Travel Series: New Years in Paris
The weekend after Christmas in Switzerland was of course New Years....and where were we going to spend New Years? Well Paris of course! Ok, I was a little apprehensive about this one because it's Paris and I'm a paranoid mom and such but Matt convinced me that hello Amor- it's Paris- we need to go. And so that's what we did. We found a hotel near the catacombs and basically blew all our rewards points on a 4 day weekend over a holiday in the city of love. We got there at night since Matt had to work during the day and it was a 5 hour drive to Paris so we didn't do much but drive around just to see the major attractions from the car. The Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame do not disappoint at night ya'll. Wow. This weekend was going to be hard to top, I could tell already. It would also be full of walking, so much walking. While we were staying near a major attraction (that we didn't' even go into because the kids couldn't navigate the stairs and we couldn't bring a stroller in). Anyway, the catacombs were a significant distance away from the other attractions we wanted to see, but we saw that as an opportunity to be ok with eating everything in sight since we would be walking so much. And I seriously ate so much. Pretty sure I ate more sugary foods than anything else and that was ok with me.
Our first stop for our first day would take us on a 4 mile walk to pick up our Paris Pass. It would help us cut lines and got us prepaid tickets to the major attractions we wanted to see, but it was soooo far away from our hotel! But at the same time, we got to walk through Paris- and despite the frigid temps- that was kinda ok with us. So one thing I read that we had to try in Paris were falafels and holy moly artichokey you haven't had a falafel til you've had one from a street vendor in Paris. Again- drooling thinking about this. It was so stinking good. The first stop on our Paris Pass excursion was the Louvre. We assumed we'd skip the lines...but nope, apparently everyone gets the Paris Pass. BUT- as we worked our way to the line, a guard saw us with the stroller and we skipped in front of everyone. WHAT?!?! We literally would have been waiting outside in sub freezing temperatures of at least an hour if we hadn't had the stroller with front of line privileges. The Louvre was incredible- but overwhelming. It was so big and so packed full of incredible art that I had no idea where to start or what to look at or what to look for and I literally could have spent months in there. We meant to stop by Notre Dame that day too but that line was insanely long and they didn't give us the stroller perk and it was getting way too cold, so we both agreed that just seeing it from the outside was good enough for us. Maybe next time- in the spring. My next two museums ended up being my favorite- more so than the Louvre. Everyone says the Musee D'Orsay is a hidden gem- sort of hidden because everyone says it...and that's true (oh and stroller perk applied there too!). This museum had a ton of Toulouse art (my favorite painter!) and I was in heaven. Matt's a huge Van Gough fan so he was loving it too. I also discovered that Charles has an affinity for sculptures- he loved to stare at them. The final museum we visited (and this is over the course of 2 days mind you) was the Rodin museum. I had been dying to go to this museum since I first fell in love with Rodin in 9th grade. We got there about 20 minutes before they were closing and while I would have loved to spend more time exploring- at least I got that incredible 20 minute experience.
For New Years Eve, we planned....nothing. We had toddlers with us. We spent NYE in Paris, France...in a hotel room. We got a bottle of Veuve (my fave), ordered room service, and ate all the Angelina's pastries I got my hands on. While that may sound like a boring NYE- I was in Paris with my family and unknowingly pregnant with our third son. It's kind of hard to top that. Sure a party where I'm dressed up would have been fun, but in all honesty- my life comes down to my family. They are most important to me.
The next day, we decided we were sick of walking. Our legs hurt. So we got in the car to go exploring. Parisian drivers scare the crap out of me, thank God Matt doesn't mind them. He even braved driving around the Arc de Triomph- ok are there any rules in that roundabout?!?!? Pretty sure there aren't. We spent New Years Day at the park around the Eiffel Tower, exploring the Christmas market and just letting the kids run around. We started 2017 off in Paris ya'll- that's pretty cool to me. Really cool to me. We didn't know it at the time, and as I write this in December of 2017....but that year would treat us really well. I was worried since it would be my first year out of the Air Force but God has a plan for us and that was to bless 2017 with a new baby, a new job for me, and bond with my family that strengthens every day. There have been some hiccups, there always are, but we seem to come out of it ok.
Our first stop for our first day would take us on a 4 mile walk to pick up our Paris Pass. It would help us cut lines and got us prepaid tickets to the major attractions we wanted to see, but it was soooo far away from our hotel! But at the same time, we got to walk through Paris- and despite the frigid temps- that was kinda ok with us. So one thing I read that we had to try in Paris were falafels and holy moly artichokey you haven't had a falafel til you've had one from a street vendor in Paris. Again- drooling thinking about this. It was so stinking good. The first stop on our Paris Pass excursion was the Louvre. We assumed we'd skip the lines...but nope, apparently everyone gets the Paris Pass. BUT- as we worked our way to the line, a guard saw us with the stroller and we skipped in front of everyone. WHAT?!?! We literally would have been waiting outside in sub freezing temperatures of at least an hour if we hadn't had the stroller with front of line privileges. The Louvre was incredible- but overwhelming. It was so big and so packed full of incredible art that I had no idea where to start or what to look at or what to look for and I literally could have spent months in there. We meant to stop by Notre Dame that day too but that line was insanely long and they didn't give us the stroller perk and it was getting way too cold, so we both agreed that just seeing it from the outside was good enough for us. Maybe next time- in the spring. My next two museums ended up being my favorite- more so than the Louvre. Everyone says the Musee D'Orsay is a hidden gem- sort of hidden because everyone says it...and that's true (oh and stroller perk applied there too!). This museum had a ton of Toulouse art (my favorite painter!) and I was in heaven. Matt's a huge Van Gough fan so he was loving it too. I also discovered that Charles has an affinity for sculptures- he loved to stare at them. The final museum we visited (and this is over the course of 2 days mind you) was the Rodin museum. I had been dying to go to this museum since I first fell in love with Rodin in 9th grade. We got there about 20 minutes before they were closing and while I would have loved to spend more time exploring- at least I got that incredible 20 minute experience.
For New Years Eve, we planned....nothing. We had toddlers with us. We spent NYE in Paris, France...in a hotel room. We got a bottle of Veuve (my fave), ordered room service, and ate all the Angelina's pastries I got my hands on. While that may sound like a boring NYE- I was in Paris with my family and unknowingly pregnant with our third son. It's kind of hard to top that. Sure a party where I'm dressed up would have been fun, but in all honesty- my life comes down to my family. They are most important to me.
The next day, we decided we were sick of walking. Our legs hurt. So we got in the car to go exploring. Parisian drivers scare the crap out of me, thank God Matt doesn't mind them. He even braved driving around the Arc de Triomph- ok are there any rules in that roundabout?!?!? Pretty sure there aren't. We spent New Years Day at the park around the Eiffel Tower, exploring the Christmas market and just letting the kids run around. We started 2017 off in Paris ya'll- that's pretty cool to me. Really cool to me. We didn't know it at the time, and as I write this in December of 2017....but that year would treat us really well. I was worried since it would be my first year out of the Air Force but God has a plan for us and that was to bless 2017 with a new baby, a new job for me, and bond with my family that strengthens every day. There have been some hiccups, there always are, but we seem to come out of it ok.
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