Eiffel in Louvre with Paris

PARIS

We know we're not the first to write about the city of lights, and we know you all know enough about the sights not to get into the details of our play by play of sightseeing, so to make everyone happy (including us) we're going through our visit bullet-style!

• Spent a week in a bachelor Studio in Paris with home cooking every night on a tiny two burner hotplate  

• Had our unopened New Years Eve champagne taken and thrown away by the police on the Champs Elysees. When we asked why they did it, they literally threw their hands up and  said  "It's already done, what do you want me to do?"

• Bought boot-leg champagne for the lack of a midnight celebration at the Eiffel Tower (in crowd control efforts, Paris did away with their New Years eve celebrations. There were no fireworks, light show, or countdown for New Years)

• Spent 4 hours after midnight trying to get home on the Metro. The Metro shut down two hours into our adventure.

• Bought a 4 day museum pass. Crammed in visits to the Louvre, Orangerie, Orsay, Decorative Arts Museum, Pompidou and climbed the Arc de Triumph in our first two days

• Resold the passes to friendly American teens at the Louvre on our second day with and used the money to see Versailles for free

• Toured Montmartre and saw the Moulin Rouge and the cafe from the movie Amelie

• Churched around to see the giant nativity scene at Notre Dame and the Stained Glass of St. Chappelle

• Got engaged at Montmartre on a late-night stroll while they took down the Christmas market at Sacre Coeur

• Robin said yes

• Fun first day of engagement pictures at Eiffel Tower (sadly, files not found)

Best Eats: 

Hot Chocolate at Angelina's. Pretty much a bar of African chocolate, melted into a cup and topped with whipped cream and an 8 Euro tab

Unbeknownst to Robin, engagement dinner at [INSTERT RESTAURANT NAME] Really good tomato provencal and original art nouveau decor.

Butter croissants and baguettes, 1-2x daily.

Best Laughs:

Coming across the American and British section of our local supermarket: Peanut butter, Hershey's syrup, popcorn, brownie mix, and Fluff. That novelty marshmallow spread apparently has an international reputation as an American staple.