Sue - ljd_mom -- Paris?

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2006
Sue - ljd_mom -- Paris?
4
Wed, 08-09-2006 - 2:01pm

Do I say 'Bon Jour'? 'Au Revior'? or 'Bon Vouyage'? LOL ... you can probably tell I don't speak French!

I notice you haven't been around much and I know your Paris trip is/was soon! Have you gone and come back already? Or in the process of getting ready to leave?

Of course, I'll be waiting to hear all about it!

Julie

 

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2005
Wed, 08-09-2006 - 6:34pm

Thanks for asking, Julie. Our trip was MAGNIFIQUE!! We had nine days (eight nights) in Paris, and had a truly wonderful time.

The first day we were jet-lagged, so mostly we just walked around the city a bit and found the place where the bus tours of the city left from. That night we crashed early! Our hotel was very European - small rooms, not fancy, no AC - but clean, nice people, and a room large enough for all four of us. The next day we did a bus tour of the city - the highlight there was DS seeing the real Eiffel Tower and exclaiming "Oh my god, oh my God, OH my god!!" at the top of his lungs LOLOL. DD and I then sat in a cafe and drank in the atmosphere! We went back to the Eiffel Tower at night and watched the light show. The next day we went to the Louvre and walked along the Seine. The next day was Notre Dame and the Left Bank. Paris turns the banks of the Seine into a pretend Riveria beach resort in the summer, and DS and I explored that for a couple hours. We did a day at Versailles, and a few more museums. We could walk to Sacre Coeur from our hotel and went there a couple of times. On the last day, DH took DS to DisneyParis and DD and I went shopping. We didn't buy too much because even with their yearly July sales, things were VERY expensive. I think the most fun we had was just walking around, and then sitting in a cafe and eating outdoors watching people go by. The bread was soooo good, the cheese really yummy, and other food was good too. Everything seemed to just taste better LOLOL. Paris is a beautiful city, with incredible architechture. Our hotel had wrought iron balconies, and lots of other houses and hotels did too.

DD never wanted to leave Paris, and went from saying "if I ever come back" to "when I move here" LOLOL

I'm working on sorting through the photos - I took over 1,000 and DD took 450 - I'm saving about 1/3-1/2 and deleting others (the fun of a digital camera is taking waaaay more photos than you need). After I get the photos sorted, I'll post a few on my imagestation page.

Sue

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Registered: 03-06-2006
Wed, 08-09-2006 - 9:53pm

It sounds like you had a 'TRES magnifique' Parisian experience! Beats Denver by a whole heckofa lot -- LOL. Did you feel like the French women stared at you a lot? I felt like everytime we got onto the Metro, all eyes were on us. Probably we looked too much like American tourists with our fanny packs and cameras for our own good.

Did your DD practice her French? DS could pretty much order a cheese omelet after our week there and DS, could order 'pain au chocolate' pretty well. Isn't it amazing how much bakery those French women eat and how skinny they are? Blew my mind! Did you eat crepes and panini at those little kiosks all over the place? I really loved that -- the crepes with Nutella and bananas were my favorite, but I liked those paninis well enough to each them a bunch of times :-)

Did you see any nudists on the Seine? We took one of those little boat trips that goes down the river by the fake Statue of Liberty and DD and DS about fell out of the boat laughing when they saw some French guys' bare butt while he was sunbathing. You can only imagine what happened when he rolled over to sun his top side! OMG! It was too funny.

DD and I liked Versailles best, but DH and DS liked the Louvre better. What was your favorite thing? I agree about the prices! We didn't buy any souveniers at all, I don't think. I kept all the brochures from the places we visited so I guess those are my keepsakes.

DD wants to do a French foreign exchange between jr and sr year. Makes me a bit nervous, but it would be a really great experience. How about your DD? Is she interested in anything like that?

I'll keep an eye open for your pics!

Julie

P.S.: How was DisneyParis? I'm a big Disney fan, but no one wanted to go when we were there.

 

 

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-18-2005
Wed, 08-09-2006 - 10:18pm

Hi Julie

We didn't feel "stared at" too much, but it did seem like many people around us were tourists too, lol. One funny inside joke - at home my DH is the kind of person people approach to ask directions (I guess he always looks like he knows where he's going). In Paris he was approached four times - twice by people speaking French!

We loved the bread and "glaces" (ice cream). I don't know how, but I actually lost weight on this vacation! We spent alot of discussion time trying to figure out how both men and women in Paris were thinner than in the US.

We didn't see any nudists, but we did see a few men leaning out their balconies with just speedos (or equivilant!)

My favorite thing was the Musee d'Orsay - the impressionist museum in a beautiful old Beaux Art train station. Both the art and the setting were wonderful. I also loved the Rodin Museum. Versailles was amazing, and we got to see the Petit Trianon (Marie Antoinette's home) which has just been opened since this spring.

My DH and DS liked Disney. I hadn't wanted to do this - we can do disney in FL if we want it - but DS had been patient with what we wanted to do, this was his big treat. DH says it's laid out exactly like Magic Kingdom in FL - the only difference was the food was better, there were fewer characters walking around, and some signs were only in French. DS loved it!!

My DD would definitely do a semester in Paris if that becomes an option!! It's a few years away, so we'll see what happens then!

Going through the pictures makes us all want to go back - that's a good measure of a successful vacation!

Sue

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-06-2006
Wed, 08-09-2006 - 10:36pm

Sounds like a really lovely trip, Sue, and I'm glad you all enjoyed yourself. I think you're right about Disney -- we live about 90 minutes south of Disneyland; why would I do that in Paris? There are too many other things to see.

Oh gosh ... just thinking about this makes me want to go again, too.