gosh, it sure does take forever to get through all my trip photos! with these long trips, i always think that i’m posting at a pretty good rate for a while, and then suddenly it’s after christmas and the trip was six months ago. and we haven’t even gotten to the dslr pics yet. oh well.
this part of our adventure in paris included a tour of notre dame by the cutest tour guide ever… he’s actually a student at boston university and gives tours in the summer, so if you live in boston and know a friendly, good-looking frenchman by the name of baptiste, hollaaa. the tour was again through viator, so thumbs up for getting to cut the lines [which you will see were VERY long] and for giving us some eye candy of a tour guide. you might even get to see a picture of him if you’re lucky. ;) and then we shopped and went to the top of the tallest building in paris. a bunch of these photos are ashlin’s and aunt debbie’s, because they got some great pictures that i didn’t get, but i made sure to give credit where due.
{first off, i forgot to post this with the versailles pictures, but this was after our palace tour, when we were walking through the town looking for somewhere to eat dinner and it was just starting to sprinkle. this guy had left his cute little daughter outside in her bike seat for a quick second while he ran into a little boulangerie to buy some bread, probably for their dinner that night [it was a very tiny store and had large windows, so i’m sure he was keeping an eye on her]. if you did that in america, someone would probably report you to the police or the CPA or something for being a negligent parent and putting your child at risk for falling off the bike or for kidnapping, but in the small town of versailles, france, no one thought anything of it. and she sat there patiently until he came out a minute later, and he stuck the long loaf of french bread in his backpack and they headed home. it occurred to me that this might be a daily occurrence for them. the whole thing – it was so simple, yet something you’d never see in america – and i was fascinated.}
{paris OOTD}
{this was a little bakery that ashlin’s friend had said we need to make sure we go to for crepes, but we tried going a few different times and we were never there during the right hours for crepes [i always thought crepes were an anytime-of-day type of thing but maybe that’s just wishful thinking!] :) we got some pastries there one day for breakfast instead and they were yummy.}
{i thought this was funny… it’s the french version of where’s waldo. i guess in france, waldo goes by charlie…}
{notre dame! photo credits: ashlin}
{the intricacy of it all is breathtaking, as are the stained glass windows. photo credits: ashlin}
{if that intense-looking door and saint denis holding his head in hands aren’t enough to make you want to go inside, i don’t know what is. ;) photo credits: aunt debbie}
{guess whoooooooo??} ;)
{photo credits for both pictures of baptiste the tour guide go to MOM. she gets triple bonus points for these!}
{and then we went up to the top of notre dame and took a million pictures of the view and a million-and-one selfies with the gargoyles.}
{photo credits: ashlin}
{from ashlin’s phone}
{it was a spectacular view}
{do you see that elephant gargoyle?? photo credits: aunt debbie}
{such a pretty picture of ashlin. from her phone}
{is it just me or is does it look like that one on the right is, uh, doing something inappropriate?!… photo credits: ashlin}
{photo credits for above four photos: ashlin}
{photo credit: aunt debbie}
{photo credit: ashlin}
{see what i mean about the lines? i’m soooo thankful we got to skip that. photo credits: ashlin}
{and i was so glad we took the time to go up to the top.}
{oh hey little seagull, i think you’re lost.}
{it was a long trek to get up and down the very narrow winding staircase to the top of notre dame, and ashlin caught our happy/relieved faces when we finally reached the bottom!}
{we were pretty hungry at the end of the tour, so we ended up going to a cafe across the street for lunch. unfortunately, it was our one single experience with a rude parisian during the whole trip – our waiter was not very nice. i guess that’s what we get for falling straight into the tourist trap…}
{we went to a famous department store called galeries lafayette. it was very fancy, ENORMOUS, and beautiful. it reminded me of el ataneo, a famous bookstore in buenos aires that i posted a picture of in this post.}
{this was the type of display you’d see throughout the store… a ballerina costume adorned with candy.}
{we also checked out champs-elysees, a famous boulevard in paris with great shopping and restaurants and the site of the arc de triomphe. the first thing we stumbled upon after getting off the metro was the fanciest abercrombie & fitch i’ve ever seen, with gold-plated gates and a line to get in and of course two handsome male “models” at the gate entrance letting people in [although they were fully-clothed, as opposed to the ones at the stores in american malls!]. i feel like abercrombie has kind of dropped off the face of the earth, but apparently not here! we had a good laugh about it.}
{fancy schmancy! photo credits: mom}
{laduree, a lovely macaron store in paris}
{the arc! photo credit: aunt debbie}
{photo credits: debbie}
{from mom’s phone}
{selfies at the arc! from debbie’s phone}
{around the time we were getting ready to go to dinner, we suddenly realized that there were police EVERYWHERE on champs-elysees…}
{…literally lines of police cars for MILES – as far as the eye could see. we began to wonder if we should be worried.}
{we finally went and asked the police officers what was going on, and they explained to us in broken english that france was playing in the world cup that night and that the fans get crazy and often “break things” or loot the stores and that this could be a dangerous place to be. that had never even occurred to us! champs-elsyees… famous for high-end shopping and world cup riots? photo credits: ashlin}
{we had dinner at a great place called chez clement. there are several of them throughout paris, and they offer great two- and three-course meal options for a very reasonable price. i had a salad of tomatoes, olives, fresh parmesan, cilantro, and a light dressing to start, and then seafood pasta for my entree. it was very good.}
{also, i had to take a photo of this high chair… it’s fit for a king! [or queen!] it did make me think of something i had read though – that it’s difficult to find high chairs in france. this was the one high chair in the entire place, and it wasn’t a small restaurant. i guess french kids get used to sitting in adult chairs at an early age.}
{we left that “dangerous” area and headed to montparnasse 56, the tallest building in paris. the parisians hate it – they think it’s ugly and call it the box that the eiffel tower came in, but we went up to the top, and the views ARE beautiful.}
{the eiffel tower sure is breathtaking. we were there just in time for sunset, and although it was a little cloudy, we still got some pretty colors on the horizon.}
{and then we had champagne up there!}
{the whole group, from debbie’s phone}
{cheers! photo credit: ashlin}
{on our way back home, we attempted again to get crepes at the place ashlin’s friend recommended and it was again a fail. but there was a place selling them across the street so we went there instead. i got nutella crepes – they will always be my favorite.}
{in our [unintentionally] matching denim jackets, i realized how much ashlin and i look alike when i put these photos side by side.}
we’re getting to the end of our time in paris! we have so many great memories from the trip, and i hope you’re enjoying following along with us on our journey. have a great weekend! xoxo