While Nate and I finish out our adventure in Paris this week, I thought it would be fun to re-post about our last trip there, almost three years ago! Enjoy. :)

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So, I’m gonna start this post with a disclaimer Nathan wanted me to put out last week: The time we spent in Paris was freezing cold. Well… 2-3 degrees above freezing, actually. It was cold, windy, rainy, and down-right miserable most of the time we were there. Though we had our cameras with us 90% of the time, it became miserable to stop, take off our gloves, and take a photo. That being said, Nate came home completely disappointed in the photos he took, and didn’t really want me to blog them. I, however, think they’re just wonderful and want to share, anyway. So there you have it. I win. :)

Once Lorie and Jon were gone, Nate and I checked into a hotel my Mom suggested to us. Oh my goodness, I loooooooved our hotel. Loved it! We stayed at the Emeraude Hotel Madeleine in Madeleine Plaza. It was right next to a major Metro stop, their staff was so welcoming, and the room was darn right adorable. :)

This was the view from our room!

This was from the day I fell in love with a store the States don’t have (yet?) called Habitat. I mean, seriously. I never thought I’d fall in love with a coffee table, but seriously, look at this coffee table!

Wanta Fanta?

The puppet was singing Kurt Cobain songs, incase you were wondering.

They have red cups in France, too! <3

My favorite. :)

I think this may have been the one sunny day of our whole trip! So Nathan and I were hanging out by the Eiffel Tower when we came in contact with Non Stop Joe. This guy saw us, ran up with his tv crew and explained he has a 24 hour streaming show on a local website. Then Non Stop Joe asked point blank if he could give one of us a piggy back ride. I was slightly terrified and said no, Nate declined as well, and Joe was on his way.

To this day, Nate regrets not getting a piggy back ride from Non Stop Joe. True story.

Every dog we met in Paris made us miss our Huck Finn!

Thank goodness for automatic timers in our cameras!

I know I’m posting way too many pictures of the Eiffel Tower, but I can’t help it!

For some reason the photo on the left makes me uncomfortable. Like we’re looking up the Eiffel Tower’s skirt or something. ;)

Left: A Paris local. Right: American. (I know we can be hard to differentiate sometimes!)

So yeah, we found a pamphlet for an American company- Fat Tire Bikes that gave Segway tours around Paris! We’d been wanting to ride Segways for ages, and this seemed like the perfect time for us. (I’d actually wanted to do the Segway tour at Epcot, but I hear they don’t let you off the ‘bunny’ slow setting… Unacceptable!) Well, we met our Segways (“Segzy Legs” and “Wall-E,” respectively), and it was love at first sight. Seriously, these things are SO much fun to ride!

I’m wearing 3 sweaters, a heavy coat, scarf, poncho, AND helmet in this photo. (It was 37º and raining most of our time in Paris- Miserable!) Even though we looked like the biggest nerds ever and I feel like we may look like the modern day Griswold family portrait in National Lampoon’s European Vacation, I’d do it again any day!

Omg… I can’t believe I’m posting these! *Covers face.*

On our last night, we walked the Champs-Élysées which was decked out for the holidays. We passed this really shady shack that encouraged people to step inside to take pictures with Santa. The whole thing was so creepy looking, and even more creepy when we saw a quite un-jolly Santa smoking outside. (I’m crossing my fingers that wasn’t the real Santa!)

We ended our very cold, very nice trip to Paris with some long exposure shots. :)

Disneyland Paris photos to come Sunday! :)

While Nate and I finish out our adventure in Paris this week, I thought it would be fun to re-post about our last trip there, almost three years ago! Enjoy. :)

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The routine is the same every time we travel: Nathan pulls out the suitcase, opens it up, Huck jumps in. He stares at me like this the whole time while I fill up the empty gaps around him… It’s not so much a Don’t go! look as it is a Please take me with you! which is almost even more heartbreaking. I don’t care how cool the location is that we’re going to, I always hate leaving my little man. Pathetic, I know, but just look at that face!

“Paris, First Class, International.” – View from the Top

What Paris looks like from a cab window:

Nate grabbed this one from the car and for the life of me, I can’t figure out what I’m looking at. Love it, regardless. :)

We were lucky enough to meet up with Lorie and Jon on this trip! Lorie and I planned for us to rent an apartment while we were there together, and found a swoon-worthy flat just down the street from the Arc de Triomphe. Well, Lorie and Jon got in town a day before us and headed to the apartment, only to find it flooded! We had to be relocated to a smaller two bedroom place in the Montmartre district (where Amelie was filmed!). After a confusing few hours, we were all finally united at our home for the next 4 days! The photo on the left is of Lorie in front of “Le Petit-Vietnam.” (She’s 1/2 Vietnamese.)

