a weekend in paris

our anniversary is coming up next month and we usually go do something for it because its a special day. since i am pregnant, though, by the time our anniversary comes i will be about 37 weeks and that makes me too far along to go do anything because of the possibility of going into labor. so we decided that we would take a trip beforehand and were planning for the end of march/first weekend in april. we decided we wanted to go to paris, france.

i started looking at hotels and bed and breakfasts in paris and either some of them were over $200 a night or we had to find our own parking and walk which would cost us extra. i was getting really discouraged and was telling jeremy that it would probably be way too expensive to go there with paying for gas, parking, hotel, admission to places, food, ect. so he suggested we book through the uso. the uso is an organization that is for military and their families. they have many wonderful services and are just great at supporting the troops. the one here has free internet/computer access, xbox to play, a tv to watch, books and dvds to borrow, and they set up trips that you can book through them and everything is taken care of. they are just great. so we knew there was a trip coming up the next weekend so i called to see if there were still spots open. sure enough, there were! the next day we went and booked it! we were so excited to go and i was getting anxious since it was only a week away!

friday:

jeremy had friday off for a training holiday(which is just a free day off) and so we just vegged out all day. i packed our bags for the trip and washed his uniform so it was ready for monday since we knew we were getting back late sunday. at about 4:30pm, jeremy and i headed out to go see the new alice in wonderland on base. when we got to the theater it was already packed and we were even like 45 minutes early! it was crazy! we ordered a couple of slices of cheese pizza but they werent ready so jeremy had to go back to get them and when he did he met up with chris and sandi and thankfully we had spots still open next to us for them to sit. the movie turned out really good. i had heard that it was boring, but we didnt think so at all. we really like tim burton and this didnt really disappoint us at all. i dont think anything can be worse than sweeney todd: the demon barber of fleet street. the movie ended and we headed to the other base where the bus would pick us up. we were a bit early and had to wait like a hour and a half. hahaa but there wasnt a point in us wasting the gas to go home anyway, so we just sat in the car and listened to music.

the bus finally came at around 10pm, we loaded up and got on the road! a couple we are friends with, shera(jeremys co-worker) and shaun, were also going so they sat across from us on the bus. the bus was really nice but i thought that seats would be bigger than they were and that we would also have more leg room. i had a bigger guy sitting in front of me that reclined so that made me getting comfortable all the more difficult. jeremy was fine, as usual, and fell asleep pretty fast. we stopped in ramstein to pick up our tour guide and some other people for the trip and since nobody was sitting behind shera and shaun they offered to move back so jeremy and i could each have 2 seats to ourselves. i really needed to put my legs up so i was really grateful for that. i fell in and out of sleep for the rest of the trip. the total drive was about 8 hrs and we got to paris around 7am, saturday morning.

saturday:

when we got to the hotel we ate breakfast. they had a buffet style breakfast waiting for whoever wanted to purchase it. this one wasnt included with the trip because we hadnt stayed there yet. let me tell you, totally different than american buffets. totally worse than american buffets! they had an alright selection of food which included: sausage, bacon, eggs, cereal, croissants, chocolate croissants, apple sauce, fruit, and slices of deli meat and cheese. the chocolate croissants were pretty good. i got eggs, and bacon and the eggs were so nasty! they were scrambled and totally were made from powder! ick! the bacon was good but really salty so i only had a few bites. so i pretty much had a croissant, apple sauce, orange juice, and water. good thing we packed snacks for the trip! after breakfast they let us check in and we had about a hour and a half to rest. i was so thankful! we went up to our room and fell asleep! i so needed that little nap!

at about 9:30 we got on the bus and headed into downtown paris! when we started getting into the city it was so amazing. the buildings and bridges are just so beautiful. the french put so much detail into everything, i was just in awe.

our first stop was the notre dame, we had about 45 minutes i think to explore that. the bus parked a bit away from it so it was just a little walk and when we got closer there were these african guys trying to sell eiffel tower stuff. and they were everywhere. they had eiffel tower key chains in the bunches and you could buy the bunch for 1€, so you know it had to be cheap, haha. i dont know how many of those guys we had to tell no, just at the notre dame(yes, this means we had to tell them no plenty more times other places, which got to be a big pain!) we went inside the notre dame and it was really big and beautiful. but for some reason i wasnt all that impressed with it. i thought the outside was way more impressive than the inside. i am guessing because there were parts blocked off, they didnt have pews- just chairs set up, and there wasnt a crucifix at the altar - just a cross. after we were done touring the inside we went back outside for more pictures. in the sidewalk out front of the notre dame there is this gold plate that symbolizes the center most part of paris. that is actually where they measure all the streets and stuff from! it was pretty cool to see that.  when we were done there we met back with the bus and headed out to a perfumery.

