Paris - Day 1

Hmmm how are you supposed to start your first morning in Paris again? Oh yah, a croissant?

And a trip to the Louvre?

Done and done. We've already started to befriend the friendly man who has a cafe across the street and beat the lines at the Louvre. We chose to enter the Denon wing because it hosted the Mona Lisa and the Crown Jewels. We knew it was the most visited museum in the world, but jeez it was huge and crowded. I am so happy we went early or it would have been way to overwhelming. The Louvre itself was a piece of art.

From the columns to the floor...

And especially the ceilings!

It also gave me some ideas for new riding attire, like a leopard skin saddle pads?

 When we finally got to the Mona Lisa it was completely empty and we could get super close!

Haha just kidding! But I waited my turn and got to see her.

It's fun to say I saw her, but I was more impressed with other pieces of art. Including this girl power piece.

As we made our way out of the most beautiful room that housed the Crown Jewels we heard an announcement that said something along the lines of "For your safety we'd like you to please exit the building immediately." They said it in about 5 languages, however we seemed to be the only people who thought that it sounded important... Even the guards didn't seem phased. We decided better safe than sorry and followed the signs for the exit... Which got us lost. We ended up in another wing (we later found out it was the Sully wing) of beautiful art were we could no longer here the announcement. So we decided that it must have just been for the previous wing we were in (which was the most popular area) and that'd we just return to the main entrance. I saw this awesome Egyptian exhibit along the way.

Anyways, we finally made it to the main entrance and they were still allowing people in, so we're not sure what the announcement was about, but it was getting too crowded for our tastes anyways.

It was such a beautiful day out we were happy to walk through the Louvre's accompanying gardens.

Next we did some window shopping on our way to Plac Vendome, which had more window shopping and a big column that Napoleon made famous.

We were starving and found a cute cafe for lunch.

More delicious bread, ham and cheese and now butter! It hit the spot! What's the best thing after a meal? Dessert!! On our way to the famous Laduree at its original location to get their world famous macaroons we passed the Madeleine, a beautiful big building fronted with two grassy areas covered in flowers.

There were so many types of macaroons we had trouble deciding, so we all got two and split them in thirds.

We ended up with red berries, pistachio, chocolate, salted caramel, vanilla and lemon.

They were all out of this world, but I think my favorite was pistachio. Feeling refueled and ready for more art we went to l'Orangerie to indulge in Monet, Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso. Including two reflecting rooms containing 360 degrees of Monet's water lilies (which we weren't allow to take pictures of). I also enjoyed this picture which I spent at least 5 minutes staring at the hay convinced it was real.

And this simply beautiful impressionist painting.

This Derrain painting with a gorgeous frame.

Finally, this painting of the Notre Dame that got me excited about tomorrow!

We left the museum to a beautiful view and I admittedly gave a little squeal when I saw the top of the Eiffel Tower for the first time!

We went through the Place de la Concorde and down the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe.

It started to rain right when we got there so we took some quick pictures and ran to a cafe for an afternoon snack...

BOOM! This little beauty is called escargot (don't worry no snails here just chocolate and pastry, but Maddy if you're reading this you should figure out how to make these before I get back)! It was prefect to hold me over until a late dinner (since they eat around 9pm here. And now the moment you've been waiting for... Drum roll please.... 

The Eiffel Tower! No explanation needed. I even took some photography inspiration from my dad.

And luckily my friends didn't think I was too much of a dork! (This is us under it). We also alternated taking some photos in the grass out front and I asked Arin for a very specific angle that lead to this....

They turned out awesome! But you have to wait for me to get back to download them off my camera. We went back home tired and sore to drop off our things before dinner. We ended losing Paige in the hotel room but Arin and I went on an adventure to favorite local restaurant called Chez Gladines known for their American portions of French food. We waited 45 minutes and everyone shares tables there. We asked the waiter for his two favorite dishes (since it was all in French) and just went out of a limb and ordered them.

Liver that tasted like bacon on the salad and a duck entree. Proud right? They were both really good and even better because we were being adventurous! We were also sharing a table with some older French men who after dissing America and implying women can't read maps spent 30 minutes circling all the best sights to see according to a Parisain. Luckily, we had most of them in our plans for the next day anyways but it was awesome to hear his input. I passed out immediately upon returning to the hotel.