OUI OUI PARIS

Happy 2013, everyone!!

Nick and I got to celebrate Christmas and bring in the New Year in Paris, France with loads of French relatives. At one point, we counted over 40 DeWulfs! We feel very fortunate to have brought in the New Year with so many loved ones that we don't normally get to spend time with.

I could probably write an entire book about our 10 days in Paris, but I'll try and just give the highlights day by day....

Saturday, December 22

 After hauling our luggage on the bus, train, then metro from the airport, we arrived at Uncle Doug and Claudie's place in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. (For those of you that don't know what arrondissements are, it basically means that we were very close to everything in Paris.We were just down the street from Moulin Rouge!) Paris will never be the same after staying at Uncle Doug's beautiful place! I was so spoiled by staying there!
We headed out to a boulangerie Uncle Doug highly recommended. They had the most amazing food. Nick and I must have ordered one of almost everything on their menu. This is where I discovered that French food is better than Italian food. Hands down. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. I can't resist it! I literally had a pain au chocolat every morning we were in Paris. (Shh don't tell anyone!)
After devouring everything in sight, we met up with some friends from our squadron: Ashley and JD. Neither one of them had been to Paris, so we headed to the Eiffel Tower first. Fortunately, (or maybe unfortunately) due to rain and cold there weren't many people waiting in line for the Tower. (Note to self: If it's cold, windy and rainy on the ground beneath the Eiffel Tower, it will be colder, windier, and rainier on top of the Eiffel Tower.) When we got to the top we ran into another couple from our squadron: the Jerchs! What are the odds of that happening?! It really is a small world!

 Uncle Doug and Claudie's Place

Le petit chat noir. This little cat greeted us every time we were coming and going from Uncle Doug's place.

The amazing food at the boulangerie near Uncle Doug's

Crossing the Pont de Arts with loads of locks to meet our friends.

Nick took this pick! I was very impressed!

Standing on top of the swaying Eiffel Tower

Ashley and I laughing at how windy it was on top of the Tower as our hair was whipping around us.

 Walking by Moulin Rouge on our way home.

Sunday, December 23

After going to church and listening to Aunt Blandine read, we headed to Aunt Catherine's house for an amazing brunch. It was so much fun catching up with family and eating delicious food! I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday!
It was at the brunch when we were trying to speak French to our French relatives that I realized a couple things. First, I realized Nick's French is amazing! Maybe he's been studying it secretly. It has improved considerably since we were in France 6 years ago for the DeWulf family reunion. I think being here in Italy and having to try and speak another language has made him more confident in speaking French. Second, I discovered that my French is HORRIBLE! Nick had to translate almost everything! I've been so focused on trying to learn Italian that the little French I knew before is gone! French is a beautiful language, but so much harder to learn than Italian. I like languages that are more phonetic. I think I'll stick to Italian for now. Grazie!

Monday, December 24

We followed Blandine 30 minutes to her house in Bazoches sur Guyonne, a little town southwest of Paris. That night we laughed with family, opened presents, and had yet another amazing meal this time made by Blandine. It couldn't have been more perfect!
One of my favorite parts of staying in Bazoches, was sleeping in front of the fire place. The heat wasn't working in one of the bedrooms, so Nick and I pushed two sofas together and made a bed. It was so sweet and fun falling asleep to the sound of crackling wood.

Some of us got some sweet glasses for Christmas!

A cat and a bear. :)

Decadent dining

Getting ready for Blandine's amazing meal.

Yum.

Benjamin and his son Joseph tickling the ivory.

Our room for the night before we pushed the sofas together.

Tuesday, December 25 - Christmas!