the perfumery we toured was called "fragonard". this was probably the least exciting thing we did on the whole trip. we learned how perfume was made and how it was popular back in the day and such. pretty boring stuff. hahaa at the end we had a chance to buy some of their perfume, soaps, and lotions. we got out of their asap because it was really warm and with all of the perfume smells it was making us grumpy.

now on to the eiffel tower! of course, this was the main attraction i was looking forward to. we had a good while to explore there, which i liked. when we got there(bypassing all of the african guys trying to sell us eiffel tower stuff) and passed through the security check we crammed into an elevator that took us to the second floor. it was really weird riding the elevator because we went up in a slanted way.  when we got up to the second floor we could walk around and take in the view. for some reason i was very very nervous up top. which is weird because i never used to be nervous about things like that. jeremy and i stayed up there for a while and then wanted to head down. we could have went all the way to the top for 5€ but i was too scared. haha we were already pretty high up at the second level, which is about 420 ft high. when we went to head back down the line to the elevator was super long, so we decided to take the stairs. it took us a while to get down but we finally made it. my knees were killing me by the time we got down though, i mean, it was over 600 steps and all! we rested for a bit when we got down and jeremy went and grabbed my coat off the bus. while we were sitting there this girl - which looked like she was from the middle east - approached us asking if we knew english. we thought she needed help so we said yes. low and behold, she did need help but in the wallet! she unfolded this piece of paper which had writing on it stating she was from bosnia and that she needed money for food. we told her we didnt have any change to give her and she said she would take 20€!!!! um, ok, 20€? that is A LOT! we told her again we didnt have any change but that we could give her food. you should have seen the look on this girls face. she looked like "food? are you kidding me?". she didnt say anything so we repeated we could give her some food. she finally took it and we gave her some of these cracker things i had. she didnt say thank you or anything and walked away. seemed a little ungrateful to me, especially since she just took food from a pregnant lady! haha after that little episode we walked across the street in this park area to try and get pics of the full tower. while we were walking we were corned by two african guys. and i mean cornered. we were walking along side a fence and they kind of pinned us in. they had these embroidery floss things to make a bracelet and at the end it was tied into a ring and they wanted to place it on our fingers. well, jeremy took the bait and wanted to see what they were going to do and the guy started making a bracelet. the other guy wanted me to do it and i kept saying no but then he finally did it. they kept saying stupid crap like "hakunah matata" and stuff that like. after they were done and tied it to our wrists they wanted a "donation"! we we told them we didnt have anything to give them and they got fiesty. they kept saying that they can give us change back and we should contribute and to give them a donation and i repeatedly told them we didnt have anything to give them. its like they wouldnt take no for an answer. they even wanted to give us manicures! manicures?! i dont want your dirty nasty fingernail clippers touching me!!! so i finally told them to take the stupid bracelets off. seriously, you dont "rough up" a pregnant lady!! i was so irritated after that! we were getting hit up left and right for money! its not like in the states, its way way way worse! i didnt like it at all. we took a few pictures and headed back to the bus, and again, bypassing all of the freaks trying to sell us crap. the eiffel tower was amazing though and i am so glad that we got to experience that! when we were waiting for people from our group to get back some of the people asked the tour guide if we could go to the arc de triomph. it wasnt on our tour but they thought theyd give it a chance and so the tour guide said yes! so that was our next, unexpected stop!

they dropped us off on a side street across from the arc de triomph and we took the underground tunnel to see it up close. it was really huge! they had a grave under it for an unknown soldier from ww1 which i thought was nice. it had a flame and flowers and everything for him. the sculptures on the side were incredible! jeremy really took a liking to the saint michael one. which i think it was saint michael. anyway, he thought it was pretty cool. i was glad they took us to that. the arc is surround by a roundabout which was exceptionally crazy! people were going every which way. there werent any definite lanes so you could just drive however you wanted. it was nuts to see!

we headed back to the hotel for a rest break. they gave us about a hour and a half to take it easy. we rested for a little bit then headed out to get some food. then came back to our room and had to wait a little bit to get back on the bus for our dinner.

