Paris: Je t'aime

The Eiffel Tower as viewed from the Trocadero

The long line of cars seemed to snake all the way from the airport to the city center. It was the early afternoon hours of Sunday, Sept. 1 and everyone - I mean everyone - was returning from their month-long holidays. Except us. Our vacation was just beginning.

I have had my heart set on going to Paris since the first day of French class in seventh grade. After eight years of French lessons, my desires had not waned one bit. The grandeur of the Eiffel Tower, the mystique of the Notre-Dame, the magnificence of the Arc de Triomphe - it had all bewitched me from a world away.

In the ensuing two decades, there were plenty of trips to be had, but, ironically, Paris was not one of them. The closest I came to France was a couple of trips to western Germany. Paris eluded me.

I started telling people that I'd marry the man that took me to Paris. First comes Paris, then comes marriage... But, as most of my plans go, I got that all wrong. I married him first.

Five years after we said 'I do,' Chad surprised me with a pair of earrings and a French-English dictionary. (The earrings had nothing to do with the dictionary, but I believe in always acknowledging the gift of jewelry.) The dictionary was his way of saying that he had finally given in to years of  hinting, begging and flat out demanding to be taken to Paris. I hugged him and thrust the dictionary in his hands. "I won't need this - you will," I told him as I scampered off to the computer to begin the planning.

The Arc de Triomphe surrounded by a massive traffic circle

Fast forward three months and we were in an airport shuttle hurtling towards Paris. My heart could have burst with excitement as I caught a glimpse of the Sacre Coeur off in the distance. Then, all of a sudden, we exited the motorway and we were darting through the streets of Paris. The Arc de Triomphe was directly ahead and I knew we were about to take on the daunting Charles de Gaulle traffic circle. Twelve streets empty into the 10-lane wide roundabout and yet, somehow, we zipped in and out in mere seconds.

We weren't counting on getting a tour of Paris when we booked our airport shuttle. It was pure luck that the others in our van were scattered around the city allowing us to catch glimpses of the Louvre, the Palais Garnier and the Eiffel Tower. It was wonderful and overwhelming all at once.

View of the Pantheon from the Hotel des Grands Hommes

We stayed at the Hotel des Grands Hommes - a boutique hotel with just 31 rooms located in the fifth arrondissement. (Paris has 20 arrondissements- or neighborhoods- that make up the city. They spiral out from the center with the majority of the big monuments situated on the banks of the Seine, right smack in the middle of it all.) We were just seven blocks from the Seine, in the heart of the Latin Quarter. Our hotel looked right out on the Pantheon - a church-turned-mausoleum that now serves as the final resting place for some of France's biggest names including Voltaire, Emile Zola, Rousseau, Victor Hugo and Pierre and Marie Curie.

I'm sure most tourists fall in love with the first arrondissement they stay in when they visit Paris. We definitely did. This area of Paris is one of the city's oldest and it's full of narrow, winding cobblestone streets that are lined with shops and cafes - everything you imagine when you think of Paris. We were happy to call it home for the week.

Notre Dame across the Seine

When we arrived at our hotel, our room wasn't quite ready so we took the opportunity to ditch our bags and take a stroll. I had committed the city's layout to memory before we left and I knew that the Notre-Dame Cathedral was within easy walking distance. Down the Rue Saint Jacques we went, passing by many of the city's impressive universities - including the massive Sorbonne. We quickly reached the Seine, glancing across its waters to take in our first view of the Gothic beauty.

The French have this tourism thing down pat. Right in front of the church's western facade, they had set up bleachers that were perfect for sitting and contemplating all that stood before you. We took our seats and poured over the incredible architectural details - everything from the intricate carvings and the stunning rose window to the packed-with-personality gargoyles and the flying buttresses.

One thing we couldn't get over - and this went for our entire trip - was how seriously large some of these buildings are. The tower tour at the Notre-Dame (which we took later in the week) involves climbing 400 increasingly narrow steps to get to the top. One branch of the Louvre art museum is a half-mile long! And the Eiffel Tower is so tall it takes two elevators to get to the summit. These are all things I would have never had an appreciation for had I not seen them with my own eyes.

Hotel des Grands Hommes

One place that did not fall into this seriously large category was our hotel room. We were prepared for something significantly smaller than we were used to, but I don't know that we anticipated things being as "cozy" as they were. We had to unpack our big suitcase right away because there just wasn't any room to open it up. Despite the tight quarters, the room was actually well-appointed. I still haven't quite figured out how they managed to fit in two chairs, a desk, a mini fridge and television in that small space, but they did.

We didn't spend much time in the room aside from sleeping, but we ended up loving all of its charms - especially the two sets of floor-to-ceiling windows that opened to a striking view of the Pantheon. Those were as Parisian as it gets.

Chad at Restaurant Perraudin

Our first night we faced the daunting task of trying to pick a restaurant among the 10,000 or so the city has to offer. We had read some good things online about a little place around the corner called Restaurant Perraudin so we decided to head over there just as they were opening for the evening. It was around 7:30, a good half-hour yet before any sensible Parisian would even begin to think about dinner. Only one other table was occupied.

We went full-French for that first meal, ordering three courses from the formula - essentially the prix fixe menu. It was entirely too much food, but we were determined to have the quintessential dinner experience. Over several hours (for the French, dinner is the evening activity) we gorged ourselves on baguette, foie gras, sausages, veal, boeuf bourguignon, profiteroles and apple tart. It was gluttony at its very best.

Profiteroles

After dinner, we walked back to our hotel, pleasantly full and overly tired from the long day's journey. Bed was calling, but Paris had one more surprise in store for us. There, at the end of the street and right in front of our eyes, was the top of the Eiffel Tower, all lit up for the evening. It wasn't a dream. I was in Paris at last.


Observations: The Charles de Gaulle airport has these strange ramps/shoots that take travellers from one area of the terminal to another. I've never felt more like a gerbil in my life. I didn't get a picture, but you can check one out on this blog.