Paris: Picture Perfect, Even in Rain

Everyone I had ever talked to about Paris always gushed at just how beautiful it was.

I expected it to be pretty. It seemed pretty in all the photographs I had seen. But in person, even in the drizzle that followed us on our trip, it was beautiful. Really beautiful.

From the darling little clothes hanging in the millions of children's clothing boutiques, the mouth-watering pastries and desserts, to the perfectly thought out and manicured parks. It was all picture perfect.

And with all that beauty around, we naturally left it all to spend our one day in Paris at Roland Garros, watching the French Tennis Open.We did carve out a little time to do some of the usual Paris sight seeing. Of course we had to make it to the Eiffel Tower, at the very least we needed a million shots of it. We decided against going up to the top because by the time we got there the cloud cover was pretty thick. The 13 Euros burning a hole in our pockets ended up being used on a great French dinner in the Rue Clair district--very quaint, I must say.Avery and I had to check out all the little boutiques around our hotel, Le Saint-Beuve. It is a good thing the clothing was so outrageously expensive (as in $70 for a baby's shirt), otherwise I would have been tempted to spend every last cent of ours. And what hard core shopper could go to Paris without walking the Champs Elysees?I must admit that one of the most ironic things we'd do was search for a Mc Donalds every where we went. Not for the food, but because they had the best bathrooms! Seriously, they were well equiped, super clean, and free.

At the end of the Champs Elysees is of course the Arc du Triomphe. Very pretty. I am running out of synonyms for pretty but really, the French just don't make any ugly things.

We did make it to the top of the Arc and paused for some photo ops. It really was surprising just how large Paris was. I've been in big cities before, but this seemed huge. Maybe it was because we had just come from the South of France where we could easily walk through 3 towns in one afternoon. Coming into Paris we could maybe do one or two districts in an afternoon.

Brad spent the morning of our second day in Paris running around the subway systems trying to get tickets for the French Open that afternoon. Avery and I purused the boutiques and toy shops for a while. Seriously, their children's books are amazing! The illustrations are just gorgeous! I almost bought the whole store. While we waited for Brad to get back we relaxed in the Jardin Luxumburg.

It was so peaceful to look at the manicured park and see all the French people leisurely eating their baguettes for breakfast. And the playground for children was really amazing. I had to take a photograph of it for my kids. It looked like it would have been so much fun to play on.

Afterwards, we went off to fight our way through the Musee d'Orsay. It was pretty tight since we had to work around the French Open. It gave me an hour to get in and through the whole museum. The wait to get into the ticket line was at least 45 mintues. Thank goodness I had Avery. I went straight to the front and got in under 10 minutes flat. I found fighting my way through the crowds with a stroller in my way in order to get a glimpse of the Van Gogh paintings a real challenge though. It was crazy how packed it was!

The street artists outside were fabulous to look at too. A lot of them copied some of the great artists so I picked up a oil painting of Van Gogh's. They also had some nice original work too, so naturally I couldn't resist. I am now finding that I need more walls in my house with all these paintings and photographs!

And, just for Jayden, I had to take a photograph of a French garbage truck. It's just about the coolest thing for him these days.
After the French Open, we headed over to see Notre Dame and wander around the Marais for dinner.

It was intricately detailed on the outside, I can only image how much more ornate it is on the inside. I have to imagine, because we didn't get there in time for a tour of the inside. Again, another thing we have to save for a second trip. But really, after all the traveling we had done, I was more than happy to sit and relax watching a very entertaining game of tennis for the afternoon. Plus, in a city as gorgeous as Paris is, walking around is satisfying enough for me.Dinner was in the Marais. A cool district, but a little sketchy at night. I must admit that once the sun went down I was happy to get out of there. Except we made our way to the area just north of the Louvre. Talk about scary! And in the dark, drizzly weather, it really didn't feel good to know we were wandering about aimlessly . . . and with a baby!

But I did take some cool shots with my little point and shoot! I was surprised at how great the manual function worked. Now if only I had planned ahead and brought my tripod! I could have taken some really great night shots!

Again, I was amazed at the size of the Louvre. I have been in museums in major cities. They are big. I figured the Louvre would be about twice the size. Never did I imagine it was over 10 times the size! It's a good thing we didn't even attempt to go in because I couldn't see more than three exhibits in the Musee d'Orsay in an hour, and that was about the size of our local museum.Before we turned in for the night, or tried to navigate the Paris Metro system for an hour in hopes of getting back to our hotel, we caught a glimpse of the twinkling Eiffel Tower. I believe that under normal conditions it is breath taking. But against the steel grey, over cast sky, I think it made the tower look as though it were made of billions and billions of perfectly cut diamonds.