Paris, part two

Continuing our plan of cramming a lot of living into a short number of days, we hooked up with our old friends from Seattle on our second day in Paris. They took us to a delicious little bistro where we actually had that epic 3-hour French lunch (complete with wine! and a cheese plate!).

After lunch, we strolled down toward the Seine. There was this church....

As you can probably see - despite my attempts at slick photography - a few more of our ten thousand friends were there (well, in addition to our actual friends).

 (that pairing is a bit disorienting, no?

So while we did wait in a long line and did end up touring the church, it was a little too crowded to really appreciate the sacred space. But we tried . . . .

After that, we headed for a little cruise on the Seine.

Have I mentioned that Paris is my favorite city on earth? Are you sold yet?

After the boat cruise, our friends headed home (jealous!) and we took the opportunity to check up on Natalie via Skype. After that, we headed out to the Jardin du Luxembourg. It was such a relief to see green grass and flowers and living, thriving plants (rather than dry, wilted grass and heat-scorched plants).

We stayed in the garden until sunset. The garden actually had hours, but we weren't sure if those were, like, fake or actually enforced. And then, at precisely 9:15pm gendarmes started blowing whistles and announcing that the park was closed. They don't kid around. Relaxation over!

The next morning, we returned to THE BEST little pastry shop in our neighborhood (I won't tell you the total number of times we darkened the door of this establishment - half our readership will be disgusted, the other half will be proud of us. My sense is you know which group you're in). I found the pastry shop from this list of Paris foodie musts (in the foodie vein, this book was also an awesome resource). I thought these people were my Paris favorite. They have been replaced.

We then took our croissant to the Jardin du Luxembourg to eat. Ha, ha, I bet you thought I was done with garden pictures. Wrong! Locate the goat:

(Well, the angle is different, but you get the idea, no?)

We were actually en route (see my nice use of French there?) to an organic farmers' market. Here are just some random city pictures that I liked:

I tried to take a few pictures at the market, but they didn't really turn out. Luckily, we did photograph our picnic (which we ate in the Jardin des Tuileries).

After lunch? A little knitting in the garden, of course!

And then we strolled the garden some. 

And then we strolled back through the city.

And then we saw what we can only understand as something akin to a rollerblade flashmob. This parade literally took 10 minutes to pass us by, complete with police escort. It was odd. And also? Awesome.

And then we left for London the next morning . . . .

Paris, part one

So Mike and I took, well, rather a big side trip from Detroit. Our trip was more than a year in the making - it all started when we realized that we had a ton of United Airlines miles, but weren't really living in a place where we could either spend the miles or continue to accumulate them. My theory is that miles are sort of a depreciating currency, anyway, so our plan was to use them.

Looking at the week Mike's parents had ever-so-generously agreed to watch Natalie, and the amount of miles we had, out two choices were London and Aruba. Aruba would have been lovely and relaxing, but Mike had never been to Europe, so we opted for the flight to London. We then purchased a separate flight from London to Paris (and then a return train trip from Paris to London).

This was our first time ever leaving Natalie overnight with someone who wasn't one of the two of us. Each of us have traveled some and spent some nights away from Natalie, but she always had the other one of us. We read Natalie the Berenstain Bears book about the week with the grandparents and we told her over and over that we'd be gone, but that she'd stay with Bubbe and Grr, and that then we'd come back with lots of hugs and presents. And we knew that she'd have a wonderful time with Bubbe and Grrr and that they'd take amazing and wonderful care of her. And both of those were true! Knowing that, we were able to have a really wonderful, exciting time away.

So, without further ado . . . .

Saying goodbye was hard. But I was able to soothe my soul with a lovely dinner at Tortas Frontera. We then hopped the flight to London, connected in Heathrow (an airport rivaling Narita in size in construction), and landed in Paris just before dinner. One short train ride and one long walk (thanks to getting a little lost) later, we had this view:

 

Breakfast the next morning was lovely. In fact, breakfast every morning was lovely - we both drank hot coffee (at the same time!) and there was no screaming and rushing to cut up food and pour milk. I'm a simple girl, really....

After breakfast, which wasn't particularly early, we set off for the Eiffel Tower with a few thousand of our closest friends. This was the one thing Mike really wanted to see, so I really wanted to make sure we did that!

After the Eiffel Tower (I'm still amazed it was supposed to be a temporary structure!), we headed out for some falafel. This place was billed as the best falafel in Paris, and it did not disappoint. Mike says it was the best falafel he's ever eaten. He's still talking about it. It was that good. No pictures, alas, as a falafel from a window counter is totally a two-handed gig.

We ate said falafel in the square in front of the Paris city hall. Talk about an amazing building.

After that, we walked to the Place des Vosages. I'd never been to this little park, and I was eager to see it since it is the oldest little park/square in Paris.

Okay, that's it for day one. Since it's late and I have to go bed, I'll offer you a little photo dessert before I pick up day two (eventually....)