I spent 3 days there with my friend from SF, Tom, whom I hadn't seen in 18 months. It was really nice to catch up with him, as we both have a love for the city and have talked for ages about going there together as tourists.
Our hotel was in the 5th arrondissement, just near the Cluny museum, on the left bank. I've not stayed in that area before, and it's a really vibrant, lively place. It's near the Sorbonne, so there are tons of students around, and some really great little cafes and bars. Our hotel was a block off the main drag, so it was nice and quiet at night, but close to the metro and shops. I definitely felt more comfortable with the language this time and almost all of the waiters, etc. were really friendly.
Thanks to the advice of one of my co-workers, we went to see this great little church, Saint-Severin, that was literally around the corner from our hotel. It's not a huge church, but the architecture is amazing and they were just about to start a music concert. So we stayed and listened to the music for a while.
Saint Severin
One day, we took the metro out to the flea market (marche des puces) in the Saint-Ouen area, which is just outside the border of the city-proper. The flea market is AMAZING. The antiques were so cool--every style and genre you could imagine. Art, furniture, tchotchkes, clothing...it was endless. And the area was about 5 blocks long by 2 blocks wide. There were proper shops along the street, but there was also this maze of little stalls in this one area. We went up and down the aisles just gawking at the stuff. It was fantastic!!!
The highlight of the trip was a visit to the Louis Vuitton flagship store on the Champs-Elysees. We had joked for years about going there whenever we made it to Paris. It was such a gorgeous store, really well done after the renovations that were completed a couple of years ago. And Tom had mentioned that he wanted to buy a wallet for himself, so we did a little shopping, too. And, I got a very unexpected Xmas present when Tom generously offered to buy me a bag! The saleswoman had to go to the stockroom to get Tom's new wallet, so she offered us some champagne as we sat and waited for her to return. Ah, how the other half lives!
It's happy hour somewhere!
The last night we were there, we took one of the boat cruises on the Seine on a bateaux-mouche, those big, flat boats you see in photos. It was about an hour's cruise, and had the pre-recorded descriptions of the bridges and sights (in 6 languages!). It's definitely a great way to see the city from a different perspective.
The Tour Eiffel from the boat
We left Paris the Tuesday before Xmas to take the train up to Amsterdam, where we were meeting Kevin. More on the rest of our holiday travels to follow...
Notre Dame
Me being silly with self-portraits in the courtyard of the Louvre
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