Paris! Vacation Week #1

Monday was a busy day at work, wrapping things up at work as best as I could before we headed on vacation, with a 5:00 pm meeting to finish up the day. I took Tuesday off, and started off the morning with a nice 8:00 am run on the powerlines. Lovely out! (9.0 miles)

Then the rest of the time was spent finishing up packing, getting a few errands done, the house clean and things all set and ready to go before we headed out. Paris here we come!

Our flight out was scheduled for 8:15 am, and the drive down as well as checking in through security went smoothly. After dinner at Wahlburgers, we took off on time and managed to sleep at least a little bit, although very fitfully. My watch said I took a 1:58 hr nap 😝😴

We arrived around 8:30 am on Wednesday morning and had a slightly harrowing Uber ride into the city - with crazy drivers and Ryan slightly nauseous from sitting backwards in the van - ugh! - we were able to drop off our bags at our Airbnb before wandering out for some food and sightseeing. The Airbnb is on a small quiet side street just a few blocks from Notre Dame in the Latin Quarter, so it was the perfect launching spot for an afternoon exploration on foot. And even though everyone was tired, we all rallied for a few hours of walking, doing a nice loop to Notre Dame, up to the Louvre and out into the Tuilleries, before heading back to check in, which was more than I was expecting we would manage! (3.03 miles walked)

Wiew along the Seine

Notre Dame!

Louvre pyramid

💗

The Louvre is truly enormous

Arc de la Triomphe de la Carousel

We checked in around 2:00. The Airbnb is very funky, with a basement level that has a faux tree as well as original stone block walls, but it's very comfy and quiet. We all got settled in and relaxed a bit before heading out for an early dinner of pizza and pasta, which was delish, and then stopped for sorbet at the neighborhood glacier, before heading back to shower and go to bed early! (0.79 miles walked)

Woke up to rain on Thursday morning. Ryan and I walked up the street to the place we had had lunch the day before to pick up pastries for breakfast, and then we took the metro up to the Musee D'orsay for our first stop of the day. The museum is in an old train station and honestly the building is just has interesting as the art!

View out over the city through the clock

Rooftop view

Polar bears!

Bored teenager in a musem: A portrait

Ryan found his favorite painting ever

After leaving the D'Orsay, we headed on foot towards to Rodin Museum and stopped for lunch at a nice spot en route. The food was delicious and we lucked out and managed to be tucked under the awning during a big downpour too! 

Once the rain had stopped and the sun started to come out, we continued on our way to the Rodin Museum, one of my favorites from visiting while in France during junior year. We wandered out through the gardens first, taking in all the sculpture, before heading inside when the rain started up again.

The Thinker

The Embrace

Clouds gathering over the Hotel des Invalides

Gates of Hell

Balzac

Then, once the skies cleared, we decided to head over to the Eiffel Tower, stopping for Sam and I to get ice cream 🍧🍨 and walking past Hotel des Invalides and the Musee de l'Armee on the way.

We lucked out with blue skies and sunshine as we walked up to, under and around the Eiffel Tower and then across the Seine to take in the view from the Trocadero. It got hot quickly once the clouds burned off and I definitely wished I had put my sunglasses in my purse!

We decided to continue walking up towards the Arc de Triomphe, and stopped for a snack at a small cafe, where we lucked out again being under cover during yet another downpour. The rain didn't seem like it was going to let up, so we ended up taking the metro back to the Airbnb instead of continuing to walk. All our activity added up to a long day so we were all glad to get off our feet for a bit before dinner! (5.59 miles walked)

Art deco meto sign

We walked just up the street to a yummy Manadarin restaurant for dinner and then took a short walk around to stop in a few shops to wrap up the day.

The pretty jewelry shop where Sam found a few cute items

Friday morning, Ryan joined me for a tourist run around the city. We headed out at 6:10 am, and found the streets quiet and empty of people, a far cry from the past few days explorations with the rest of the family! It was lovely out, although quite humid. We headed across the street to Notre Dame, up to the Louvre and then along the Tuilleries to the Place de la Concorde before crossing the river and heading back along the Seine. I wanted to go a bit further so we headed up to the Pantheon before returning to the cafe to pick up breakfast and walking home. So fun! (5.5 miles)

No people!

Notre Dame

Louvre

Tuilleries

Place de la Concorde

Obilisque

The Pantheon

Then, after a shower and breakfast, we quickly got ourselves organized to get onto the metro and out to Versailles. The travel went quite smoothly and we arrived a few minutes early for our 10:00 reservation. The palace is mindboggling in its opulence with 2,300 rooms. We started with the tour of the building itself, which was very crowded and very much just over the top. Crazy to think of the royal families living there amidst all that art, ornateness and in those rather cold, marble-walled rooms - no wonder they were overthrown!

