Americans in Paris

Our friends here in Italy, Barb & Mark, gave us an incredible gift -- they offered to watch Jackson for us while we traveled somewhere...just the two of us. Just the two of us? We're no fools - we picked Paris as our getaway destination! We quickly bought our RyanAir plane tickets and booked our teeny, tiny Parisian hotel room.While this was Dan's first trip to France, I had spent 8 days in Paris during college but never went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was either the cheapskate in me or the diehard romantic in me that really wanted to wait and experience that moment with my future husband. Well, now I had the chance to finally make that dream come true. And a dream pretty much describes it in a nutshell.

The trip was a quick one - we left on Wednesday morning and came home Friday afternoon, anxious to hold Jackson again. Yea, we're suckers for that kid. Can you blame us?

We pretty much saw and did everything there is to see and do in Paris in just those 2 and a half days, including a few things that I had never done during my first trip to the world's most romantic city.

A break from pizza and pasta is always welcome. Bonjour, French food! We ate crepes, baguettes, flammekueche, duck, haricots verts (yea, I know those are just green beans but it sounds so much better in French), and fancy pastries. We drank overpriced coffee and orange juice and enjoyed every last drop.

Here's the photographic evidence...and even a few videos too.Notre Dame.Sainte Chapelle.The Eiffel Tower.


Versailles.Starbucks (my first since June 22).The Arc de Triomphe.
Dan got into a screaming match with one of the Arc statues before we made it back down the winding staircase to the bottom.Champs Elysees.The Louvre.You'd never be able to tell that we'd nearly lost limbs pushing our way to the front of the mob to snag these Mona Lisa pics.Pont Neuf (the oldest bridge in Paris and a personal fave from my last trip here).And here are a few randoms...

And my personal favorite photo of the trip:
Two nights in a Parisian hotel: 190 Euro.
Two museum passes: 70 Euro.
Coffee & orange juice at a cafe: 6 Euro.
Coming home to Jackson: Priceless.