Paris: City of Unbelievable Food... oh and Lights, Monuments, Art, etc

We started our weekend in Paris like every planned trip through AIFS with a bus tour so that we could get acquainted with the city and catch a glimpse of all the famous landmarks, making stops at Hotel Invalides, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame. Having had enough of traveling in groups, we split off to climb the Arc de Triomphe and stroll down the famous Champs-Elysses. It was the perfect time of night to go. The sky was getting dark and the “City of Lights” had started to illuminate. Like everyone who has enjoyed the Paris skyline at night, we marveled at the sparkling Tower attempting to capture the magical ambiance with our point-and-shoots; with flash, sans-flash, night vision yet nothing was doing the trick—you have to witness it for yourselves.

For dinner we went from city lights to complete darkness at a restaurant from Tara’s trusty guidebook called Dans le Noir. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with a small group of friends. The catch: we ate in complete darkness. If you are thinking, as we thought, that our eyes would adjust after being in the dark for a bit you are entirely wrong, as we were. As we tried to decipher what exactly we were eating and attempted to pour our own drinking water we were truly able to appreciate our sense of sight, something that the servers at Dans le Noir were living their day-to-day lives without.

This trip was filled with reminders to be grateful as we began the next day amongst the dead at Père Lachaise, one of the most visited cemeteries in the world covering 120 acres of Paris. Among those privileged enough to be buried there (you must have either been born or have died in Paris): Honoré de Balzac, Frédéric Chopin (although his heart is entombed in Warsaw), Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison; however, he may not be there much longer as Parisians are working hard to remove him and his enthusiasts from Paris.

Needing more time in the shadows of Paris’ most famous landmark we spent an hour or so getting the perfect jumping photo in front of the Eiffel Tower before meeting up with the group at Musée d’Orsay. Having had enough of Impressionist art we traveled back to Renaissance Italy an the Ancient Roman Empire when we crowded around the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and the winged Victory in a Reader’s Digest version tour of the Musée du Louvre. After “Vogue-ing” in front of the glass pyramids we enjoyed a truly French meal along the Champs Elysses before watching the barely costumed (and barely talented) dancers of the Lido Cabaret.

Sunday we were surrounded by luxury as we went from a tour of the famous Opera Garnier (think Phantom of the Opera.. there was actually a lake below the stage) to the famous Palace of Versailles. But you can only take so many opulently decorated rooms in one day so we took a break and strolled through the gardens; however, Spring has just begun so the gardens were pretty barren. To top off our third day in Paris we ate the best and only Mexican food since leaving California (besides the curry chicken that the cafeteria put in burritos for the Mexican Soiree).

Our trip to Paris came to a close with a riverboat tour on the Seine on Sunday morning. In need of food (what’s new?) we searched for the Laduree, a specialty sweet shop that we were told makes macaroons that make people faint. We tested the theory. It is true. (Fortunately for us, although unfortunately for our beach figures, they also have a store in Monaco, just an hour from Cannes.) We both agree that we have eaten the best meals of our lives while abroad, and Paris was no different.

With love from the city of love,
MoffTar