6-14 NOV 2015: Paris in the Fall!

We found out right after Thanksgiving that we brought a little hitchhiker back from Paris with us and we are expecting a baby girl around August 3 :)

Congrats and what an adorable way to describe her!

Pittsburgh has come a LOOONG way. We moved back about 3 years ago and still can't keep up with everything there is to do AND eat. FYI, the Children's Museum and the Aviary (both on the north shore) are both great for little ones.
 
So in going through files on my computer I found the last part of our trip report to Paris from over a year and a half ago now! I've been busy with our little Parisian hitchhiker (our baby girl Victoria that joined us back in August!) and realized I neglected to ever get this up. I thought I would still go ahead and post in case it can help someone plan their trip since I think most of the information is still relevant. And it was fun to spend the morning reliving our trip while adding pictures to the report! So now we have the final installment of sightseeing in Paris...

One of the activities I was most looking forward to was attending a ballet at the Opera Garnier. I purchased Sunday matinee tickets inadvance roughly a week after they went on sale and that was still not soon enough! The performance during our visit was a contemporary ballet, selections of Bartok/Beethoven/Schonberg choreographed by Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

I must admit I am not a huge fan of contemporary dance andmuch prefer classical ballet so due to this fact I wanted to keep our ticketsat a lower cost which ruled out orchestra seating so I focused on box seats. Bythe time I purchased, the available boxes were a bit more removed from thecenter so our view of stage right was a bit obstructed. However, for the priceof 25 Euro a ticket I can’t complain. We had a great time and the venue itself is unbelievably beautiful. We arrived early and listened to a string quartet play before heading into the theater. At intermission we enjoyed a lovely glass of Tattinger champagne while people watching and admiring the architecture.

The ballet itself was enjoyable and well performed. Most importantly we could appreciate the technique and control of the dancers even if the style of dance itself was not our favorite.

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On Monday we had 10:30 am ‘Skip the Line’ tickets for the Eiffel Tower purchased through Paris Made Perfect. We agreed this is the only way go! We arrived at the tower and there was a ridiculously long ling (it had to be an hour or more) to purchase tickets to the second level. With our tickets we bypassed the line and went straight to an elevator! We walked around the second level for a bit before heading to the top which is included with the‘Skip the Line’ tickets. We spent around 1.5-2 hours before heading back down.

In the afternoon we returned to the Musee de l’Armee wherewe had purchased our six day Paris Museum Pass the day before. If you plan to see a number of museums the pass is a necessity! We more than recovered our cost with the number of sights we visited and the time saving aspect is worth every penny! We were able to skip the ticket lines at many locations (d’Orsay,Rodin, Louvre, etc.) which was a huge help. Also, its best to buy the pass as a less visited museum like the Musee de l’Armee. We visited twice and never saw a line. I’m not sure why this museum isn’t more popular though. We probably spent 4 hours there and Frank still said he didn’t have enough time! They have a remarkable collection of suits of armorand of course Napoleon’s Tomb is there as well.

In the evening we put our pass to use again at the Arc de Triomph. We took the stairs to the top and admired the view as the sun was setting.

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We ended up playing Tuesday by ear as we had no advance plans for the day and we decided to head over to Notre Dame. We had previously done a bit of a rushed tour here when we enjoyed an over night layover in Paris many years ago. This time we were able to walk at a leisurely pace through the cathedral and tour the treasury as well (the treasury is not included with the museum pass). It truly is an awe inspiring place and I can only imagine what it must be like to attend a service there.

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For the afternoon we took the metro to Montmartre and did the walking tour found in Rick Steve’s guide book starting at Sacre Cour. From there we strolled to the artist’s square and admired the paintings on display ultimately picking out a piece to bring home. The artist showed us the location that he painted the canvas from and was kind enough to pose for a picture withme so that I would always remember the artist of our souvenir painting. This little painting now hangs in our daughter's nursery-it seemed to be the most fitting place!

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In the evening Frank suggested we head to Champs Elysees fora little handbag shopping. Thankfully he is very accommodating of my handbag habit! I had been planning to make a purchase from the Louis Vuitton flagshipstore and this was the night. The store was very crowded as expected but we received excellent service. My sales associate was extremely helpful providing bags that met my guidelines within my budget. And well how can any shopping experience not be wonderful when youare sipping a glass Veuve Clicquot Rose!

