Weekend in Paris? Yes please. Last weekend Ryan and I spent three great days in Paris with our friends Adam and Angie. It was glorious, and rainy, and beautiful, and busy. We walked a ton, we saw practically everything, ate a lot, and went to bed exhausted every night. There’s definitely more to be done in Paris, and you can spend more time, but if you’ve only got a weekend here’s a jam packed recap of what we did and saw. I’ve tried to include lots of pictures but you can also see more here on Flickr. 

We left on Friday after work and stayed near the Arc de Triomphe. The weather was gloomy an unfortunately stayed that way for most of the weekend. On Saturday we woke up early and awkwardly bumbled our way through ordering croissants and coffee at a nearby cafe. Then we started off on our epic, over 10 mile, trek across Paris. We started by walking around the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champes-Élysées, and towards the Louvre. In spite of the rain, Paris is still really beautiful. The stone buildings have gorgeous ornamentation and romantic looking wrought iron balconies with flowers spilling over the side. The sidewalks and roads were so wide and lined with large trees. London streets are so narrow and crowded that all of us relished in the wide open spaces. The four of us are all also former Washington, DC residents and we could see exactly the French influence on DC’s city planning. Specifically the long streets with beautiful views ending in roundabouts made us think of DC. But, between you and me Paris does it was better. Paris has wider streets, longer roads, and amazing views. Although, to be honest it was so foggy the first day we couldn’t even see the top of the Eiffel Tower.

When we got to the Louvre the whole plaza was teaming with people all lined up to visit the museum. We looked at each other with trepidation. Did we want to wait in such a long line?! Isn’t the Louvre something you have to do? We decided to skip it for now and keep on walking. We walked over to the Seine River and crossed multiple bridges bursting with locks from couples. It was scenic and lovely, and even in the rain a bit romantic.

We arrived at Notre Dame and there was yet another gigantic line. Adam and I had been before, Ryan and Angie weren’t bothered so instead we walked all around and enjoyed the architecture from the outside. Obviously Paris is an international tourist destination, but we just hadn’t pictured such gigantic lines!

Next stop, lunch. We went to the Latin Quarter and browsed the shops and ate. The four of us shared a box of sweet macaroons, which I loved. Later in the trip we saw savory macaroons with flavors like tomato and basil and chevre foie gras. I didn’t try them, but I was curious. And after food, we went to the Musee ‘Orsay. There was yet another gigantic line but at this point in the day we felt that it was time we saw something, so we waited.

And I’m so glad we did! The museum is glorious. I love paintings that are colorful, somewhat abstract, have bold brush strokes, and great texture. This museum had everything I wanted in paintings because of their excellent collection of impressionists and post-impressionists. I was most taken with a Van Gogh self portrait. I’ve seen it a billion times in books and online, but in person it had more emotion and personality. I felt like he was staring at me. I felt sadness, and defiance, and strength all in the portraits gaze. I loved it and it just proves to me that visiting museums is important because it provides something you can’t get from a post card. For example pointillism – the paintings where everything is made up of tiny dots. I love it! I love seeing the blending of color and I love the juxtaposition of abstract color and form with really constrained order and attention to detail

.After that more eating! We shared a cheese plate, and wine, and then went out to dinner. Adam had a friend and her fiance who live in Paris and they organized for us to have dinner at restaurant specializing in food from Toulouse. They took care of the ordering and we had lots of pâté (which looked like a fatty meat cup but was actually silky and full of flavor), charcuterie, and the absolute best leg of lamb I’ve ever had. It was juicy and tender and was like steak. It was great having locals show us around and take care of us a bit. We went to bed exhausted and full.

