Paris

After the Dawn Service Steffen and I headed south for Paris. The drive was short (2 hours) with a short nanny nap for Steffen half way. Like most cities do, as I've discovered, Paris just popped out of nowhere. We went across a bridge and suddenly without any warning the Eiffel Tower was standing above all other buildings (besides the CBD area with it's skyscrapers) as it has for many of years. I was so excited clapping my hands as if I were 5 and after a quick text to mum I put my ipod on to listen to La Vie En Rose by Edith Paif and Moi Je Jou by Brigette Bardot to get the Paris feel going. Plus I had to as I got them of Soph only the morning before because I refused to go to France let alone Paris without Edith and Brigette.

Then Navi directed us into an extremely long 'where's the light at the end?' tunnel. We had no idea where we were going but as soon as we went up the little hill out of the tunnel the Arc De Triomphe was right in front of us! Who knew we'd come out of Champs Elysees? From here on things got a little hectic and I got a little scared for my life. Paris has a problem. Many of the roads have no lines. Meaning when you go around the Arc De Triomphe it kind of becomes a free for all. You've got to get in, this is easy, but eventually (after a circle or two around the building) you've gotta get out. Navi was going mental, I wanted to make a movie, and Steffen wanted to get out of it. We were very lucky it was early Sunday morning. To show see the craziness of no lines in a few seconds watch the vids below, they are very bad but still, I will get better one's in July.


We drove around looking for parking for ages while I stared out the window at the patisseries who's cakes looked like inedible artworks. Finally we found an expensive parkhouse and began to explore Champs Elysees. After a short while I spotted Laduree, I was, in that moment, the happiest girl in Paris. Finally, finally, finally, I could buy my macarons. I love this shop so much that it shall have it's own blog post so I can continue on with Paris.

Moving on, we then strolled down the avenue with all the designer shops and I saw the Dior store from the Miss Dior Cheri ad. It was so pretty. We wanted to then ride bikes but they cost too much and we needed a credit card to use them as they didn't take cash. So we kept walking on and reached the Eiffel Tower. I think we spent about 5 minutes just evaluating it. It's fatter than we imagined, bigger than we thought but overall just as impressive as we ever dreamed. It's funny though because it pops out at you like this:

We walked underneath the tower and it became so windy which was a hassle because I was wearing a short black dress. The lines to go up the tower were enormous and this was also our first experience with the street sellers. Men would come up to you and try to sell you little Eiffel Towers non stop. And I really mean non stop. We experienced these people the whole time we were around the tower. Even in the section further away from the tower where you go to get a good photo. It was beyond annoying and in a way ruined my Eiffel Tower experience.

By this time we were dying for a croissant and frustratingly we could not find one bakery. Everything was more like an eat in cafe or restaurant. After walking down many streets, which are all very beautiful, we found Lenotre. This place was a bakery and patisserie and a wine store all in one and had really good chocolate croissants. We then made our way back to Champs Elysees so in a way we walked in a giant circle. We went under the giant round about in a tunnel and up and around the Arc De Triumphe.


On our way to Paris I said I will not buy Macca's in Paris but our location only offered high price ranges and we wanted something fast and to go because we were getting really tired. Soo embarrassingly we went to McDonald's but also brought more macarons at McCafe then walked down Champs Elysee's with a giant McDonald's bag. Not cool. However once in the car and eating, it was very satisfying. Driving out of Paris was like watching a movie and making a mental checklist of everything I must see in July with Mum and soph. The old building were beyond gorgeous and unbelievably large. Thank god Paris was never bombed, a reason for its beauty no doubt.

So our 3 hour stint in Paris was complete we got the things we wanted and were more than ready to leave due to our tiredness. On the way home (a 5-6hr drive) we came across one too many Peage's. These are tolls, to drive on any road in France you have to pay. The most expensive one we had was 13.60€! So it was a very expensive trip back, hence we drove through Belgium the first time. And that is my first trip to Paris done, cannot wait for number 2 which will be 4 days in July.