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My husband is convinced I need to save all handbag purchasesfor overseas since in the end I saved 30% on my purchase. Unfortunately, with the events preceding our departure we forgot to validate our VAT refund which would have been an additional 8% savings on the price back at home. Of course in the grand scheme of things werefuse to worry about that.

On Wednesday we purchased RER tickets and made our way to Versailles. We left our apartment at 8 am and were able to arrive at the palace just a bit after opening. The palace was beautiful and just as opulent as expected. We also took the petit train to the Trinion Palaces and Marie-Antoinette’s hamlet. It took the better part of a day to explore and this was without focusing too much on the grounds with it being Fall. We need to plan a trip back in the Spring/Summer so that we can see the gardens in all their glory!

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Thursday was our day trip to Reims which I highly recommend! We took the 8:00 train getting us into Reims a bit before 9:00. From there we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral at Reims. It was amazing to compare to the cathedral in Paris and we practically had it to ourselves rather than it being swarmed by other tourists!

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From the cathedral we walked back to the bus stop to ride to Veuve Clicquot for our 11:00 tour. We selected the ‘In the Footsteps of MadameClicquot’ tour booked about 2 months in advance. This tour focused on the history of the champagne house and Madame Clicquot’s pioneering role in champagne production. We were then led on a tour of the caves while learning about theprocesses that set VC apart from other houses. We ended with a lovely two glass tasting. First we tasted the yellow label and then the Grand Dame. Well we ofcourse saved a bit of our yellow label to taste in comparison with the GrandDame-let me just say that is a very bad idea! Thankfully by the time we popped a bottle of yellow label back in our apartment the next night we were quite content since we didn’t have the Grand Dame side by side!

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After Veuve we walked the short distance to Le Parc for our1:00 lunch reservation and then it was on to Pommery for our 3:30 tour. Well the day did not end as planned. We arrived at Pommery only to be told the tour guides were on strike so no tour/tasting for us! It was a bit of a disappointment so we headed to Tattinger to see if they would fit us into a tour but alas that did not work out either. From there we opted to walk back to the train station rather than take the bus to fill the rest of our afternoon (we still had an hour before our train left). We boarded our 5:00 pm train back to the city and were back in our little apartment close to 7:00 after picking up dinner for the evening. Just a note-buy train tickets early for the price is best. We actually paid less for first class than we would have for coach!

Our final day was spent visiting museums. We began our day at Rodin which had just opened back up from an extended closure for renovation.Our trusty museum pass let us skip the long ticketing line and we were quickly inside and walking among the grounds. Between the outside gardens and the inside exhibits we spent two hours before making our way to d’Orsay. There we decided to focus mostly on impressionism and realism.

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Our final museum of the day was the Louvre. Being tight ontime (we had a Christmas market to get to!) and knowing that another trip to Paris was in order, we decided to take our time and just focus on a portion of the Sully wing including Egyptian and Greek art and Napoleon’s chambers. I would assume this means we are probably the only tourists to go to the Louvre and not see the Mona Lisa!

Our final stop of the day was the Champs Elysees Christmas market. I had read that while this market is the largest in Paris it is not necessarily the best but we still found some lovely items. We brought home some lovely scarves made in France and a hand painted Christmas ornament from the Ukraine so I call that successful! We also made it a point to check off all three items from my Christmas market food list-crepes, roasted chestnuts and vin chaud. The chestnuts were such a novelty to us and I’m so glad we tried them! I had no idea what to expect so I was a bit surprised to find the nuts to be soft when roasted rather than crunchy. We shared a petit sachet which proved to be a good decision because we found them to be very filling and even together we couldn’t finish them all! All said it was a lovely evening to get us in the Christmas spirit and close out our vacation.

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I have to say we had an amazing vacation and can not wait to return to the city of lights (more than likely with our children in tow). Until then we are thankful we took away such wonderful memories as well as a beautiful little addition to our family. Meet baby Victoria!

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Thanks for posting the rest of your Paris story, Valerie. We've been to Paris in the spring and summer but you make Paris in the fall enticing. Congratulations on the birth of your, oh-so-special souvenir! Hope you (and Victoria) find your way back to St. Barth soon.
 
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