Living It Up in the City of Lights"Paris is not for small people," one of Elyse's co-workers told her before we left on our trip. In preparing for our travels, we all talked to several friends and colleagues who travel far more frequently than we do. There was much debate about Paris, centering mainly on the proud Parisians and their reputation for being rude to tourists. Our verdict: we loved every minute of our two-day whirlwind tour of Paris. We spent much of our time walking the sunny avenues of Île de la Cité and the Left Bank, including stopping in the city's most famous churches: Notre Dame and Sainte-Chapelle. One of our favorite experiences was picking up a picnic lunch from Île Saint-Louis' specialized shops. (What kind of a savage would buy bread and cheese from the same establishment?) Throughout our brief stay, we found the Parisians to be both proud and friendly, especially if we made an honest effort to speak some French. Sure, Justin got vociferously chided in French for standing on a sidewalk where he was blocking the view of someone's shop. But that, too, was an integral part of our Paris experience (and we're pretty sure he deserved it).
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An A-mazing Visit to the LouvreThe Louvre is the world's biggest and possibly the best art museum. Arriving early one day, we were anxious to see the finest it had to offer. With our must-see list in hand, we scanned the museum map to locate things. Winged Victory was first on the list and so we decided to make a beeline toward the marble sculpture atop her sailing ship. Our beeline rapidly turned into a rat's maze with multiple missteps and misguided trips upon staircases. Eventually we tracked down the elusive Greek goddess and knew the pursuit was worth the work. Other treasures to seek out included da Vinci's controversial Madonna of the Rocks, the Mona Lisa with her mysterious smile, the contrapposto Venus de Milo, and Michelangelo's slaves emerging from their marble blocks. The search for each masterpiece would lead us once again past Winged Victory. Although we were overjoyed to see the finest offerings of the Louvre, we felt that our encounters with Winged Victory may have been enough to last a lifetime.
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Now We're Cooking!
Our first Rick Steves tour in Italy included a cooking class in Florence, an experience that became one of our most treasured memories from the trip. So when we started planning for Paris, we leapt at the chance to see how Europe's culinary experts cook. For two hours we worked in La Cuisine Paris under the tutelage of Chef Cyril and alongside a dozen other sous-chefs to de-bone chickens (a major ewww! moment for Jody), grate cheese, slice onions, dice olives and garlic, and transform sugar into a thick caramel sauce. By the time we were done, we were ready to enjoy a feast: creamy French onion soup made with chicken stock and crusty croutons; thinly pounded chicken "packets" stuffed with sharp Parmesian-Romano cheese, fresh herbs, olives, garlic and mushrooms; and locally made ice cream covered in a shell of thick caramel sauce and a sprinkling of sea salt. Très bon.
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Coming Out on TopOne of the best attractions in Paris is missed by most visitors - the view from the gargoyle level at Notre Dame. From this vantage point, the gargoyles come to life. Most of them are not monsters, but are ancient wizards, baby elephants, and storks ready to swoop down delivering un petit bébé. These treasures were hewn by expert craftsmen hundreds of years ago, but only the few willing to make the climb can enjoy them. With your head among the clouds and among the gargoyles, the city of Paris stretches as far as the eye can see.
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