Paris

We left for Paris on Tuesday and returned today (Friday, October 12th).  It took about 5 hours to drive to Paris and then about 1 1/2 hours once we exited into the city to find our apartment.  I have never in my life had a driving experience that was even close to driving in Paris.  About half of the population owns motorcycles or Vespas.  The other half drive cars or delivery vans yet they think they are driving a Vespa.  It was truly insane.  There doesn't seem to be any lanes and traffic is usually three cars wide with motorcycles flying through the middle.  Our apartment was truly Parisian and in a very colorful neighborhood (mostly the color red). 

We were able to see the Eiffel Tower the first night and it was absolutely magnificent.  We took a stroll through that part of the city and had our first crepe from a vendor - fantastic!

The next day we spent walking 28 miles through the Louvre.  I'm not sure if it was really 28 miles, but it sure felt like it.  That night we had a wonderfuly dinner with my sweet, sweet cousins Shanna and Brent Lamar.  It was so much fun to see them and to have those special memories of a late dinner (with Champagne) in Paris of all places.

Yesterday we spent the morning viewing the Notre Dame.  Before we made our way, we had stopped at a little sidewalk cafe to have cafe and croissants.  It was the first time we had a chance to sit at a cafe and just take in the scenery.  Unfortunately a gentleman had come up to me and was holding out papers and asking me questions in French.  I didn't understand what he was trying to say and then he went into an epileptic seizure.  He fell back into the street and cracked his head.  Marcus was able to pick him up and get him on the sidewalk and then people started calling for the police and medical help.  The scariest part of it, was knowing how insane the drivers are and all I could picture was that poor man getting run over.  But, it all ended up okay and we moved on.  We spent the rest of the day shopping (this time about 35 miles).  We decided to take the Metro back to the apartment to rest up a bit before our last night out.  The Metro at 5:00pm is a very interesting experience.  People are literally packed in side to side, back to back and front to front.  Marcus actually felt someone's hand in his pocket and thought it was Jeannine's.  At the same time, Jeannine felt someone tugging on her purse - and it was not Marcus.  We finally decided to end our metro ride a little early and walked the rest of the way.  Nobody ended up losing anything though, so all was well.

That night, we walked up to the Sacre Coeur and wandered through the Montmartre District.  It was perfectly charming and beautiful.

Paris is absolutely amazing and I will never forget it.  It was thrilling to be able to share it with Jeannine, Marcus and Naoual.