we got to this little french restaurant. it was so cute! the inside walls were stone and it was just so cozy! we got there and they took our orders soon after we got there. we were having a 5 course meal so we had to choose what we wanted. jeremy got escargot for the appetizer, salmon for his main dish and for dessert- sorbet. i chose shrimp cocktail, beef burgundy, and sorbet as well. the first course was champagne which neither of us got and the 4th course before dessert was a variety of cheeses. jeremy got it but i didnt because they were soft cheese. on all the tables they had carafes of white and red wine, water, soda, and baskets of bread. i was pretty bummed i couldnt try the wine, but its alright. anyway, so our appetizers came out and mine was totally not like i expected. it wasnt an american shrimp cocktail. it was a creamy dish with baby shrimp. it has peas and i think onion in it as well. it was a little sweet. needless to say i didnt like it at all. i did try escargot though and i really liked it! jeremy said he has had better but i thought it was pretty tasty! i wish i would have got that or the french onion soup. it smelled pretty good! our main dishes were both pretty tasty! i really liked how i could taste the wine in the beef burgundy. the dessert was really really sweet! they gave us two different flavors of sorbet. one was for sure pear, which i have never heard of pear sorbet before, and the other one is a mystery berry. one of the waitresses said it was blueberry but it did not taste like blueberry at all! they were both still good but i couldnt finish mine because it was too sweet! the restaurant was so much fun! they had two men walking around, one with an accordion and the other with a guitar and they were singing! it was such a great time! after everyone was done eating we got back on the bus to go on a river boat tour of the city.

the river boat tour was really relaxing. it took us pretty far down the seine river and back making it about a hour long tour. it was kind of annoying because it played a recording in about 7 different languages for the different monuments we would pass by. so i basically lost interest in paying attention. the city was really pretty at night. we got to see the notre dame again and the eiffel tower was illuminated so it was really pretty. we got to see the outside of the louvre. it was just really nice to see the city at night. when the boat turned around to head back we were facing the wind so it got really really cold. we ended up going underneath where it was warm for the remainder of the tour. when the tour was done we headed back to the hotel for the night. ahh, sleep!

sunday:

we got up around 7:15, which was way too early for me, and got ready for the day. we got down to the buffet only to be disappointed again and tried getting good things to eat. we were running short on time so we had to make it quick. we boarded the bus and were supposed to leave by 8:30 but someone was running late so we didnt get to leave until almost 9. once the last person showed up we headed to versailles, which is right outside of paris.

when we got to versailles, we visited the palace of versailles. it was incredibly huge! they gave us a hour and a half to explore there. when we got in we got headphones and this little remote so that when we got to a room that had a number to it we could punch that in and learn about that room. it was pretty cool and i liked how we could go at our own pace for the most part instead of having to listen to someone jibber jabber about each room and worry about missing something. the palace was very interesting. louis xiv lived there and he was pretty much obsessed with himself. or that is the way it seemed in paintings. there were a lot of paintings of him and there were also paintings of someone holding a painting of him or someone painting a picture of him. it was really weird. we got to see the famous "hall of mirrors". that was cool. nothing too crazy about it, just a huge hall with a lot of mirrors. it was really pretty though. the detail in some of these rooms was absolutely amazing. the kings chamber was awesome as well as the queens. overall it was a very nice museum. a lot of history and a lot to take in!

after we left versailles we headed back to paris to visit the louvre - where the mona lisa resides. this was the last stop before heading back to germany. on the bus we went by the original statue of liberty! the one that the french made for us was a bigger version of the one they already had in the city. that was awesome to see!

when we arrived at the museum we decided that we didnt want to go in because we knew we would have felt rushed because they only gave us a hour and a half and we didnt want to do that. so instead we took the subway to the hard rock cafe. shaun really wanted to go because he likes the hard rock so we all said we would go. this turned out to be a bad idea. we got there and had about an hour to sit eat and get back. the plan was to get a taxi and have them drive us back instead of walking to the subway and taking the subway. when we were done eating we had about 15 minutes to get back. so we tried to find a cab, no luck. there were cabs parked on the side of the road but nobody was there with the cars. so we just had to walk to the subway. i couldnt go really fast being over 7 months pregnant so it took a little longer. we finally made it back to the museum a half hour late and the bus was nowhere to be found! we were so worried. shera and shaun went to find a phone to call the tour guide and about 15 minutes later she showed up. she said the bus left a half hour later than planned so we JUST missed it. they were waiting up top on the bridge where they were picking up other people that had went out in town. i was kind of embarrassed that we were so late, but what can you do?

it took us about 8 hrs to get back to base. jeremy and i got home around midnight and we were so glad to sleep in our own bed. my poor legs and feet were so swollen. our legs were also really sore from walking both of the days. it was so worth it though and i cant wait to go back again!