Elegance

I had so much fun last week going back and looking at our Paris photos. Here are a few of my favorites that are just shots around town.

Door Hardware at the Cluny Museum

One of my favorite photographs I've ever taken - just a cafe scene

The architecture is so stunning

Parks were filled with Bocce ball players

French stores are the most elegant of all

"Whoever does not visit Paris regularly will never really be elegant." by Honoré de Balzac

Way Back When

From the top of Notre Dame

I'm trying to do some blog clean up, and checked my "Draft Post" list...and to my great disappointment, realized that I never blogged about our Paris trip in November of 2011 (!) or the subsequent trip to the German Christmas Markets a month later. So for this post, we'll take a little respite in Paris. Or at least what I can remember, which means I'll basically just post a bunch of photos.

The Louvre - I'm in the camp that likes the modern, glass pyramid set in the elegant, Old World, courtyard

This was our first trip to Paris together, and we had one goal: food. Not romance, not the Eiffel Tower, not walking along Champs Elysees (which we never even got to), but food. Nathan envisioned fancy dinners filled with lovely dishes. I envisioned a croissant every morning and a baguette with brie as many times per day as I could fit one into my stomach. Both our goals were met.

Chapel Ceiling in the Cluny - the entire museum was filled with beauty

In our three days, we did fit in some classic sightseeing with the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, climbing to the roof of Notre Dame, walking in Jardin des Tuileries, the Eiffel Tower at night (see Nathan's fabulous photo that was in the linked post),  and a favorite of mine, a trip to Angelina's for the best hot chocolate in the world. Finally, we added in a few extras:

• The Cluny to gaze upon the Girl and Unicorn tapestries (stunning! I sat in that room for half an hour, at least),
• The Orangerie for Monet's Water Lily series (this was probably the favorite of us both),
• A walk through the Rue Cler neighborhood (macaroons!),
• Visiting the lesser known Pantheon (which apparently had a neat crypt since my very informative note on my blog draft from almost 2 years ago says "Pantheon: Crypt"; that same helpful list of notes also says: "military with guns everywhere"),
• Another favorite for us both, a trip to Shakespeare & Company bookstore, where we scored a copy of Julia Child's cookbook. For those who have read her memoir, My Life in France, you may remember her friendship with the owner of Shakespeare & Company, so to be able to purchase Julia's cookbook there was a nice little bit of connection.
• Oh, and I completely forgot that when we did a walk through the Les Halles galleries (beautiful, covered arcades filled with shops), then continued on around the neighborhood, we unintentionally stumbled onto the Valhalla of cookware shops in Paris:  Dehillerin, in business since 1820.
• Walking along the Seine River on the Left Bank...and my favorite spot in all of Paris, Ile St. Louis, the tiny island in the Seine just south of Notre Dame. So quiet and gorgeous and elegant.
• Oops, almost forgot Saint Chapelle, with it's walls of blue, stained glass...
• ...And Galeries Lafayette, all decorated for Christmas (the most gorgeous mall I think I've ever seen).

Passage des Panoramas, one of the arcades in the Les Halles area

The breathtaking Saint Chapelle

I'm beginning to see now why one of my strongest memories of Paris is aching feet. What a fabulous trip we had! This is why I blog. Because otherwise, my memory is horrible. When I started typing up this post, I remembered about four things we did, and as I kept typing, remembered more and more, including witnessing a gypsy scam that ended up with a  young flight attendant having a wallet with all her cash and cards in it taken and us running after the thief along with the victim and another American who had a cell phone and was on the phone with the police directing them to our location. We stopped as the police screeched to a halt in front of us and the thief turned a corner up the nearest alley. They jumped out, raced over and looked at the photos I'd snapped of the thief with our camera, then told the young flight attendant, "Yes, we know this girl. Get in the car," and they barreled off in pursuit. Hearts pumping, we decided we were glad to be getting on a plane home later that evening.

"Let's Go To the Mall...Yeah!"

A Good Thanksgiving

I hope everyone's Turkey Day was filled with good food, good company, and good napping. In our new determination to make the most of every single vacation day, we went on another trip, this time to Paris. We didn't even attempt to seek out a turkey dinner, but we did head to the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz. I'd read an article about the bar's renowned head bartender, and with our love of PX (blogged about here) back in Alexandria, we thought this place sounded right up our alley. We'd already decided to make this our after dinner stop, and while at dinner, we overhead the table of Americans next to us discussing their post-dinner, drinks stop. One person suggested the Ritz, and another replied, "Sure, if we want to spend all our money in one place." We decided that we did, indeed, want to spend all our money in once place and dutifully headed over. Once past the long hallway lined with luxury goods, we tucked into a cozy, wood paneled space with low tables and pictures of Ernest Hemingway on the walls - we felt like we were back in Key West, where we lived for a couple of years. Little did we realize that the Hemingway Bar is THE hangout for Americans in Paris, or at least it seemed like it since American voices rose from most of the tables. And once again, we found proof of how small the world can be. In chatting with the couple next to us, we found that the wife was from Key West. When Nathan mentioned that we moved to Italy from Alexandria, VA, a man from the table behind us came over to chat - turns out, he lives in Del Ray, a charming neighborhood just over a short bridge from our townhouse in Alexandria. As I was talking to him, Nathan met another couple at the bar with some other interesting connection that I have now forgotten. While we thought the highlight of our night would be sipping fancy cocktails at the Ritz, the real highlight was making connections with fellow Americans in a foreign country on our holiday that emphasizes family and friends. And so, while we were far from our own family and friends, we passed a good Thanksgiving, indeed.