So much gold

The King's bedchamber

The Queen's bedhamber

Hall of Mirrors

After wandering the halls with hordes of people, we stopped to grab a quick bite to eat before exiting to wander around the gardens. While definitely not filled with as many flowers as I had expected, the grounds were pretty amazing. We did a big loop down to one of the lakes and then back through the very manicured woods to the lower courtyard gardens, which were filled with palm trees and citrus fruit trees, before heading back up the steps to the palace and exiting back to the streeet. (5.78 miles walked)

Looking down on the Orangerie

Found some blackberries!

Relaxing

The fountains had a routine with music, it was pretty cool actually

Back up the steps to the palace

We stopped at one of the cafes in the village for food and then took the train to get back to the city. It was still early enough that when we got to our stop, we walked up to the Pantheon. Ryan, Sam and I were pretty museumed out but we did enjoy the crypts. Plus it was cool underground, which felt lovely! (1.5 miles walked)

Then it was on to dinner at a small Italian spot across the street, and a quick after-dinner walk. (0.6 miles walked)

Saturday, we had no museum or attraction tickets, so decided to have a quiet morning, have some crepes for brunch and walk up to Sacre Coeur. Everyone slept in and I got up and sat at the computer for a bit, downloading photos and doing a bit of work. It was nice to just relax for a bit. 

Then around 11:00, we headed out for the day! After brunch, we took the metro up to Sacre Coeur and started our walk from there. It was too busy to go inside the church, so we wandered around the streets up in Montmartre and stopped for a snack in a cafe before we walked down through the city and some street-side flea markets towards La Marais. It was also quite warm and there so many people everywhere - I guess this is what we get for heading to Paris in July!! - but we did managed to find some shade in spots along the quiet side streets. We walked down through La Marais to the Place de Vosgues and the Place de la Bastille, and then finally made it back to the Airbnb for a quick change before dinner. Another full walking day! (6.45 miles walked)

Delicious crepes

Sacre Coeur

View out over the city

Too crowded and too long of a line to go inside so we just toured around outside

Found a quiet garden

Wandered some beautiful streets

Found a Tour car marking Sunday's route!

Street art

Cafe stop!

Place des Vosges

Place de la Bastille

Walking back across Ile Saint-Louis

Then it was down the street to a little bistro for dinner and to take the metro up to the Trocadero to take in the Eiffel Tower at night. There were, as one might expect, a lot of people doing the same, but we found a great spot, right along the wall and enjoyed the view. It really was pretty cool, and a fun way to end the day!

Sam tried escargots!

Eiffel Tower

The Tower all lit up!

And sparkling!

It was after 10:00 pm by the time we got the metro back, and of course, by then Sam was hungry again. So she and Ryan stopped so she could pick up a late night stop at McDonald's for a McChicken 😂 How American!

After a late night, it was a late start for our run on Sunday morning. Ryan and I headed out around 8:00 am. There were a lot of runners along the Seine and more activity in general than the other morning.  We ran up along the Seine and up to the Eiffel Tower and then across the river and up to the Arc de Triomphe, which was a hive of activity getting ready for the Tour finish. Ryan was in heaven! Very cool. It was cool but humid, and while my legs were heavy from all the walking we've been doing and from all the pavement, it was nice to get out. (7.35 miles)

Tiny car!

The Arc

Tour finish line!

Stopped and got some Tour merch! 😂

Tour signs!

Then it was back to get ready for the rest of the day! We walked up to the Jardin de Luxembourgh and wandered around, enjoying all the pretty flowers, sculptures and fountains, and then stopped at a nearby cafe for lunch.

The Medici Fountain

Mini statue of liberty for the 1900 exhibition

Luxembourgh Palace

The flowers were gorgeous!

Sailboats sailing in the pond

Teenager in repose 😉

Then, after a quick stop back at the Airbnb, we headed up the Seine to the edge of the Place de la Concorde to stake out a spot to take in the final stage of the Tour as it came through the finishing laps in Paris. We found a spot in the shade, and hung out, enjoying the Caravan that came through a few hours before the riders with all sorts of ridiculous and entertaining cars. 

Sam was less than pleased to be seen walking around Paris with Ryan in his bright yellow 

Tour bucket hat 😂😂

It was a lot of waiting around and we did get rained on slightly during that time, but it was super cool to see the riders come through on their first two laps around the Louvre! And boy, were they going fast! Truly amazing. 

After watching a few laps, Mom, Dad, Sam and I decided to head back and stopped to eat dinner at a delicious thai resturant. We managed to see the riders during laps 3 and 4 while we were en route, and Ryan stayed through all 7 laps. And of course, it started to pour in those later laps while we were inside eating - poor Ryan got soaked, so he picked up the key and we took him back some takeout. It was a long but fun afternoon, and to have a chance to see the Tour was pretty amazing! (7.5 miles walked)