Paris- Day 1

 So my good friend Laurel and I went to Paris for a week in the beginning of September for 8 days.  It was so amazing.  We had a list of things we wanted to do and we got everything on the list checked off plus more!  It was such an amazing experience.  When we were there I kept thinking "I can't believe I'm in Paris!!!" ha ha.  And Laurel was the best travel buddy.  We had such a good time.  Thanks Laurel! 

So Rob and the kids dropped me off at the airport in Salt Lake on a Friday evening.  I cried my eyes out!  And just when I thought I was done crying, I would think about my kids or Rob and start crying again.  I think the people sitting around me thought I was crazy!  Then my friend met me at the gate and we watched funny videos to help me stop crying.  Then it was time to board the plane and take of for PARIS!!!

Here we are on the plane.  So excited (and very nervous) about the flight.  Don't mind my swollen and red eyes!  ha ha

 The airplane food was so gross.  Like really bad.  Yuck!  I had the pasta and my friend had a chicken dish.  

When we landed in Paris we navigated through the airport (it was so big!) and found our luggage and got some Euros and found the bus we needed to get us to the Opera house!

 This was taken from the bus.  It is a soccer stadium that made me think of my soccer fanatic brother Scott.  So I had to snap a picture!

 Our stop was at the Opera house and from there we walked to our Hotel.  It was a 15 minute walk with our luggage dragging behind us on bumpy, crowded roads.  ha ha.  

This is Concorde which was a three minute walk from our hotel.  This is where a lot of people were guillotined back in the day.  

 We made it to the hotel.  Thank you Google maps and to Laurel's husband who printed out directions for us!  Here I am in the hotel with my Euros.  

That night we had booked a Seine River dinner cruise.  So we took a nap in the hotel and then got up and got ready for our night out.  I think we were supposed to be there by 8 or something like that so it was going to be a late night.  We walked along the Seine and enjoyed the view of the Eiffel Tower along the way.  

 Ta dah!

 The problem with going with only one friend is that we didn't get a ton of pictures together...but at least there was someone to take a picture of what was happening.  This was on the boat.  Pretty fancy.  Our waiter didn't speak English, but most everyone else did. 

 This was our first course.  I got the tomatoes and my friend got some salmon.  They were both pretty tasty.

 Our next dish was gnocchi with veggies for me and gnocchi with veal for Laurel.  They were both delicious.  

 Then as we passed the Eiffel Tower it was sparkling.  It sparkles every hour for five minutes at night.  And I loved it!  So we went out on the top of the boat to check it out. 

 Can you tell the Eiffel tower was my favorite part!?

 This was dessert.  I don't think either of us were super impressed with our desserts...that was pretty much a theme the whole time we were there, as you will see in my future posts. 

 

 Laurel on the boat.

We got home really late from our cruise so we were both ready to get home and go to bed.  We walked home along the river in the dark and as we were walking Laurel noticed something moving over by the wall and we looked over and realized it was RATS!  EWWW.  It was so gross. These rats were so big.  We quickly decided to get away from the water and walk up the next ramp so we didn't have any more unpleasant run ins with the rats.  Although the rest of the walk home, I was pretty jumpy.