Sunday we started the day with more pastries and coffee. Then we decided to walk a little less and wait in a few more lines. First we took the metro to see Sacre Coeur. This is one of the few places I remember strongly from when I visited Paris ten years ago. I’m not a religious person, and I wasn’t when I was nineteen either, but it’s one of the first amazing churches I’d ever seen. It was the first place that sort of astounded me with its beauty and it was nice to see it again. The church is sat on top of a hill and you can see all of Paris – and I just love views because you can imagine what’s going on in the world below. And inside the church (where photography isn’t allowed) there are some gigantic gold and blue mosaics. After touring, we then walked around the nearby neighborhood and snacked on nutella crepes.

After we decided to check out the catacombs, which is an ossuary which houses the remains of about six million people. The space itself was a mine, but became the catacombs in the 18th century. Basically because of disease and space issues, nearby church grave yards were exhumed and the bodies moved to the catacombs. Inside the bones are artfully stacked and line long winding corridors. It’s haunting and engaging. There were just so many bones, all stacked, and arranged, and staring. So many people. It was a bit intense. Adam said something which sums it all up for me: If this doesn’t remind you of your own insignificance, I don’t know what will. I didn’t take great pictures here, so please Google them, it’s worth looking up.

When we left the catacombs, thankfully the sun had come out (and decided to stay out until we left on Monday). We decided to take that opportunity to see the Eiffel Tower. It was glorious. The sun was out, the sky was blue, the grass was green, and the Tower was reigning above it all. For awhile we sat on the grass and people watched. It was one of those great moments where you feel like you’re doing exactly what you should be doing.

As with everything we’d done so far in Paris, there was a gigantic line. We stood in it for about two minutes before we decided to quit and have dinner instead. The guide book recommended a nearby place called Les Cocottes and I pushed my eating boundaries. The thing I had initially wanted to order was out, so I went with the thing I was curious to eat – pigeon. I’d never had pigeon before and was curious and nervous. Let me tell you all, it was delicious! Really freaking delicious. Small portion, but meaty and hearty like a steak and bursting with amazing flavor. I don’t know when I’ve tried something so drastically out of my comfort zone, but I’m glad I did. Both my meal and Ryan’s meal (which was lamb) came with little pieces of liver. I did try both and didn’t like either – but I’m still pleased I lived on the edge with the pigeon.

After dinner we went back to see the Eiffel Tower at night, and luckily there was no line. We went up to see the views and enjoy Paris at night. It was a nice night, not too crowded, windy, and the city looked beautiful and twinkly. However, I did try to get out of the way of a couple taking a selfie and I tripped and fell into a bolt sticking out of the tower. Now I have a giant purple welt on my leg – a unique souvenir from the Eiffel Tower if I do say so myself.

On Monday, our final day, we decided to brave the Louvre again and were delight to find a really short line (like 30 minutes long vs the original 2+ hours from Saturday). Moral of the story, try to visit these places at off hours. Angie and I knew what we wanted to see – she wanted to see the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. I wanted to see the Dendera Zodiac (which I learned about from an awesome book called Loot) and the Nike of Samothrace. We planned our route, got lost a bit, stopped to see other cool things, and tried to see as much as we could.

Tired and heads full of art, we stopped for one last delicious meal before heading to the train station. I rode home with a full belly, tired feet, and a pretty satisfied wanderlust.

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My family and I went to Crete because my mom’s colleague Elias was getting married. We stayed at Bella Vista, a hotel in Stalida (Stalis) Crete owned by Elias’ parents. They were the most generous and hospitable hosts I’ve ever met. The hotel is up on a hill, about a ten minute walk from the beach. There is a pool, a family of semi-stray cats, and a gorgeous view. About thirty wedding guests stayed at the hotel and every night up to the wedding Elias’ parents cooked a giant feast. There was salad, bread, lamb, meatballs and much more. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the food.

