"Paris France" a Paris Travel Page by fairestmom

2003 was a momentous year for me and it ended with an unexpected trip to Paris France! This opportunity caught me totally by surprise, I didn't even have a passport. I had about 4 weeks to prepare (including applying for my passport) but somehow everything came together and my daughter and I left for Paris. My first flight over the ocean! We so lucked out on this trip as we stayed with a friend who had an apartment on the L'lle de St. Louis. We couldn't have had a better location! Our friend worked during the day while we walked the streets and explored Paris' city central. We also learned to use the metro system, a quick way to get to the different arrondissements (boroughs). I consider this to be my 'trip of a lifetime' as it was my first overseas trip and also the first trip for my daughter and me together.

In a nutshell, Amy and I had a glorious time in Paris. Loved walking the streets, mingling with the crowds, the sidewalk cafes for much needed reprieves. We visited the well known attractions--Eiffel Tower, Trocadero, The Louvre, Sacre Coeur, Sainte-Chapelle, Notre Dame, Chateau de Versaille, Moulin Rouge, Arc de Triomphe but what I most enjoyed was walking along the streets--Avenue des Champs-Elysees, Rue de Rivoli, Quai de Montebello, Rue Saint Louis, St. Michel Blvd, Rue d'Arcole, Rue de la Cite and through out Montmartre. At the end of the day, we would touch base with our friend, Roderick, and meet up for dinner somewhere. Since he was our host we always treated him to dinner and this was the most fun. It delighted us to hear him order our dinners in French! Don't look at me--I can barely place my orders in English--I was not going to try it in French.

So we didn't do everything there is to do in Paris of course and we didn't wear ourselves out. We did set one day aside to travel to Brussels by train. Our lawyer friend, Roderick, had his secretary purchase our train tickets so all we had to do was get to the train station Gare du Nord.

We truly enjoyed living at 15 Rue Saint Louis for 12 wonderful days. Everything was perfect. A few doors down we had our very own bakery and little grocery store and a little further down, at #31, a Berthillon Ice Cream Parlour. Every day during our stay we would walk by Notre Dame Cathedral or walk across the various bridges that span the Seine River and every time I felt like I needed to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.