12/31/10
NEW YEARS EVE
We came here expecting to eat our way through Paris and found ourselves hungry instead. 6am we rolled out of bed and shuffled downstairs, the Hotel provided a nice continental breakfast. Thick sliced bacon, sausages, potatoes, eggs, jam, bread, cold meats, cheeses, yogurt, coffee, hot milk, juice... delicious. We learned early on that waking up for a good breakfast was a must. My breakfast was amazing, little tiny Peaches bursting in your mouth with a delicate smooth yogurt surrounding them. Heaven!
It seemed like the sun slept longer in Paris and the day started later. It was the kind of morning where you could see your breath in the air with a stinging cold. Paris looked so different with the sun dawning over the day. You know the famous Paris gray people talk about? It's not a dull sky, it's just not a bright sunny sky like we are used to. There is a layer of fog covering the city but not so low that you can't appreciate the skyline above, it just lobs off the very top of the Eiffel tower. I think it looks more romantic with the fog, mysterious even. The first day back in the States I remember thinking the sky was blinding because I had become so accustomed to the Paris Gray. It is this skyline that makes your photos look so rich and allows the natural colors to really stand out.
Our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in daylight was followed by a trip down the Avenue Des Champs Elysees towards the Arc De Triomph through a round about and past the Opera House till we arrived at our destination, Fragonard Parfumeur. Being extremely sensitive to smells, often getting migraines from smelling perfume, I was anxious about hurrying this tour along.
We stepped inside to a beautiful entryway. Upstairs our tour began with a woman explaining how parfum was made. Parfum is a concentration of essential oils mixed together to form a unique scent along with water and alcohol. Parfum is the most concentrated mixture containing the most essential oil, Cologne, and Eau de Toilette have less. It is important when smelling parfum to wait at least 3 seconds before sniffing so the alcohol has a chance to evaporate from your skin. Then you will smell the true essense of the parfum. Parfum is also layered in notes, fruit, flowers, and a musk usually. The scent will vary from person to person and last longer on some people than others. As time passes, the smell of the parfum will change. We had a chance to smell many parfums, some were quite nice. I tried on a scent called Just a Kiss with notes of Strawberry. It was lovely on paper, horrible on my skin. This is why it's so important to see how things mix with your body chemistry. Some thing aren't meant to be I suppose. 
The tour was ending and we were discussing what our plans were for the day when a couple girls, Nicole, Courtney, and Lauren invited us to hang out with them and go on a walking tour later. Lauren didn't know Josh was my husband. I had asked Josh for my gloves and Lauren not knowing he was with us thought he was a Gypsy handing me something and tricking me! In all fairness, Ben had told us many tales of the tricks they would pull on you so Lauren was just being very cautious. I thought it was hilarious. I said, "It's okay, he's my husband!" and we all had a laugh. We walked to the Apple store and I was very excited to check my email, update facebook, and be a total American geek wasting her time in Paris on her iphone instead of drinking in the history. I know I'm lame but at that moment the universe was a peace.
We walked passed the Opera House and navigated our way to the Louvre. If you have no idea of the scale of the Louvre you are an idiot. It's huge. I thought the Ferry was big, HA!
It was quite a walk to the center of the courtyard and then interesting figuring out the entry situation. Our tour guide Ben had told us of a totally legit way to get in through a less known entry. It was just finding it that was presenting itself as a challenge. We tried to enter another exhibit which was not connected to the Louvre at all then circled back around and when we did, we found the top secret entrance, Ah ha! So we went in and happened upon the giant inverted pyramid which was made famous in the book/movie The Da Vinci Code.
The line was long, time was running short, and it was about a half hour till our walking tour began. So we ditched the Louvre. In all honesty you could spend a whole week at the Louvre alone, I had already been and can attest to it's magnitude. 
We changed plans and walked along the River Seine back to the Metro Stop by Saint Michel in the Latin Quarter where our tour group was meeting. We arrived with a little time to spare and purchased croissant and cafe cremes at a small bakery.
Upon exiting the bakery they were selling these deliciously melty ham, butter, and cheese creations on toast. We simply had to buy one. Like true Parisians we wandered about eating our lunches. Happy to have full bellies and warmed a bit from the Cafe Cremes, we met our walking tour group. Lauren was absolutely freezing at this point and ventured off on her own, back to the Louvre I think. 
Our guide was named Arnoud, comically enough he was an American man married to a Parisian woman named Jennifer. He was originally from L.A. but lived in Paris with his wife and son giving free tours for the good of humanity, he also lived off of tips which he was well deserving of. He was a fantastic guide and lead us on a very cold tour back along the River Seine(at least it was on the other side)towards the Louvre where we had just walked from. Mind you, this in not a short walk and it was not a warm day at all. He told us the Tale of Notre Dame and how if it were not for a man named Victor Hugo writing a book entitled Notre-Dame de Paris, "Our Lady of Paris" which later became known as the Hunchback of Notre-Dame, how the Cathedral would have been torn down as it was in great disarray. The people of France however fell so in love with his grand story that they decided to restore the Cathedral and celebrate her beauty.
We crossed several bridges on our tour. Pont Neuf was my favorite bridge as it was the first stone bridge built in Paris. My history may be a little off on this one but bare with me here. This bridge took many years to build and the King celebrated by throwing a huge party with all his friends, so many friends that they emptied the kings wine cellar that night in celebration. The King loved his friends so much that he had an artist sketch portraits of each one of them. The next day he was looking over the portraits and noticed how amazing they were. He decided instead of giving everyone their portrait he would forever embody his friends in time by placing their faces on the Pont Neuf Bridge. Arnoud said the bridge essentially became the first Facebook of history. ;)
It must have been Henry IV who commissioned that bridge as his statue is just at the end of it. Arnoud clued us into the fact that most of the time you could tell how a person died by how the horses feet are positioned that they are mounted on. This poor guys horses feet where raised in the air, a sign that he died of unnatural causes i.e. he was stabbed to death. There had been many assassination attempts on the Kings life, some 23 attempts. The 24th man jumped in the King's carriage as he was riding one night and stabbed the King in the belly. The King laughed in triumph and said, "You'll have to do better than that!" to which the assassin thrust the knife in his heart and twisted it.
Down the River Seine further yet we crossed the Pont Des Arts Bridge which was covered in something very peculiar, locks. This bridge is special to us very lame Americans who love Sex in the City as it was the bridge that Big and Carrie had their glorious moment on. For all the other lovers of the world, it is the place to declare your love for all time. You take a padlock, write your initials on it, hook it to the bridge, and throw the key in the River Seine gesturing in huge dramatic motions while declaring your love for all time. It's very romantic. Arnoud pointed out a combination lock on the bridge, a good choice for those of you who can't quite commit. However very romantic this is, every couple of months they cut all the locks off and throw them in the river so they don't clutter up the bridge. Josh and I just threw a lock in the river to save time. ;)
Over the bridge and across the street we entered the Louvre courtyard. At least we were coming from a different direction this time and got to see another vantage point. Along this walking tour there was a couple, not from the Contiki tour, who were very fond of each other. So fond of each other they were that they had to make-out at every landmark we stopped at along the way. I have very little memory of what Arnoud said about the Louvre because I was watching this couple make-out. I had avoided looking thus far but Nicole was pointing it out to me and I lost all concentration after that point.
After the Louvre we walked across the street to see some other King's palace then down past a fountain and on towards a Starbucks for a tinkle break and nourishment. Arnoud did point out the direction of the Opera House, a sight to be seen because all the other previous Opera Houses had burned to the ground by freak accidents. This Opera House, lucky number 13, is equipped with many methods to extinguish fires as they are prepared for it to burn down at any second.
We had already walked past it, hip-hip hooray! Being very cold and in Paris, we decided to break from the group and go to a real cafe. We tipped Arnoud, said our goodbyes, and headed around the corner to a small cafe.
Courtney and Nicole ordered Cafes with a kick of Kirsch and Grand Marnier, Josh got the Salmon plate and a Cafe Creme, I being the idiot that I am, wanted a croque-monsieur but panicked when the waiter came to the table. I once again yelled, "Creme Brulee!" I also had a Cafe Creme. What a disappointment, it was the worst Creme Brulee I've ever eaten and I have had some really bad food. At least after this moment I never ordered wrong again. Time was slipping away and the day was growing shorter. We headed in the direction of the Avenue des Champs Elysees to get to the Arc de Triomph before 5:00 when it closed which meant walking back through the Louvre again. Let me tell you, the outside of the Louvre saw a lot of action from us that day.
Passed the Louvre is a huge fairs wheel and then a roundabout that you must cross to get to the Avenue des Champs Elysees. There was a massive amount of people crossing as it was New Years Eve and the Avenue des Champs Elysees is a very popular place to celebrate on New Years Eve. Also the street was lined with the Christmas Villages selling Candied Fruit, Crepes, Vin Chaud (Hot Wine), Hats, Scarves, Jewelry, Handmade Christmas Goods, you name it and they were selling it.
It was amazing, so much to look and at so many people standing around it was difficult to navigate and we were trying to make good time. Nicole had a dark coat on and is very small, Courtney also had on a dark eggplant jacket and is tiny too. Thank God I'm a giant and was wearing the only white coat in Paris. I was easy to see and Josh had on a Green jacket, also easy to see. I walked/jogged with Nicole (she is a fast walker!) and Josh walked with Courtney weaving our way through the crowd.
