5 Basics for Enjoying Paris
Wrapping up my posts from our long weekend in Paris, there are a few to-do’s that I had to share. Not to toot our horns, but I think that Lyn, Mike, Dan and I nailed the trip. We balanced the overabundant tourist sights with the simple joy of being in a beautiful place. There are a guidebooks galore for this place, but these are my basic recommendations for things you should do to enjoy the most of your visit.
1. Enjoy the streetscape. Wander, take it in and appreciate the everyday scenes of life as a Parisian. For being such a large city it’s amazingly peaceful.
2. Eat. With all my travels, I’ve never been more impressed with the consistently amazing quality and tastiness of the food in Paris. Check out our Gourmet Food Tour of St. Germain for more mouthwatering pictures.
3. It’s the City of Love, for a reason! Enjoy the romance! Twinkling lights, superb wine, this place is oozing with (french!) kisses and affection. Add you and your sweetie’s lock to the infamous love lock bridge.
Kissing our love lock before tossing the key into the river!
4. Don’t over plan. It’s not about mastering a checklist but enjoying the journey. Like so many others around us, outside of the Louvre we killed a solid 20 minutes trying to squish the glass pyramid. I’m not sure why it’s was so fun, but it was!
So typical, this picture almost made it to a frame hadn’t Dan stuffed his mouth with caramels. 🙂
5. Be a tourist. When we arrived at Notre Dame we were delighted to learn that a very special ceremony, inducting a new priest was just about to take place. Just as he did in Montmarte, Mike read Rick Steve’s review of the cathedral while we waited for the ceremony to begin. I can’t overstate how great it was to sit in the shadow of a stunning structure and have a quick explanation of what it truly was that we were looking at. Thanks, Mike!
And just like that, the ceremony began, as music played instead we witnessed the absolute longest procession of priests I have ever seen. I’m not aware of what the various robes implied but we hypothesized that the intricate they were, the higher their position in the church. The enter procession took nearly 10 minutes and we were completely mesmerized for all of them.
Enjoy!