knew we’d just have to come back!
At the top of the “must do” list was the Louvre. We took the Metro (which would soon become our best friend in Paris) and waited in line with thousands of other tourists to get in. This would be the first of many long lines we would wait in, which led Kyle to deem Paris as “adult Disneyland.” Once inside, the museum was completely packed. We went straight to the Egyptian art section to see the many artifacts and sarcophagi.
As we made our way to the section housing the Mona Lisa, we walked by a stunning statue called “The Winged Victory of Samothrace.” We walked through the Greek and Roman antiquities and Italian paintings where we arrived at the Mona Lisa. We were forewarned that the painting was smaller than you’d expect, and it definitely was! The room was filled to capacity with onlookers snapping photos and pushing their way to the front to get a better view of the painting. The experience was not as sublime as I expected as there were far too many people crammed in the room to really enjoy the moment.
Soon after we left the Louvre, we went off the beaten path to find a place to eat lunch. We stumbled on a small café filled with what appeared to be locals. We sat down and knew we’d picked a good spot when everyone greeted one another just like Cheers in the U.S. The menu was in French, so thumbing through our guidebook, we guessed at what we were ordering. We were delighted to be served an unbelievably tasty meal of a cheese plate appetizer, a green salad with smoked salmon and caviar, and grilled salmon with roasted potatoes. While completely different from Italy, the food in Paris was already proving to be equally outstanding!
The two-day Museum Pass we purchased would give us access to more than 50 museums and attractions in the city and cut the line at certain places (much like a fast pass at Disneyland). The next spot on the “must do” list was Sainte-Chapelle to see the stained glass windows. This 13th century Gothic church was commissioned by France’s King Louis IX to house his collection of the Passion relics, including Jesus’ Crown of Thorns. The church was breathtaking inside, with more than 15 nearly floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows in the upper chapel. The details on the windows were so precise and intricately painted. When the sun shone through, it reflected the most gorgeous colors on the hardwood floors.
Next we headed to Notre Dame. We had seen the church from the outside the night before, but the inside of this Gothic church was gorgeous. While much darker than the illuminating stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle, you could feel the rich history of Notre Dame. Praying in the pews felt like connecting to spirits of the past.
Powering on, we walked to the nearby market to get croissants from the boulangerie. The croissants were light, flaky, and buttery all at the same time. They practically melted in our mouths. Like the sandwiches we had in Florence, these first croissants in Paris are a food memory we will always cherish.
Over coffee Kyle asked what I wanted to do while in Paris, and I immediately rattled off a list of 10 “must dos.” A bit overwhelmed, we prioritized the list knowing that there’s no way we could do everything in just the 3 days we had left—we already knew we’d just have to come back!
At the top of the “must do” list was the Louvre. We took the Metro (which would soon become our best friend in Paris) and waited in line with thousands of other tourists to get in. This would be the first of many long lines we would wait in, which led Kyle to deem Paris as “adult Disneyland.” Once inside, the museum was completely packed. We went straight to the Egyptian art section to see the many artifacts and sarcophagi.
As we made our way to the section housing the Mona Lisa, we walked by a stunning statue called “The Winged Victory of Samothrace.” We walked through the Greek and Roman antiquities and Italian paintings where we arrived at the Mona Lisa. We were forewarned that the painting was smaller than you’d expect, and it definitely was! The room was filled to capacity with onlookers snapping photos and pushing their way to the front to get a better view of the painting. The experience was not as sublime as I expected as there were far too many people crammed in the room to really enjoy the moment.Soon after we left the Louvre, we went off the beaten path to find a place to eat lunch. We stumbled on a small café filled with what appeared to be locals. We sat down and knew we’d picked a good spot when everyone greeted one another just like Cheers in the U.S. The menu was in French, so thumbing through our guidebook, we guessed at what we were ordering. We were delighted to be served an unbelievably tasty meal of a cheese plate appetizer, a green salad with smoked salmon and caviar, and grilled salmon with roasted potatoes. While completely different from Italy, the food in Paris was already proving to be equally outstanding!
The two-day Museum Pass we purchased would give us access to more than 50 museums and attractions in the city and cut the line at certain places (much like a fast pass at Disneyland). The next spot on the “must do” list was Sainte-Chapelle to see the stained glass windows. This 13th century Gothic church was commissioned by France’s King Louis IX to house his collection of the Passion relics, including Jesus’ Crown of Thorns. The church was breathtaking inside, with more than 15 nearly floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows in the upper chapel. The details on the windows were so precise and intricately painted. When the sun shone through, it reflected the most gorgeous colors on the hardwood floors.Next we headed to Notre Dame. We had seen the church from the outside the night before, but the inside of this Gothic church was gorgeous. While much darker than the illuminating stained glass of Sainte-Chapelle, you could feel the rich history of Notre Dame. Praying in the pews felt like connecting to spirits of the past.
Our pass also included access the towers of Notre Dame. We waited in line again (are you sensing a theme here?), where we met a couple from Huntington Beach, California. It turns out that the man works for Aerospace Corporation, directly across from Kyle’s building in El Segundo. What a small world yet again! We climbed the steps of Notre Dame where at the top we could see the gargoyles up close and amazing views of the city. What a surreal experience to be on top of Notre Dame looking down at Paris below! We visited the bell tower before descending the narrow spiral staircase.By now it was 6 p.m. Paris time on American Independence Day. Normally at this time we would be biking down the boardwalk to Redondo Beach for our annual Fourth of July barbeque at our dear friend Sandra’s house. We decided we’d celebrate the holiday by having a picnic at the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at little specialty shops along the way where we picked up a baguette, grapes, a cucumber and tomato salad, salami, roast beef for Kyle and roast chicken for me. We brought the bottle of champagne the hotel had given us for our troubles the night before and set out for our Fourth of July picnic.
We found a spot on the grass just south of the Eiffel Tower and set out our spread. We sat and took in the view and munched on our meal for over an hour. The lawn soon filled with other picnickers, travelers and locals alike. We relaxed here until the sun set after 10 p.m. so that we could see the twinkle lights of the tower (up close this time!).
After relishing in the light show, we packed up our picnic and decided to round out our Fourth of July celebration by going to visit Harry’s Bar that American writers F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway frequented in the 1920s. Stepping inside brought me back to my English major days of undergrad, studying The Great Gatsby and In Our Time. Knowing that these great American authors had once clinked glasses here gave me chills. The dark wooden walls of the bar were decorated with at least a hundred pennants from American universities. Kyle said that next time we come to Paris we should bring one from USD to hang on the wall.
We only had time to stay for one drink as the last train was leaving at 12:30 a.m. We ran back to the station just in time. Although we didn’t have fireworks or apple pie, we still managed to have a very memorable Fourth of July celebration!
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