We crossed another street and were now out of the Christmas Village at the beginning of the shops of the Champs Elysees. Louis Vuitton, Swarovski, Cartier, there were so many beautiful stores and we were rushing by them to get to the Arc De Triomph.
We didn't make it in time to go up to the top, but we did get the last few moments of daylight for our photos. The Arc De Triomph is massive and beautiful. It's not until you are standing underneath it that you can truly appreciate just how glorious it is.
Very, very cold with tired feet we descended the steps and crossed through the underground tunnel away from the Arc de Triomph. We caught the Metro back to our hotel and stopped at a small grocery for New Years Eve Essentials. Champange, Cheese, and Jam! We parted ways with Nicole and Courtney and headed back to our room.
Josh had picked up a baguette at the bakery we stopped at in Saint Michel earlier in the day. We ate Brie with Fig Jam on our Baguette and toasted the evening in with a bottle of Veuve Clicquot. It was the best dinner we ate in Paris!
After a short nap, we met the girls again and took the Metro to the Anvers stop to meet our group. We missed the group by 10 minutes and headed up Montmartre towards Sacre Coeur. This is when we happened upon the real Gypsies! Ben wasn't kidding when he said they were really aggressive. We saw a man tie a string around a girls finger, one of the tricks Ben had warned us about. A few guys talked to Josh and Courtney to which Nicole and I just grabbed their arms and walked onward. There are a mere 225 steps leading to the top of Sacre Coeur, thankfully the Metro was Free on New Years Eve so we got a free ride to the top of the hill where we met our Contiki Tour friends and had a pre-toast to the New Year. At 9pm we watched the Eiffel Tour do it's sparkly show then headed through the streets of Montmartre to a little Cafe.
Turns out this wasn't just some little Cafe, it was the Cafe that Amelie was filmed in. We sat outside and drank Chocolate Chaud while real Parisians blew smoke in our face, Glorious! Later on we walked down the hill to a bar right next to the Moulin Rouge called O'Sullivan's. Sounds French right? ;) It was like any other bar you might imagine except there were no restrictions as to how many people could be inside so had it gone up in flames we would have all died. The password to get in the door was Contiki Ben and we were doubtful it would work with how many people were surrounding the club. Surprisingly, we got in and danced the night away. To sum up the evening, we checked our coats down a narrow twisting stairwell which I began to fall then caught myself before I took about about 20 girls in front of me.
The dance floor was crowded and I was getting bumped from every angle by poorly behaved wildly dancing girls. I'm a large person and I was still getting tossed around. I love Nicole because she intervened and danced her little 5 foot nothing over to where I was standing to bump these girls back and claim our dance space. It was amazing to watch, and she did it twice that night. Our Contiki people danced all over for many hours and counted down the clock. 
By now there was broken glass all over the dance floor, you just couldn't avoid it. Iris bought a bottle of champagne and we toasted to the New Year, Nicole kissed a random boy, and we hit the bathrooms. Remember those badly behaved girls I told you about earlier? This is where I got punched in the face on New Years Eve. Nicole and Courtney went to the restroom and I was following, somehow Josh didn't make it through the crowd and I turned around into a fist square in the face. I was so astonished at what had just happened that I was frozen. I turned to look for Josh and he wasn't there and the girls had gone on ahead of me. So I took a deep breath and walked on by. Soon after that we got our coats. There was a cute boy in the coat check line that Nicole and Courtney thought should join us but he didn't speak much English. Back up the steps to leave and the girl who punched me decided to push by us in line. Bad idea. Josh planted his feet, so did I, and poor Courtney got shoved to heck. She turned around with vengeance in her eyes to which Nicole grabs Courtney and we head for the exit. Iris headed out with us and we were off to the Metro. 
The line was closing at 1:30 for the night and catching a cab on New Years would be impossible. The trains were packed. We saw a clearing on a train stepped in an there was puke all over the floor. So gross. I was the first one on the train and did one of those giant leaping steps to avoid it. Everyone else managed to get around it and we squeezed into the train further down. We transferred stops and had to wait quite a while for the last train home. The girls were getting pretty loud by now, Josh and I were glad to not have drank much and the mother in me came out as I tried to quiet everyone down. Courtney says,"They are all French, they can't understand me!", to which we all replied, "Yes, they can." Back safe and sound at the hotel we turned into bed for the night. What a long day.
I have found myself torn between using the English spelling and the French spelling of many words in this blog. I tend to use the French because that is how I saw them used during my travels, yet they are missing their accents as I am not crafty with computers. Please forgive me for my errors, for I am a mere novice at blogging and am recounting this mainly for my own enjoyment.
Next up... River Boats, Hangovers, and Moulin Rouge! Keep reading to find out how well the 3 mix! Bonne Annee!!!