We had a lazy morning that started with fresh baguettes from the DeWulf bakery in Montfort-l'amaury, just 5 minutes up the road from Bazoches.
At one point, Charlotte, Alice (Nick's cousin's), Nick and I escaped and took a little drive through the country-side to see Les Mesnuls and Montfort-l'amary. The were both beautiful! Apparently, Montfort is a very popular escape for Parisians during the summer. It was one of my favorite places on our trip.
That night we headed back to Paris. Our route took us onto the traffic circle around the Arc de Triumph. I've never been so scared as a passenger in a car in my life! It was pure mayhem! There are 12 streets that feed into this traffic circle. There were cars in front of us that were completely perpendicular to our car....in a traffic circle... where traffic should all be flowing in the same direction! It was INSANE! Nick was very patient with all of my squealing I was making as he was driving. We somehow made it back to Uncle Doug's unscathed.
That night we made a quick trip up to Montmartre and Sacre Coeur for our first official crepe in France. I got a nutella crepe and Nick got a ham and cheese crepe. A warm crepe was the perfect thing for a cold night. After taking a few poorly lit photos on the famous steps in front of Sacre Coeur, we started back to Uncle Doug's. It was so cold out that we were easily detoured by a small, warm cafe with two guitarists playing. We stopped and each of us ordered cafes, while we listened. Nick and I noticed a man sitting very close to the guitarists with a sparkly, black, velour track jacket and his long, black, scraggly hair pulled back into a messy ponytail. We both took our guesses at what this man did for a living. Nick guessed that he was a professional figure skater. I guessed he was a musician. During the very next song, the man went over and picked up a guitar, turned it over and began to play the guitar with his left hand. Not only was he a musician, but he played the guitar like I've never heard before...AND he was left handed and playing backwards! Nick and I were both in awe....enough so, that we didn't think to get a picture of it. We still think he might be a professional figure skater as a side job. :)

Charlotte, Nick and Alice in the quaint town of Montfort-l'maurie

The streets of Montfort-l'maurie...

Les Mesnuls

Wednesday, December 26

Nick surprised me with a trip to Versailles. I didn't know much about it, so the whole trip was exciting.
It is ENORMOUS! The gardens alone take up almost 2000 acres.We visited the gardens, the Hamlets, and Marie Antoinette's quarters first, then the main palace. I would recommend doing it in that order because you can really appreciate the grandeur of the palace. The Hall of Mirrors was my favorite room. It was stunning! I could just imagine getting dressed in a lavish gown, and heading to a decadent ball held in that room. It was then I decided I wouldn't mind living in a castle or palace...as long as I had a lot of cleaning ladies because I sure wouldn't want to clean that! :) Nick and I both agreed that Versailles was the highlight of our trip.
At the end of the day, I mapped how far we walked that day at Versailles alone, and it was almost 10 miles. (Note to self: bring good walking shoes next time)

Our view while standing in line to get tickets for Versailles

The main garden and water features.

Walking through the Grand Trianon.

The hamlets

Heading back to the main palace...

Can you find Nick in this photo?

We loved all of the beautiful fountains!

The main palace

The Hall of Mirrors

Thursday, December 27

The one thing I really wanted to do in Paris was visit The Louvre because I didn't get to do it when we visited 6 years ago on my first trip to Paris. The Louvre definitely didn't disappoint! We got there early which is a must if you don't want to stand in line for hours. Here are a few interesting facts that we found out about the Louvre: 1. They have 35,000 masterpieces displayed, but they have over 1,000,000 pieces total in The Louvre.  2. It would take you 3 months day and night to see every piece they have displayed. After 3 hours we were completely exhausted, but we had seen most of the highlights including the Mona Lisa, and the Egyptian section. I loved seeing The Louvre, or at least parts of it, but I don't have an urge to go back any time soon. It really is overwhelming.
Afterward, we strolled outside to get some fresh air. We walked over to the Ile de la Cite along the Seine River where Notre Dame is located. We didn't go inside because the line was so long to get in at that point. Notre Dame is beautiful, and probably some of my favorite architecture in France.

 The Louvre - First stop Mona Lisa.

This is the painting hanging across from the Mona Lisa. It's a life sized painting! And the biggest painting in the Louvre.

Nick's favorite piece in the ENTIRE museum was this minuscule hippo. :) 

The early bird gets the worm...or at least doesn't have to stand in a line outside in the rain and cold.

Happy to have seen the Louvre, but even happier to move on to the next attraction.

