The family comes to Paris! (part 1)

 

On Ile de la cite!

Wednesday was the day that my family came to visit! I unfortunately had a test and a project due before they came so I spent all Tuesday night doing homework. After class Wednesday I went to their apartment to pick them up to get some lunch. Their apartment was huge compared to mine and in one of the nicest districts in Paris, the 6th right along the Seine River. It was an amazing place and luckily I stayed there most of the time that my family was here. It had 2 bedrooms and size wise was about 4 times the size of my place!My grandma, mom, and two sisters were able to come and I had an amazing week! We started Wednesday by eating at this local restaurant near their apartment and then walking around at Notre Dame and the Palais Justice. We spent about an hour inside Notre Dame because it is so beautiful... and I was glad that I could share it with my family. We were really tired; me because of no sleep because of homework and they had some bad jetlag. That night we went out to eat and then decided to get some sleep because we had a long week ahead of us!

 

Thursday we took a river cruise on the Seine after having some delicious French croissants, pain au chocolate and coffe. It was a little chilly but it was great to see the Parisian sights from the boat, plus gave my family an overview of the city. After the cruise, we went to the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadero gardens, but the line for the tower was so long that we decided to wait til another day. We walked in the general area, eating the best french onion soup I have ever had at a cafe, and then we went to Les Invalides. Napoleons tomb was closed but it was beautiful to walk around the gardens and the different museums near Les Invalides. After resting for a couple minutes, we finally went to the amazing baby bottle wine/fondue place and I had a great time. We shared a meat and a cheese fondue and drank some delicious wine out of the bottles. It was cool to show my family this little hole-in-the-wall restaurant and show them some different areas of Paris.

Oscar Wilde's grave

Friday was market day so we had the adventure of navigating through vendors, people yelling, and carts of food. We bought some really fresh and vegetables to cook for the cheapest prices in all of Paris and although a little overwhelming, I think my family had fun. The market takes place every Tuesday and Friday and stretches what seems to be for miles near my apartment. We met some very interesting people that were really excited to see some Americans/tourists because they don't really frequent the area that I live! After some shopping at the market, we went to a really good restaurant near Pere Lachaise and followed it up to a visit near the cheese shop to show my family the amazing cheeses of France. We walked to Pere Lachaise (One of the most famour cemetaries in the world) and visited some of the graves of some of the famous people including Oscar Wilde, Frederick Chopin, Edith Piaf and Jim Morrison. Altough a little hilly it was really cool and a nice day to explore! That night we decided to cook some food that we bought from the market and we made artichokes and ratatouille :) I wanted to take my sisters out and show them some of the Parisian nightlife so I took them to the Absinthe bar near the Bastille. They had a great time trying absinthe for the first time and I took them to another bar to meet some of my friends from ABS.

Saturday we decided that we were going to do a bus tour of Paris to see some of the sights without having to walk around or take the metro. It was also nice for me so I didn't have to play tour guide all day :) We had the bus tour for an 1 1/2 and saw Place de la Concorde, the Louvre, Arc de la Triomphe, Musee d'Orsay along with many others. My family went to a Saturday vigil mass at Notre Dame while I did some homework unfortunately. They loved it but said it was kinda weird seeing people take pictures all around you! After mass we went to a restuarant called La Bouteille d'Or, or the Golden Bottle. My grandma went there 13 years ago when she visited France so it was cool to be able to go there again so much later. We had a good meal with some good wine and my sister Sarah tried escargot and loved it... so proud :)

Following dinner we went to the Arch de Triomphe, which is beautiful and lit up at night. We saw the tomb of the unknown soldier and took lots of pictures, and at the hour everynight the Eiffel Tower glitters for 5 minutes so it was awesome to see as well. We walked back on the Champs d'Elysee and saw all the famous shops, including Louis Vitton, Chanel, concept cars in Toyata, and we ate ice cream at a 3 story Haagen-Daz! Life is good.    Sunday was a day of exploring Montmarte. We went to mass at Sacre Coeur which was really cool, except for the fact that it was all in French. It wasn't bad, but the homily was kinda difficult to understand. It is such a beautiful chuch that I didn't mind too much! After walking through Sacre Coeur we walked through the artsy part of Montmarte and got to see a little market area where all the artists came to display there work. My family also got some touristy souvenirs to bring back home to their friends/significant others. We ate at this delicious restaurant right in the center of Montmarte where we could look out the window and see street dancers, singers and artists doing their work. We also went to see the Moulin Rouge and explored some more of the Red Light District. We were pretty tired after all that walking so we decided to eat something a little different near their appartment: Italian! A couple of amazing pizzas, pasta dishes and wine glasses later we were much happier and full.