Ira and I spent a week in Paris en route back to Cairo. Although we had both been there before, I thought we managed to find a balance and do lots of things we hadn't done before...
DISCLAIMER: My French spelling sucks and I am too lazy to look it up or ask my fluent husband. We landed early in the morning on monday and made our way to the hotel by bus. We stayed at the Edouard IV in Montparnasse. We couldn't check in right away, so we had a little bite to eat at one of the cafes next door. After getting up to our room (small but very clean) I needed a shower and a nap. Ira pretended that he didn't need a nap, but cut to 4 hours later when we were both waking up from some much needed rest. After that, we went to the Pompidu Center. I had never been there before, it was great. And the view was not to be believed. After that we had a lovely little dinner right across the street from the museum. We then made our way to another little spot for some dessert.
The next day we went to the Musee D'Orsay, one of my favorite places on earth. I love the old converted train station, it's just a magnificent space. We then walked to the St. Germain area for a late lunch. We took the metro back to the hotel because my pregnant feet couldn't take any more walking at that point. We stopped at the cafe for some ice cream for me and a beer for Ira. We had an early night, I'm pretty sure the pregnant mama was asleep by 9pm.
Wednesday we went to one of my OTHER favorite places on earth, the Rodin Museum and gardens. I had special memories of this spot when I was there with my Aunt Barb several years ago. We got there too late to go in the museum but had a wonderful couple of hours in the rain exploring the gardens and dreaming on the benches. Ira and I were lucky enough to go inside and it was just as spectacular as I imagined it would be all those years ago. I think I took more pictures in there than any other place we visited. It was a bright and sunny day this time, I can't decide if maybe I liked it more in the rain...I didn't want to leave, but eventually my hunger won out and we had a fabulous lunch, probably my favorite of the trip. I ate a huge cheese plate that I'm still thinking about weeks later. After lunch we walked down the street to the Quai Branley Museum. It was a very interesting space. It had a lot of great pieces of African art and Ira wanted to go there to see a Tarzan exhibit. He was less than thrilled with it, but we were glad we went anyway. Next, we were off to the Eifel Tower. We had intended to go up but the lines were so long! So we settled for admiring it from below and taking pictures. It was kind of funny, most days we ate lunch so late that we didn't even need dinner. But I always needed dessert!
For our last full day we went to the Musee Dans La Rue, a modern gallery space. Ira was way into the graffiti exhibit they had. It was very...thorough. Let's just say that I spent a good part of 3 or 4 hours sitting on a bench while my darling husband soaked it all in. : ) Don't get me wrong, it was a great exhibit, I just got the general idea and then I was ready to move on. But Ira loved it and I'm glad we went. Next, more cheese for mama! I made my way through another massive cheese plate (with some help from Ira) I spotted a pastry shop right next to the cafe so of course we had to stop in. We left with 3 kinds; apple, apricot, and peach. We walked along the Seine and looked at all the strange and interesting things the booksellers were shilling. We stopped in a little shop where I wanted to buy everything : ) It was lovely making our way past all the bridges. Where were we heading?? The ferris wheel!! I know it's cheesy and the French hate it, but we were so excited to go up in that thing. Ira was filming a movie for the baby. We got in and then once we got up towards the top we both started freaking out a little bit. I'm pretty sure at one point I looked over and Ira had his eyes closed, haha. It was so high! And you're in this rinky dink little thing that doesn't really have sides to it or anything. But we survived. And I ate apple pastry while looking down on the Louvre and the Eifel Tower, it doesn't get much better than that. After we safely disembarked the big scary ferris wheel, we got some churros. I know. We are ugly Americans. But they smelled sooooo good! And I'm pregnant so I get an ugly American free pass. After gorging ourselves on fried dough, we sat on chairs in the jardin tulleries and looked up into the trees, one of my favorite things to do. We walked towards the L'Arc du Triomph. We got someone to take our picture but you can't really make it out in the back round very well. Anyway, it was a perfect last evening in Paris. The next morning we had one last lovely breakfast (I am still wishing for the fresh squeezed orange juice, and the grapefruit for that matter) and then it was off to the airport. We can't wait to go back someday with the baby!
The slide show is coming, as usual be patient.
