Day 10: A Parisian Birthday

What a wonderful day! So much to tell. What did we do you ask? The better question is, “What didn’t we do?” The answer to that? Leave our house before 1:45. Visit more than one historical site for photo opportunities. Find cool european-esque shoes for me at H&M. Sidenote, apparently even my feet are too big for H&M… Basically, we didn’t do much.

Why then was it such a wonderful day? It was my lovely wife Bethany’s birthday and we spent it in Paris!

It started with a walk through our lovely neighborhood. You remember right? The one filled with lovely bakeries, restaurants, sex shops and cafes? Yeah, that one. We went to the shop that we have gone to every morning and said “Merci” to the nice girl who gave us their delicious pastries each day one last time. It would have been a special moment, if we ever communicated beyond “Bonjour”, “Pretzel”, “Hot Dog”, “Macaroon”, and “Merci!” I’m sure she would have teared up. We got a delicious sugar covered pretzel and an assortment of macaroons and were on our way.

We continued through our neighborhood and ended up at Au Rendes Souz Des Artistes where we ate our first night in Paris. In England and Ireland I don’t believe we ate at the same place twice. In Paris though, for the three days we were there, we had “our restaurants” and it was lovely. We split a sandwhich and a crepe smothered in whip cream, ice cream and chocolate and then headed onto the Metro to get photos outside of the Louvre.

We hopped on the Big Bus and drove it around Paris one last time. We arrived at the Louvre around 6:30. We took plenty of photos and walked around the large open courtyards neighboring the Louvre. The massive size and grandness of the architecture in Europe puts America to shame. Not to mention most streets in Paris are older than the oldest building in America. So much history… So cool.

We then walked the Pont Neuf bridge, the oldest standing bridge across the Seine, and preferred sitting spots of hundreds of twenty-somethings, also me. We sat along the river as the sun shown through the lovely willow trees overhead. If Paris is for lovers, than this is where they gaze longingly into each others eyes while drinking wine and smoking. Just down the river you can see the famous Pont De Artes Bridge, colloquilly named “The Love Lock Bridge” why? Because millions of tourists, like us, bought locks and locked them to that bridge as a symbol of our undying love. Who started it? Why did they do it? No one knows… Except maybe Google.

Just beyond the bridge lies a charming wooden boat called Bateau le Calife. Le Calife was my birthday gift to my lovely bride. In this medium sized ornamental ship we set off on the river Seine around 8:30 p.m. for a romantic dinner cruise with a few other people. What followed was a delectable four course meal and a “Happy Birthday” song to Bethany sung by the boat crew.

We sat next to a chatted with a couple from North Carolina in Europe for two weeks on their honeymoon. We exchanged travel stories, marriage tips and laughter as we passed Notre Dame, The Louvre and the Paris sized version of The Statue of Liberty. The crown jewel of our evening was the perfect timing of our captain as we arrived in front of the Eiffel Tower seconds before the amazing lightshow began. Imagine looking at a diamond as it sparkles in the night sky. Now replace the diamond with the Eiffel Tower and you have a decent picture of how it looks. It was truly beautiful and a wonderful moment to share with Bethany.

I can’t wait to see what she does for my birthday 😉

We walked home through the Paris streets finding our way to the nearest metro arm and arm. Our final night in Paris ended the way any trip to Paris should, with love and romance in the air. Also, there was a guy playing “All Along The Watchtower” at the Metro station, so that was cool too!

Cheers,
B&B