We spent a lot of time lounging at the pool. We also took the walk over to the beach. Although technically not far, it was hilly and  very hot – which resulted in some amount of whining on the walk. One day at the beach Papa and I rode a banana boat. We had done it years and year ago when I was in middle school and I remember it being so much fun. If you’re not familiar you can see a picture of it here. Basically it’s a floppy raft pulled behind a motor boat and as the boat hits the waves, the banana boat bounces. It was fun – but also super scary. We were riding with two other tourists and I ended up in the very front of the boat. I was bouncing around like crazy and holding on in a crazy white-knuckle grip. When I got off and back to solid ground, my hands hurt and could barely uncurl. My mom said she could see my flying off the seat during the ride. As I said it was fun and scary. I’m glad we did it – but it was like a haunted house tour because it’s almost more fun to remember it after than to actually do it.

One of the days Elias’ parents organized an outing for the guests. We went to Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Knossos is an archaeological site of a palace that is tied to the myths of King Minos and the minotaur. I was so very excited to go there but we had the worst tour guide ever. She was wearing an orange beach sarong as a dress and matching orange jewelry. She spent 40 minutes of our hour tour talking by the entrance, and wouldn’t budge when Elias and his friend asked her to show us the sites. She also spent most of her tour complaining about how European excavators did everything wrong. They may have done it all wrong, but I wanted to learn about the people who lived here and she spoke little about that. It was really annoying and we didn’t see everything I would have liked. She almost convinced us not to go to the throne room too, but what we did see was pretty cool. I enjoyed picturing what the palace would have looked like whole and how gorgeous it would have been covered in frescoes.

After Knossos we went to a nearby restaurant and had an epic feast. There was of course salad, lamb, bread, and olive oil. But there were also snails, tomatoes on crusty bread, squash blossoms stuffed with meat, and beer. The group of about twenty of us sat at a big long table and they kept bringing out course after course. We’d finish a drink and a new one would appear. Since we were celebrating a wedding they brought us a traditional rice dish that is supposed to bring fertility. It mostly tasted like hot rice with chicken broth. It was an amazing meal and afterward we were stuffed. I apologize for my messy pictures but I was half way through gorging myself before I thought to take pictures.

Lunch completed, we went to the Archaeological Museum. Since our first tour guide was awful, Elias’ best man (who is a doctor not a tour guide) led us through the museum. He was awesome! So knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He knew so much about Crete and the history of the island. I took pictures of the giant intact storage pots and the frescoes from Knossos. The originals are at the museum and copies at actual Knossos. Also I took a picture of the snake goddess, which I had learned about in undergrad art history. Apparently early cultures on Crete were a matriarchal society and the bare chested woman holding snakes was a powerful symbol. Cool, right?

The wedding itself was the last Saturday we were there. The ceremony was outside a tiny chapel next to the water. The guests waited outside the chapel and the bride and groom were driven up separately in a beautiful convertible with the horn blaring their arrival. It was fun an exciting. They processed with their families toward the altar in front of the chapel and the guests all gathered around them. It was more casual than any wedding I’d been to before. People in the back of the crowd talked to each other quietly and walked around a little. At one point in the ceremony, the bride and groom are wearing crowns connected together. They walked around the altar and the guests threw rice from small bags at them. The bride had told me earlier that in total they had bought 30 pounds of rice to throw! There was rice everywhere and all night we could see rice in peoples’ hair.

The reception afterward was gorgeous. It was at a resort that was so amazing because the rooms looked like little villas and were on winding streets. The reception was held in a huge hall right along the water. The buffet was enormous. There was one room of mains and one room of desserts. There was so many kinds of meat too – lamb, chicken, beef, rabbit, and fish. There was also more traditional fertility rice, like we had at lunch. In the dessert room there was baklava, six flavors of ice cream, cookies, cakes, and fruit. They had a dj, a band, and traditional Greek dancers. And there were shots. So many shots of raki and ouzo that just kept coming. There was lots of Greek dancing too. I was too shy, but my parents were brave enough to jump in and try it.

It was a great night and we spent the next day relaxing by the pool drinking lemon Fanta. The whole experience – wedding, pool, banana boat, and food – was absolutely incredible.  It was really tough leaving Crete – it’s just so flipping beautiful.

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