To Paris, With Love

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share some of the romance of our trip to Paris back in September.  It really is a city filled with love and lovers alike.  A place for people to fall in love all over again-- with each other and with the city.  I know what you're thinking...

{via}

And you're totally right.  This list is as cliche as they come, but it's because these things are all so totally worth it!  Things become cliche for a reason you know.  Like eating a lobster roll in New England.  Or drinking champagne on New Year's Eve.  So here are the top five most romantic things that we did in Paris that I am recommending to all of you out there. 

1. Visit the Eiffel Tower at night
Holding hands and waiting for that magic moment when the light show begins can't really be explained.  You have to experience it for yourself.

 2. Browse the goods at patisseries and chocolate shops.  
Nothing is more romantic than indulging your sweet tooth with a macaron or truffle!

3.  Eat a late dinner at an outdoor cafe.

4. Splurge on some fancy food.
This french toast from Bistrotters was worth every penny and calorie!

5. Put a lock on the "Love Lock Bridge" and throw away the key.
To see how many other couples have also left their mark on this place is nothing short of magical.
 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

The Creepiest Thing I've Ever Done

Creepier than that time that we went to a haunted house in a cave.  Creepier than the horror movie that a group of us shot back in 7th grade.  Any guesses?

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I have been slow to share anything about our recent trip to Paris because there are just too many pictures.  Most of them are of the Eiffel Tower.  But plenty of them are of skulls--so I figured today was the perfect day to share a first glimpse of our time in Paris because Halloween is really the only appropriate day to write an entire post about skulls.

On our last day in Paris, we visited the Catacombs.  It's an underground burial site that is hundreds of years old.  The line gets crazy long for this attraction, so get there early if it's on your itinerary!  We went the day prior at around 10:30am and realized that we were going to miss our lunch reservation if we waited around, so we went back the next day about an hour before it opened.  We stopped at the nearby Paul for coffee and pastries and stuck it out in the cold until the doors opened. 

I didn't really know what to expect but it was darker and creepier than I initially thought it would be.  It was a labyrinth at first with narrow tunnels and passageways, but then it opened up into bigger rooms with neatly stacked bones in some of the craziest designs.

And some of the most beautiful stonework that we saw in all of Europe. 
 

It's safe to say that Halloween definitely has me thinking back to this haunting experience from last month.  I don't do scary and really have never been a fan of Halloween, but The Catacombs really gets you thinking about death.  There are so many bodies there that it's impossible not to think of your own mortality.  It's incredible that they have turned this into a tourist attraction without losing sight of the sacredness of this place.  I highly recommend going the next time your find yourself in Paris.  Now, I leave you with this spooktacular picture.

Nice and Monaco: Sights and Bites

    We left Cinque Terre by train and rode along the Mediterranean coastline for 6 gorgeous hours.  I'm sure that I will never take a more beautiful train ride.  If you are ever so inclined to take a train from Italy to France along the coast, be sure to note that you may stop through several towns that are notable enough to stop.  We stopped through Carrara and Pisa and had I known this would be the case, I may have made a plan to stop there for some marble gazing and to take our turns holding up the Leaning Tower.  You also pass through Monaco, which we did take the time to visit.

    Nice was beautiful.  We loved it, and it offered great downtime after a little too much go, go, go-but it was also the portion of our trip where I got a bit sick, so we did a little less sightseeing and eating than I had planned.

{View from our hotel}

The first night, we walked the Promenade and grabbed dinner on the outdoor patio of Les Jardins du Capitole, a sidewalk restaurant facing the water.  This is where we had the best French Onion Soup of the trip!

Our main day in Nice we spent at one of the private beaches.  We took a dip in the Mediterranean (colder and saltier than we expected) and ordered lunch and drinks.  I had my first Croque Monsieur and Kevin had a hamburger.  Oh, and here you drink rose wine.

Then we checked out Old Town.  It's so cool.  The buildings are beautiful and historic but are now inhabited by high end shops and boutiques.

The next day, we took a brief trip to Monaco.  It's about a 20 minute train ride and well worth the 10 Euros.  First we checked out the marina.

Took in the beautiful scenery.

Took some necessary tourist photos.

And found a few places that we would love to check out again one day.  

Where we stayed: Hotel Magnan

Top things to do: visit Old Town, walk the Promenade, go to the beach, take a side trip to Monaco

Where we ate: Les Jardins du Capitole, Chez Freddy

Best thing we ate: Our entire meal at Les Jardins du Capitole: caprese salad, French onion soup, steak and lamb frites, creme brulee, and chocolate mousse.