Friday, April 27, 2012

You take my breath away

I was not ready to be impressed. So this was technically day 2 in Paris. (will post day 1 eventually). I figured you got to gosee the Eiffel tower in person while in Paris so that was first thing on today's agenda. We took the metro to the trocadero subway stop and got the most amazing view. Oh my ... It was incredible! Inset pic hereAfter oooohng and aaaahing we walked down the stairs to get to the actual tower and look around. Chad was not willing to wait in line to ride up so we wandered for a bit. Then we walked the champ de mars over to Rue Cler to walk around. Next was this awesome creperie that is the #2 restaurant. Umm yeah we never found it cause I forgot to write down the address. So we just went to a neighborhood bar/cafe for lunch. It had free wifi so we stayed awhile.Next on the agenda was see the arc de triomphe, champ élysées, and tuileries gardens. I told chad that since I couldn't go up on the Eiffel tower I wanted to go up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. Yeah I didn't read that there was no elevator. That was a LOT of stairs. Ugh not smart but beautiful.Insert more picturesNext was the stroll down the Champs Élysées. Thumbs down not so great. I was beat from walking all over Paris at this point and all those stairs. Ugh. Very overrated. The Tuileries gardens would probably have been amazing if I wasn't exhausted and by then afraid of being late to our date to the ballet at the famous original Paris opera house. We did finally get there and there it is again, breath completely taken away. I was pretty excited after seeing it in the phantom of the opera movie and it did not disappoint. This was seriously one of the coolest things I've ever done.Insert picsUnfortunately we bought the cheap seats all the way in the back and dudes this was one of the most uncountable places ever. It was almost like being tortured for the hour or so until intermission. My poor pathetic pregnant self couldn't take the seats so we left early :'(. On the way out we got a DVD of the ballet so I can see what happened. This will be a Paris highlight forever still. I can't explain the beauty of this building. We now headed up to Montmartre to see the sacre coeur church. WOW again. This thing is gorgeous and that is still after seeing Norte dame yesterday. More picsThe thing that really got me though was the spiritual experiences I had here. I have not ever felt the Holy Spirit like that in a church other that a Mormon church/temple. I was so aware of the love of Mary for her baby and so overcome with gratitude that God is giving me a child to raise and hope to have the love of Mary. Yeesh I was not ready to break down right there in the pews. The view of the city were fan freaking tastic from up there. Next we tried to make it back to trocadero to see the Eiffel tower sparkle at 11 but we missed it by one like 3 minutes so we had to wait until 12 (midnight). Spent about 30 minutes searching for a bathroom. Rle #1 for Paris-if you see a restroom use it. It may be a verrrry long time before you find another. See blog entry for yesterday. Now it is 2:26 in the am and need to get up early in the morning to see the Louvre before heading out to the airport/Barcelona:)))Note: ALWAYS say Barcelona with the spanish lisp thing, it is so much more fun to say that way.