Like I mentioned in the last post, we really enjoyed Paris. Heck, who am I kidding, we loved it. There’s a vibe in that city that just makes you want to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower and scream “Baguette!”

We first arrived on the 8^th around 1pm, which was about an hour later than scheduled because there was a ‘panne d’électricité’ (electrical outage) when the train was half-way to Paris. This worked out for the best thought because our check-in wasn’t until 3pm. We booked our hotel through Hotwire because we heard raving reviews about this website before we left for France. Now, I love this website too. The price is great, and I actually enjoy not knowing where we’ll be staying until we pay…it created a bit of excitement!

The hotel in Paris definitely did not get great reviews on sites like TripAdvisor and Expedia, so we were pleasantly surprised when we got there. It had everything we needed and for $59/night, we couldn’t complain! The location was the best part: right by a main train/metro station.

Day 1: We just walked around Rue La Fayette where I discovered some good shopping. At night, we asked the concierge where we should go to for some good nightlife. He didn’t even think twice before saying St. Michel’s by the Notre Dame Cathedral. There were a bunch of restaurants down these little alleys where employees were doing their best to get people into their restaurant. The guy that got our attention offered us free ‘apéritif’ (pre-dinner drink) at a Greek restaurant that had a two-person band playing authentic Greek music and an accompanying dancer. Pretty entertaining!

Day 2: The morning’s mission was to check out the Louvre. We decided to spend the 6 euros on a headset that gave us a guided tour. Definitely something we would recommend to others! There were many tours to choose from, all very interesting and the accompanying music really created a nice ambiance. After seeing less than ¼ of the museum (2 hours), we left to go meet up with Carlene on Champs-Elysées. We were excited to meet up with her because she lived in Paris for six months last year, and generally just very excited to meet up with a fellow Prairie Dog She answered our numerous questions about French culture that we had been waiting to ask another Canadian and then she showed us an area of Paris called ‘Le Marais’. It’s fantastic! There were many great vintage stores and cool shops for many blocks. She brought us to a place called ‘L’as du falafel’, which has celebrity customers that include Lenny Kravitz and, of course, Celine Dion! The food was delicious. Then we went on a little bar-hoping escapade.

Day 3: We shopped in ‘Le Marais’ area and then met up with Carlene at Tribeca, a restaurant near the Eiffel Tower. After supper, we bought a bottle of wine and chocolate and headed straight to a park in front of the Eiffel Tower. So many people were there! Everyone was doing the same, sipping on wine with good friends. And if anyone didn’t think to bring some vino, there were homeless people that had bottles on hand…but for the price of at least 10 euros, I don’t think they had many sales. When time was running short with the Eiffel Tower closing within the hour, we said aurevoir to Carlene and headed up the Eiffel Tower. The view was breathtaking! We didn’t see any proposals that night, but apparently you can catch at least a few in the daytime, so maybe I’ll see one on our next visit.

Day 4: After checking-out of our hotel, and before heading back to Reims, we had to do one more thing: Arc de Triomphe. Carlene had mentioned how the view from the top was incredible…and it was! I think I liked it better than the Eiffel Tower view because you actually see the Eiffel Tower in the Paris landscape. Really beautiful.

Warning: The stairs going up to the Arc de Triomph WILL make you dizzy.