The winter before my DH and I married we took an "early honeymoon" to Paris. Talk about romantic! It was winter, and we loved the Musee D'Orsay, and Malcolm's lecture at Chartre, and Notre Dame. Eating crepes in a cone off the street. Wonderful pastries. New Years' Eve (!!! incredible - ladies, if you want to be kissed by strange men, young and old, be in the Latin Quarter on New Years' Eve.) 16 years later we're taking our three children.

oh, yeah -- and I've posted this one before -- throwing on a raincoat months after a trip and discovering a spent Metro ticket in my pocket. cool.

Writing postcards from the Eiffel Tower while waiting for the rain to stop.

Seeing Whistler's Mother at the Musee d'Orsay -- I always thought the painting was the size of a postage stamp! :-]

Wandering along the Seine.

Walking through an art show around Notre Dame.

Sitting in the Jardin du Luxembourg with half of Paris (or so it seemed) on a beautiful afternoon.
((c))

ttt

Being on the upper floor of St Chapelle in the late afternoon when the sun broke through the clouds and the whole room lighted up.:-B

The meal at the restaurant in La Bristol Hotel was THE BEST.

watching (and cheering!) a group of older french gentlemen playing boule at a park near the invalides on a warm fall day. one even had me rub his head for good luck!

Walking alongside the canal St.Martin in the lovely Blvd. Jules Ferry.

Walking the whole length of the
Promenade Plantee in the 12th, above the wonderful Ave. Daumesnil. Fell in love with the 12th.

Brioche au chocolat at the boulangerie on Blvd. Voltaire/r.de Malte, 11th.

2 markets - one on Blvd. Richard Lenoir and the other one in the 7th on Saturday morning, not far from the Invalides.

Touring the 7th-6th-5th that Saturday. Amazing experience.

Walking down Blvd. Arago from Pl. Denfert-Rocherau.

Visiting parc Bercy.

Eating 2 fantastic & intense chocolate bars from Denise Acabo at 30 r. Fontaine, 9th.

Wandering along Blvd. Haussman.

Visiting Musee de la Vie Romantique and its wonderful small garden.

Visiting Musee Marmottan - paintings of Claude Monet and Berthe Moriseau, plus discovering the gorgeous 16th.

The Dutch and Flemish paintings at the Louvre.

Need I go on? this was end September-early October, lasted 11 days, and I'm probably going back next May.

Thanks for posting this message and allowing me to indulge once again...

Back in Nov 1998 my wife and I had a wonderful two weeks in Paris.

We still talk about the night (about 2000 hours) when we walked in pouring rain from Place de la Concorde up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. At this point, I wondered aloud, 'What will we do now?' To which comment came the reply, 'Walk back to the Place de la Concorde of course'.

I am still not sure why we did it, the bottoms of my trousers were soaked by the time we got back to our apartment, but we still remind ourselves about it, and laugh!

As a college student(years ago!)-An early morning in the Jardin de Lux. sitting on a bench with a croissant and coffee as the sun was coming up- so peaceful.
And later as a teacher(now much older)-taking student groups to Paris and watching their faces the first time they see the Tower sparkle at night.

ttt

topping

The life-style. The Kir. The food. The people. The balconies. The Tango dancers on the Seine. And, yes, surprisingly the Eiffel Tower! Oh, did I mention Kir?

A pleasant elderly gentleman chatting me up at the Poesy Fest. in the Pl. St. Sulpice and then giving me a small book of poetry . . . and being very nice to my husband who had just walked up. I still have the poetry book!

First trip to Paris, having chocolat chaud in the Tuileries while everyone else ran from the light rain.

Walking into the neighborhood bakery and being completely enveloped by the impossibly delicious smells within. Then being offered samples of most of the products! Yum!
Kindness of strangers: After seeing me looking disappointed to find the entry to the Cupid and Psyche statue section closed in the Louvre, one of the guards took me to a little area where I could still see the statues.
Good and bad memory: having a wonderful cup of chocolate at Angelina's after a long, cold day but not able to get any service after that!

Having a wonderfule classy lunch at the Louvre and then again at Musee D'Orsay. Concert at St. Chappelle. Dinner in the light of the Eiffel tower.stumbling into an art opening on the Pont des Arts. The Pont Alexander.

Wandering the Mouffetard market and coming upon the music and dancing. I had read about it on the forum but had forgotten.
Our local market was Maubert and one day I heard music out of the apt. window, hurried out and discovered 3 ladies in lovely dresses singing (one playing the accordian.) They graciously posed for me. Finally, on the train to CDG, an accordian player. My husband thought of this as an annoyance but to me it was Paris! Ah, the memories! CJ

Being a college student traveling with 23 other classmates as we left Paris. It was early, the streets were empty and it so happened the "Free Man in Paris" came on my walkman as our bus enters the traffic circle of the Arc de Triumphe. That was 21 years ago and I keep going back. In fact I leave on Wednesday!

This past December my mother and I were waiting in line for the restroom at Musee d'Orsay when a father carried his 2 or 3 year old son to the men's room. The little boy was emphatically in French that he didn't have to go, my mom and I are both pretty dense when it comes to French, but he was speaking the universal language of toddler. After the men's room door closed you could still hear the little boy, then the door open, the kid walked out, looked at his father and said what I assume was something along the lines of "Daaaaaaaad! I said I don't have to go!" then looked at the line of laughing women and shrugged his little shoulders. It's nice to know that somethings can transcend language barriers so easily.

McBetsy: I hope you have lots of NEW special Paris memories on your upcoming trip!

I have two: #1) On our first trip to Europe, after dropping our luggage at the hotel and heading to the metro to "conquer Paris", we realized that our command of the French language consisted of five or six phrases, which we realized wouldn't get us very far. So, after looking at the metro map on the wall and knowing that we needed help, we threw ourselves on the mercy of the man behind the window. Fortunately, he had a great sense of humor and, after teasing us by shaking his head and rolling his eyes, proceeded in giving us very explicit directions to our destination.
#2) The first thing we wanted to do was walk up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Half way from Place de la Concorde to the Arc, we stopped at a little food stand and bought a plain cheese baguette and drink, and sat on a bench to enjoy the view and "people watching." Maybe it was because it was our first trip to Europe, maybe it was because it was our first trip to Paris, maybe it was because we realized we were actually IN Paris; I'm not sure of the reason, but whatever it was, that sandwich tasted better than anything else we ate during our three day stay in Paris!
I'm going back to the City of Light in six weeks, and I hope that I find it to be as magical as I did on my first visit, and that I come home with many more special memories.