My favorite thing about walking around Montmartre was seeing all the artists at work on the streets. :)

Our first stop was to see the Sacre Coeur, which was just a few miles up the road from where we were staying. And I do mean UP the road! I pretty much thought I was gonna die hiking up these cobblestone roads that put San Francisco hills to shame, but we were there before I knew it. And if nothing else, the walk down to home was that much more enjoyable! :)

*Happy sigh.*

Our nightly ritual. :)

Oh, come-on, you’d buy em, too! ;)

I always think groups of kids are cute, but seriously… There’s something ridiculously adorable about hearing kids talking, yelling, and giggling in French. (Yes, I’m convinced even their giggles are different over there!)

THE MOST AMAZING part of our trip was eating in this restaurant- Dans Le Noir. Seeing as that translates to In the Dark in English, I’m sure you can guess what that meant- We ate in the dark! It was so much more of an experience than that, though… When we checked in for our table, they had us lock up all loose bags and anything that emitted light (watches, cell phones, etc.) Then our waiter came out to meet us- Sorry… Our blind waiter. No- Really. He had us put our hands on each other’s shoulders and led us through the pitch black restaurant, helping each of us find our seats. When we sat down we kinda felt around and tried to get acclimated- Felt for our silverware, glasses, and such. Our waiter then brought us a pitcher of water and explained to us how to fill up our cups- We held one finger over the edge and into our glass and poured until it touched our finger.

The coolest thing about the experience is that they don’t tell you what you’ll be eating. This is typically a terrifying thought for someone as picky an eater as me, but it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. I couldn’t believe how heightened my other senses became so quickly. All four of us had individual moments of claustrophobia at different times (seriously, there’s something just plain disorienting about not being able to see your hand .5″ from your face!) The whole experience was amazing, and I’ll absolutely be visiting their other locations whenever I’m in town. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced. And the way the waiters just know their ways around- Amazing. Anyway. If you ever get a chance to go, do it. You won’t regret it!

Since the restaurant is well, in the dark, this is the one photo we have from the lobby. :)

Whew! We spent the next day in Disneyland Paris (those photos to come next week!), and then it was Thanksgiving! Lorie, Jon, Nate, and I started the day at Versailles.

So, I’d been to Versailles once when I was 16. I was expecting to come in and walk the halls and see amazing locations like this…

… And this…

… But nothing could have prepared me for THIS!

And I dunno, man. I can appreciate art, and would have loved some of American Jeff Koons’ work if I’d seen it elsewhere (or even known it was gonna be there), but I couldn’t help but have this Wtf, mate?! moment going through the palace. It kinda disappointed me. Looking back, I get a kick out of it, but it was completely and utterly unexpected. Which, I suppose is what Mr. Koons was going for, hanging an inflatable lobster in Versailles! (And yes, that’s Michael Jackson and Bubbles the monkey below.)

We did our best to take a ‘mirror shot’ in the huge inflatable balloon hanging in the Hall of Mirrors.

We then headed outside and made some friends:

Bahahaha. :)

Remember how I mentioned that it was Thanksgiving?! When we all finally made it back to our apartment late that night, we put together the ultimate Thanksgiving Day feast: Big Macs, Wheat Thins, canolis, Nutter Butters, and mashed potatoes? Oh! And wine, of course! Anyway, I kid you not, this was the best Thanksgiving I’ve ever had. Ever. :) We even pulled up You Tube on our laptop and watched clips from Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from earlier in the day. Only one thing was missing…

… Waffle s’mores!!!!!!!!!!

Some jowling love (never heard of it? Google it!) ;)

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavorite! <3

From there on, it was just me and Nate left alone to explore! We headed to their Museum of Modern Art, where my favorite thing about it was the view from the top floor of the building.

Chim chim-in-ey, chim chim-in-ey, Chim chim cher-ee! A sweep is as lucky, as lucky can be!

I love how blunt this sign is. No sugar coating going on here! ;)

Yep.

Let’s take a closer look at the detailing on that gown, shall we, brides?

I love my blank ?@$#! face on the right. Pretty much exactly how I felt the whole time we were there! (No offense to you modern art types! I was just out of my element!)

I mean… Really.

On that note, come back tomorrow for part two! <3