Of course we had to do a jumping photo in front of the Louvre! I love this one because it looks like he's jumping on an umbrella. :)

Friday, December 28

Our original plan was to go to Dardogne to visit Uncle Doug and Claudie on Friday and Saturday, but the plans fell through because there were no available tickets to get back to Paris. So instead we headed to Gallerie Lafayette where apparently everyone else in Paris thought of going as well! Gallerie Lafayette is an enormous department store. I call it Macy's on crack. It's bigger and better than Macy's. It has every top designer that you can think of. There was a line with at least 50 people just to walk into the Louis Vuitton section! Can you believe that?!
My favorite part of the Gallerie Lafayette was the view from the top! You could see the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and we were right above the Paris Opera where we would be going that night.
We bought tickets for the Paris Opera Ballet to see Don Quixote at Le Palais Garnier. It's one of my favorite ballet's!
We arrived at the Palais Garnier that night and got to our seats early to realize that we'd bought tickets to see a modern dance performance by Paris Opera Ballet. It was the right ballet company, but wrong location/show. Ooops! At that point, it was too late to try and make Don Quixote, so we stayed. The performance was choreographed by William Forsythe and Trisha Brown. (I've never heard of either of them, but I'm writing it so that I can look back one day and remember who it was.)
The seating consisted of a cushion, and the backing was a small piece of wood covered lightly in fabric. Whoever built the seating didn't want anyone falling asleep during a performance! Despite it being the wrong ballet, and having uncomfortable seats, we still thoroughly enjoyed our experience. It made me want to start dancing again!

The center of Gallerie Lafayette. I never realized how popular Swarovski crystals were in Europe.

The view from the top of Gallerie Lafayette 

 The backside of the Palais Garnier where we went to the (wrong) ballet.

 The front of the Palais Garnier.

The beautiful but uncomfortable seats at the ballet.

Saturday, December 29

We headed over to the flea market in Paris. When you get off the metro, there's a street market surrounding the flea market. It apparently confuses many tourists. The street market has typical vendors selling cheap souvenirs. There's also a pretty rough crowd at the street market. If you can actually get to the flea market, it feels a little safer and there are so many amazing treasures! We saw sculptures of horses made out of drift wood, chairs made out of old plane parts, flight suits from the Korean War, canons and more! I would highly recommend at least walking through the flea market, if you don't mind the rough crowd outside it.
We also went on a boat tour on the Seine. Nick doesn't typically like super touristy/gimmicky things, so I had to talk him into doing this. The tour started on the Ile de la Cite, near the Notre Dame, and took us down past the Eiffel Tower and back again. It was relaxing and we actually learned a few new things. The only things I would recommend would be sitting near the tour guide so you can hear them, and get a seat near a window so you can get good photos. I would definitely recommend doing a boat tour to anyone visiting Paris! I think Nick would say he actually enjoyed it as well. :)

A surprise picture I took of Nick while we were walking through the flea market. Notice the chairs and canon behind him...

A little view of my favorite store. Look at that dog head! So random!

Walking past Notre Dame.

A statue of Henry IV on our way to our boat ride.

A quick pic on our boat ride.

Sunday, December 30

After church on Sunday morning, the family headed to a delicious meal at Le Relais de l'Entrecote to eat steak frite. The only thing they serve is steak and french fries! It was amazing! This is also a MUST if you visit Paris.
Since it was Jordan's (Harrison's girlfriend) first day in Paris, Annabel, Harrison, Jordan, Nick and I all headed out to see some sights starting with Sacre Coeur and Montmartre. I've seen Sacre Coeur many times at this point, but I've never been inside. So we ventured into what would be the most interesting visit I've ever had in a church. When we first walked in we witnessed a man yelling at a woman for trying to take a photo inside the church. Yikes! He really gave her a lecture! Then a woman's hair caught on fire from one of the prayer candles. They were able to put the fire out quickly. We tried to stiffle our laughter, while we were still in the church. We couldn't stop laughing at the strange but humourous sequence of events.
After building up an appetite walking up the steps to Sacre Coeur, we had to stop and get a delicious crepe in Montmartre.
Next we headed over to Champs-elysees to see the Arc de Triumph and to get the best macaroons in Paris at LaDuree. I know I shouldn't admit this, but I'm not a huge fan of those little hamburger shaped, sweet treats. The French have amazing food, but macaroons just don't do it for me.
To top this eventful day, we had chili and chocolate souffle at Sebastian and Jean-Baptiste's (another cousin) awesome apartment. At the end of dinner, Seb shared some of his stories about Nick's dad, Frederic, and Uncle Jan from his childhood. One of my favorites was when Frederic and Jan decided to make crepes with Seb, and see who could throw them the highest. Many of the crepes ended up sticking to the ceiling. Maminque walked into the room right as a crepe fell and landed on top of her head. Sounds like it was right out of a movie!

Jordan, Harrison, Annabel at our Steak Frite restaurant.

Isabel's dad, Philippe, and Jan. Yes, Jan's eyes were open, I think he was in a food coma at this point.

Blandine, Isabel's mom Elyane, and Isabel. Not a great photo of Elyane, but the only one I have of the three ladies.

I didn't get a picture of the steak frite, but I did get a pic of our dessert!

We actually beat the crowd to the restaurant! Look at that line as we were leaving!

About to walk up the steps to Sacre Coeur with Annabel, Harrison and Nick.

Sacre Coeur. The famous steps are covered by the crowd.

Annabel, Harrison, Jordan, and Nick getting delicious crepes in Montmartre.

Jumping into traffic to get a pic in front of the Arc de Triumph.

Monday, December 31- New Years Eve

We started our morning off early with ice skating at Le Grande Palais with Harrison and Jordan. When we arrived we saw a huge line outside, and we were so grateful we had already purchased our tickets! But it turns out that only people that bought their tickets ahead of time were allowed in that day, so EVERYONE with tickets had to stand outside in the cold and rain. Boooo. Ice skating was worth the wait!
Next, we tried to visit the Catacombs that day, but they were closed since it was NYE.
That night we had plans to visit the Eiffel Tower for the countdown, but we changed our minds last minute and just stayed at Aunt Isabel's parents. We played boardgames and ate a delicious souffle by Blandine. It was the fluffiest souffle I've ever seen or eaten in my life.
After board games, and the countdown at midnight with family, Nick and I wanted to start making our way back to Uncle Doug's house. We discovered that the train station near Isabel's parents was closed, so Harrison drove us as far into Paris as he felt comfortable. What normally would have taken us 15 minutes to get home took us 2 hours. The metro was free on NYE. The combination of millions of drunk people + free metro= disaster. I will never forget our experience on the metro that night. I do not  want to repeat it....EVER again. We got off early and walked home in the rain. I have never been so happy to walk in the cold and rain without an umbrella!

Ice skating with half of France in Le Grande Palais.

This was the first year they had ice skating in Le Grand Palais, and I'm sure it won't be the last!

Tuesday, January 1

After getting home at 3am, we got a good few hours of sleep and then flew back to Italia.

Here's a quick summary of our trip to France (or at least the things I'd like you to remember):

• Italian food is good, but French food is better. 
• I can't resist Pain au chocolat. I literally ate one every morning.
• Nick's French is amazing. 
• My French is horrible! 
• I think most people decided to visit France this holiday season because there were lines EVERYWHERE. 
• It rains in Paris in the winter...A LOT! I think it rains more in France than it does in Seattle. Although, it did give me a good excuse to invest in a good pair of rain boots. 
• You will likely walk at least 5 miles a day while touring Paris, it's exhausting but totally worth it.
• Millions of drunks +free metro+ holiday= Pure chaos.
• I love, love, loved, getting to spend time with our French relatives. (And now I have lots of good stories on Jan and Fredo!)

Merci buckets!! Or something like that! ....I think I'll stick to Italian....and English. :) Happy New Year!

Acknowledgements:
A BIG thank you to Uncle Doug and Claudie for letting us stay in their beautiful home in Paris while they were out of town, and Blandine for letting us crash on her couch in Bazoches on Christmas. Thank you to Jan for initiating many of the afore-mentioned family activities! And for anyone and everyone that fed us along the way.:) Last but not least, thank you Liz D. for showing me how to update my blog! Grazie Mille! Thank you, thank you, thank you!