Hey, Beth took her first trip to Paris…4 months ago

So it’s official we are horrible bloggers. Glad we don’t try to monetize this thing. Anyway here is the first of several long overdue updates…

Back in June (Hello October!), Chris and I made a weekend trip to Paris. Originally I was supposed to go with him to Germany for his work trip and then we were going to Paris, but then an airline snafu required a change in plans. I ended up taking a train at the end of the week to the city to meet him there. It was my first time seeing the city with feet on the ground!

We signed up for a tour of the Palace of Versailles. It was busy, but very grand! The level of opulence and the scope is hard to describe, but it was absolutely beautiful! We spent some time walking around the gardens. They are vast and endless, though we were a little disappointed because they were not as well kept up as we expected. There are many stands of trees that have grown up wild in the gardens, and most of the fountains were not on or in working order. Regardless, we had a nice lunch and learned a lot about the history of the palace and the French Revolution. 

After that, we headed back into Paris and did some wandering around. Chris took me to see the Arc de Triomphe, which looks much bigger in real life than it does in a photo! I got to see Notre Dame de Paris, which is still heavily under construction at this point in time. We took a wine tasting class, which was really fun. The class was led by a sommelier, and we learned about  the different wine regions of France along with how to really taste wine and understand what it is that you are tasting (it’s very complex!) 

Chris and I spent some time wandering around outside the Louvre. The only way to describe the Louvre is massive. We have not gone inside yet and are saving that for another weekend trip-it would take weeks just to see all of it. Just the outside itself is amazing-the level of detail in the architecture could keep you busy for hours. 

We took a night bus tour to learn a little more about the city itself and hoped to see the Eiffel Tower light up while close to it, but unfortunately we only got to see it from a distance on this trip. It was still beautiful. 

The next day, we started by visiting the Montparnasse Building. You can get a better view there than the top of the Eiffel Tower…because you can see the Eiffel Tower when you look out over Paris. After lunch we visited the Catacombs. It’s a bit morbid, but it was very cool. In the eighteenth century, there was a major public health crisis due to overcrowded cemeteries. Someone had the bright idea to transfer the “contents” of the cemeteries and use them to consolidate and support underground quarries, which were causing cave-ins across the city. It was opened to the public in 1809, so that people could go and see-you guessed it-walls of bones. 

On Sunday before we left, we had a lovely brunch at a restaurant called Marcelle. Chris and I did a little more exploring before we hopped the train back to Clermont Ferrand, and found a large market that was fun to visit. It really is a beautiful (and walkable) city. For my first trip to Paris, I was very impressed!