Au Revoir Paris! Until We Meet Again…

We woke up very early on Saturday (July 7) to take a bus to Charles De Gaulle Airport. It was hard to believe it was time to go home—it felt like we had just gotten here and now it was already time to leave! Four days in Paris was simply not enough time to explore the city. There’s so much to see and do. It’s such a magical place that casts an enchanting spell making you not want to leave.

After packing our suitcases to the brim, we enjoyed one last croissant at a boulangerie near our hotel, savoring every last buttery morsel. Then we checked out of our hotel and hauled our suitcases down the hill to the bus stop (luckily we didn’t have to go far with our heavy bags and newly-acquired piece of luggage!).

I was teary-eyed as the bus pulled away from the stop, leaving our hotel in the distance and speeding off toward the freeway. This was it—our European adventure has come to a close. We laughed and reminisced on the ride to the airport, thinking of all the things we would miss (and those we might not miss as much)...

Here are just a few highlights of what we will miss:

• The excitement of exploring a completely new city
• The beauty all around us, all day long
• Seeing buildings that are more than 50 years old
• Walking everywhere or taking public transportation (There’s no need to drive anywhere here. We wondered if we’d even remember how to drive!)
• Climbing hundreds of stories to see amazing city views
• The passion for soccer
• The incredible artwork (both in the museums and in the architecture on every street corner)
• The beautiful blue waters of Cinque Terre
• The magical feeling of Paris
• Eating amazing food at every meal
• The food (This could be its own long list, so try not to let your stomach rumble too much)...
• Fresh pasta
• Tomatoes (we don’t know what they do to them over here, but they taste so good!)
• Gelato (so many flavors!)
• Pesto
• Risotto
• Olive oil
• Salami (yes, I will miss meat!)
• Seafood
• Croissants
• Baguettes
• Macaroons
• Tartines
• Salted caramel ice cream

And, it’s a short list, but here are just a few things we won’t miss:

• The incessant smoking
• Not having an alarm clock (yes, even I realized their importance)
• The porn magazines prominently displayed at newsstands (although I will admit we got a good laugh out of the title, “Mission Ass Possible”)
• The heat and humidity in Italy (next time we will visit in the spring, not summer!)
• The aching we felt in our feet after the many miles of hitting the pavement day in and day out

We may even miss the Vespas, the controlled chaos, and the feeling you get when you’re struggling to communicate, yet connecting with people who were genuinely grateful for your effort. In fact, the people we encountered were lovely and friendly, further proving our theory that the energy and attitude you put out comes right back to you!

As we boarded the plane back to Los Angeles, I suddenly couldn’t wait to get home—to sleep in our bed, to talk to our families, to see our friends, to return to yoga class, to do our own laundry, to cook again and to just stay in one place for more than a few minutes at a time.

We want to thank all of you for reading our blog and sharing in our adventures along the way. This was an incredibly special experience for us, and we are thrilled that you could enjoy all of the ups and downs (but mostly ups!) with us. We’re already dreaming about our next European Adventure—and keeping my ears open for more radio contests! This experience just goes to show that dreams really do come.

More pictures and videos coming soon, but for now, au revoir, mon amis!

Parisian Paradise

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.

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!

Ciao Italia, Bonjour Paris!

We left Rome early in the morning to fly to Paris. We were sad to leave Italy, but excited to explore a new city and try new cuisine. Things at the Rome airport moved very slowly as the security line and boarding took double the amount time it would normally take in the U.S. It was a good thing we get to the airport early, but the downside was we were so tight on time that we didn’t get a chance to eat breakfast before boarding the plane.

After a bit of a delay, we arrived in Paris at about 1 p.m. and called the hotel to ask the best way to get there from the Orly airport. We took the RER bus and transferred to the Metro where we took the subway to the Corvisart stop, as they suggested. The hotel recommended we call again when we get off the Metro so that they could explain the easiest way to walk from the subway stop. But this time when we called we spoke to a different person at the hotel who said we should actually get back on the Metro and transfer to a different train line to get off on a closer exit. Since we had already exited the subway and didn’t want to pay for another ticket, we looked at a map and decided the location would be close enough to walk—that is if set off in the right direction!

We hauled our 50 pound suitcases and backpacks down the busy sidewalk, only to realize after about a half of a mile that we had gone the wrong direction. At this point it was close to 2:30 p.m., and I had my first (and luckily for Kyle only) meltdown of the trip. I was starving and we were lost lugging heavy suitcases down a city we didn’t know, trying to ask people for help in a language we couldn’t speak. I’m hoping this is normal for most travelers—that at some point in your journey you reach a breaking point. But I will admit that my hunger and exhaustion got the best of me. Finally, toughing it out, we found our hotel.

We were staying at Hotel 7 for two nights, a boutique hotel near the Latin Quarter. When we arrived they said they were having “electrical problems” and could not let us into our room. We didn’t mind as long as we could leave our bags and go in search of food. The hotel manager pointed us to a nearby market on an old street called Rue de L’Arbalete.

This street was bustling with specialty vendors selling bread, meats, cheeses, fresh produce, seafood and baked goods. If only we had such a market in Los Angeles! At the end of the street we found a small café with tartines (open-faced sandwiches) on the menu. Just what we were looking for! We sat at a small table outside so that we could people watch as we enjoyed our meal. Kyle ordered chicken and cheese and I had smoked salmon and avocado. They were incredibly tasty (and I don’t think it’s just because we were starving!). The sandwiches came with a delicious green salad with light lemon dressing. For dessert I ordered a cappuccino, and we just sat and relaxed taking in the scenery. I felt a million times better after eating and revitalized by the energy and the beauty around us! This was more like it!

We returned to the hotel to find mass chaos. Electricity was still an issue and the manager had to take us to our room as the key cards still weren’t working. Then when I went to take a shower, the drain didn’t function properly and I nearly flooded the bathroom floor! Kyle ran downstairs to get towels, and the hotel assured us that they would clean up the mess and fix the drain when we went out for the night. They offered us a bottle of champagne as a consolation. Cheers to that!

A bit frazzled by the chaos at the hotel, we raced out at 6 p.m. to take the Metro to the Eiffel Tower, which was the meeting point for our bike tour of the city we would take that night. When we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, the sheer size took our breath away. Seeing this iconic landmark in person was both stunning and surreal.

We met the guide from Fat Tire Bike Tours at the south pillar of the tower. There were about 20 people in our tour group. They outfitted us with bicycles and reflective vests (very cool looking…we didn’t stand out as tourists at all!) and we set off on our way. The guide took us through the streets of Paris, past the Louvre, pointing out and stopping at major sites along the way. When we reached Notre Dame, we parked our bikes and got an ice cream. We ate the most amazing salted caramel ice cream as we looked over at Notre Dame—unbelievably amazing!

The bike tour ended with a boat ride over the Seine River. This was the perfect way to get spectacular views of Paris at night (that is when the sun finally set after 10 p.m.!) We passed by the Louvre and the Orsay museums that were beautifully lit with floodlights, and even got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle with thousands of tiny twinkle lights that illuminate nightly at 10, 11 and 12 p.m. The boat ride sealed the deal—just a few hours in to our first day here and we had already fallen in love with Paris. We borh agreed that it is the most beautiful city we’ve ever seen.

We couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend our first night in Paris. We loved the chance to get an introduction to the city by bike and by boat. We highly recommend the Fat Tire Bike Tours to anyone who’s planning a visit to Paris!