5 Years of Marriage...

... Celebrated in Paris. May 31st marked our 5th wedding anniversary. We decided to take an extended weekend and spend it in Paris, France. From beginning to end this trip was excellent. In order to save in airfare, we took a plane to Brussels and then connected to Paris on a train. This filled most of the day with travel but it was great to take it easy, relax on the train and see the countryside.

Paris was everything we didn't expect it to be; and that was a good thing. It far exceeded our expectations. The food was fantastic and so was the city. With the little time we had, we tried to hit the highlights: Eiffel Tower, Louvre Museum, Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, etc. But more than seeing the sights we wanted to experience Paris like a local. Our hotel was in a great location with excellent access to the metro. This sums it up but if you want more details please keep reading. Pictures will be posted soon. 

Saturday
We arrived into Paris about 6 p.m. at the North train station and went directly to our hotel, Derby Garibaldi. After getting settled we decided to set out and explore the city. We still had about 3-4 hours of sunlight left since it doesn't get dark until 9 or even as late as 10 p.m. We were told that Parisians don't eat dinner until around 7 or 8 so don't expect to even be seated until then. So with that advice we spent the next couple of hours exploring the area in which we were staying. We happen to stumble across a protest (common in Paris) for what I do not know. But there were people with banners, flair sticks and chanting something in french. We looked for a bit, got bored and then made our way to dinner. We found a nice little Bistro and thankfully the waitress spoke a little English. She recommended some great dishes and offered us excellent attention and service. This seemed like the perfect way to start our trip in Paris. After nearly 2 hours at dinner and the night just about to start, we went to see the famous Eiffel Tower. We wanted to experience this at night and also during the day. At night it is beautiful with all the lights lit. And every hour they turn on the sparkle lights for a neat little show. We stayed around to see this and took advantage of all the photo opps. Day one had come to a close and we were ready to head back to the hotel.

Sunday
Bright and early we started at a local pastry/bakery for some french delights; croissants and pastries. A street near our hotel was having an open air flea market. The waitress the night before had told us about it and recommended stopping by. We were also on a mission to find some baguettes and cheeses. There were many to choose from on this street. We came to see the sites, but seeing Paris like a local is a site all to itself. After spending time eating cheese and bread and seeing all the fantastic antiques they had to sell we decided to make our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Not much to say except that it was interesting and the view from the top was beautiful. Oh and that we took the stairs to the top (284). I didn't feel so bad about that 2nd croissant. The Arc de Triomphe is the starting (or ending) point of the Champs-Elysees. We walked along this street heading toward to Louvre. Along the way we saw the Cartier and Louie Vuitton boutiques. We stopped at a cafe for coffee but were too full from our morning snacks to eat lunch. After a long and detoured walk along the Seine River we finally arrived at the Louvre. The entrance leading up was magnificent with gardens and fountains and many people enjoying the Sunday afternoon outside. Unless you are interested in art, you only go to the Louvre for one reason: The Mona Lisa. The Louvre is free the first Sunday of the month and it was extremely crowded. We worked our way through the crowds, stood in a crowd to get a photo of the Mona Lisa and then enjoyed the Mesopotamia exhibit (more for Wes).

From there we grabbed a late lunch of cheese sandwiches followed by the best french Macaroons ever to have been eaten. You haven't had a macaroon unless it was french. Absolutely delightful. We went back to the hotel to freshen up. We were looking forward to our evening plans. We met some friends at Le Train Bleu (restaurant at the train station) for some appetizers and drinks. They live in France and were in Paris for the weekend. We were so glad it worked out to see them before they had to catch their train home. After this, Wes and I headed toward the Latin Quarter. It was here that we saw Notre Dame. We arrived late and it had already closed but we enjoyed what we could. The Latin Quarter is filled with energy, life and many wonderful restaurants to choose from. The weather was beautiful and like most European cities, they had their terraces and patios available to dine in. We picked, yet again, a wonderful french bistro. It seemed that all day we just moved from beautiful scenery to excellent food. How much better can it get? The evening ended with drinks and crepes. They were recommend in the Latin Quarter and they sure were good.

Monday
Another morning at a local bakery started our day off to a good start. We had scheduled a wine and cheese tasting for lunch as our big anniversary gift (as if Paris itself wasn't enough). Before the lunch we decided to squeeze in a visit to the Eiffel Tower, this time for a visit to the top. Because of time and waiting in line we only made it to level 2 (out of 3). This was fine for us. The view was great. We had just enough time to see the city from the second level, make our way down and head to the tasting. On the way we ate a ham and cheese baguette we picked up that morning at the bakery. Arriving just in time at the locally owned loft used for wine and cheese tasting, we were seated with 2 other Americans. The location was quiet and set off from all things tourist, just the way we like it. It was provided by O Chateau. The other two Americans were a young woman studying in Paris and her mother celebrating her birthday. We had a private tasting of some delicious wines and cheeses. I learned a lot and had a wonderful time. This was the best 2 hours spent in Paris. I strongly recommend it. We said our goodbyes to our new friends and made our way back to the Latin Quarter. We felt there was more to see and had missed so much. Boy were we right. We hadn't even see 1/10 of it. We spent the afternoon exploring and shopping. We stopped off midway for some drinks. What started off as drinks turned in food. We enjoyed a nice array of mussels and snails. Delicious! 

Day was turning into evening and we decided to go back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We had reservations at a lovely restaurant near our hotel. We had tried to go the first night but they were booked. So we made reservations of our own for Monday night. I have nothing more to add about the restaurant and food experience. We enjoyed every place we ate and every item we ordered. What was even nicer was the 2 hours we spent eating the food. We were so relaxed and wanted to make it last. After leaving the restaurant there was only one other thing we wanted to see; The Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre at night. We made it as far as the Arc, but due to time and metro schedules we had to get back to the hotel. Our time in Paris had come to an end, almost. 

Tuesday

We had to get started pretty early to catch our train to Brussels. But Wes didn't want to leave without one last trip to bakery/pastry shop. While I packed and got ready he went around the corner and got us breakfast. It was time to say goodbye to Paris. We got on the train and headed back to Romania via Brussels. 

We are so glad we decided to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary in Paris. This wasn't a city top on our list to visit, but are thankful we decided to go. We will hold onto to wonderful memories made in Paris. We are already looking forward to our next visit, whenever that may be.