Paris in the Springtime

It’s been a very very busy couple of months, which explains the lack of entries. I will attempt to rectify this slowly over the next couple of weeks. I’ll start with a recap of my recent week in Paris.

Paris: the city of light, rude people, good food and of course, lots and lots of churches and museums. After holding out for nearly 30 years, it was time to visit Paris. Jill was visiting, and first spent a week in Amsterdam. Then, we took advantage of the 3 hour, 15 minute train to Paris and spent about 5 days there. Here are some impressions:

- Surprisingly, we did not meet a single rude French person. Not one. Every person we dealt with was helpful and bordering on the point of friendly. It’s true what the guidebooks say – just saying hello in French really does make a difference.
- French food on the other hand was slightly underwhelming. You can only have so much steak frites and croque moisseurs until they get tiring. On the other hand, the baguettes, cheese, and desserts were amazing. Oh, and my favorite dish by far was the beef bourginone (but I prefer the Belgian version that’s made with beer, and omits the vegetables!).
- The Paris Metro is great – except when you get the pleasure of carrying a 70lb+ suitcase up and down multiple sets of stairs (and truly do have bruises to show for it).
- Drinks in Amsterdam are a bargain compared to the drinks in Paris. And no, I will not be drinking calvados (French apple brandy) ever again.
- Museums are fine. I even like some of them. But seeing them all in three days is overkill. My favorites, in order, were the Orangerie, the d’Orsay, and the Louvre. The Louvre is included in the top 3 because we were able to see it in about an hour. The Mona Lisa was not as impressive as the horde of tourists in front of it.
- Versailles = bling bling! The grounds even more so.
- The Eiffel Tower really is amazing. We went to it just about every night, and the lit up version is really a sight to see. The climb was also awesome – probably my favorite sight of the trip.

Paris is a place I’ll go back to, but next time on a shorter trip that focuses on enjoying the city and not so much on checking off attractions. The street markets are awesome and there’s lots of good neighborhoods to explore. Paris probably ranked somewhere in the middle of my favorite European cities, but it’s definitely a must-see and somewhere I’ll probably end back up in someday soon.

Now, a few of my favorite pictures: