A Day in the Life: Paris Part Deux

For our second full day in Paris, David & Kristin took us out for a picnic. We went to the market for fresh meat, cheese, fruit, veggies, baguettes, and of course wine. We went to Trocadero (which is just on the other side of the Eiffel Tower from the Champ de Mars, where we went to see the sparkle when we first arrived) and spread out our goodies on the steps, overlooking the fountain and park. We had a little struggle getting into the wine, but it all worked out nicely. The weather was absolutely perfect, so after our meal, we spread out on the grass and enjoyed a nice little nap.

Pretty view/slight struggle with the wine.

Kristin and I then headed over to the Champs-Élysées for about an hour to look around while the boys headed back home. A friend from A&M (Jack) and his new wife (Leigh) invited us all over for dinner that night, so after shopping, Kristin and I rushed back home to get cleaned up for the dinner party. Jack & Leigh have a lovely apartment and prepared a delicious meal for us. We all had a wonderful time.

The next day, Kristin took Kellen and I for a walk around their neighborhood, where we stopped at a café for some coffee and croissants. We also threw in a palmier for good measure.

Yum.

David was already at work, and Kristin had to go in that afternoon, so Kellen and I roamed around on our own for a while. We went back to Champs-Élysées and looked around. We went into the Louis Vuitton store there, which is huge and absolutely gorgeous. It must be a nightmare to work there, with so much traffic from tourists who aren't going to buy anything (like me), but the employees were all friendly and the store was immaculate, so they're doing something right.

Lovely.

That night, we went on a bike tour with Fat Tire Bike Tours, and I truly can’t say enough wonderful things about it as a company and about the people who work there and make it so great. We ended up going on three bike tours while we were in Paris, and they were all so much fun and such a great way to get to know the city. But back to our night tour…we met up at the shop and picked out our bikes. People from all over the world met up for the tour, and we were soon on our way. Our guide led us all over the city, until it got dark. We then parked our bikes and got on a boat that took us up and down the Seine for some lovely nighttime views of the city.

Notre Dame.

Eiffel Tower and the moon.

The next day was possibly my favorite of our Paris trip…Kellen and I took a bike tour to Versailles! We didn’t bike all the way there. Our group met at the bike shop early in the morning, then rode to the train station where we all loaded our bikes onto the train. After about a 25-minute ride, we unloaded in Versailles and rode our bikes to a nearby market. (A quick aside: there is just something about buying food from a market in Paris…not only was it cheap, everything we got was so fresh and absolutely delicious. The fruit was fantastic – possibly the best strawberries, peaches, and nectarines I’ve ever had.) Kellen picked up some delicious olives, and we got the most amazing croissants. Up until that moment, I honestly never really understood what was so great about croissants. Now, I’ve never met a bread I didn’t like, but I had also never had a truly delicious croissant before that. We also picked up some chicken wings (why not?) and wine.

Fresh produce.

Pretty, tiny flowers.

These were gorgeous. I wish I knew what they were called!

Li'l sweets.

Versailles is breathtaking. The grounds are gorgeous, and the chateau is so extravagant: art, gold, and marble everywhere you look. Here are a few pictures on our way in:

Once inside the grounds, we had our picnic:

Notice the "pamplemousse" (grapefruit) in the top left. That is Kellen's favorite French word, so he made sure to use it before we left.

More of the chateau:

A bed fit for a king.

The outside was just as magnificent as the inside. These are an excellent example of the difference between English and French gardens. English gardens (like the ones at LMH in Oxford) are very “one with nature,” where you just plant the plants and let them go. Occasional maintenance, sure. But for the most part, you let the plants do their thing. French gardens are all about man dominating nature, so they are very manicured and trimmed/hedged/shaped/etc. This is the garden behind the chateau: