Why Do I Have to Go to Paris? (Part 1)

Dear Luke and Leia,

So I asked: Why do I have to go to Paris? I don’t speak the language. I don’t really like France. The only good thing about France is the wine. So I ask a second time, why do I have to go to Paris? “Because I want to go,” was Nana’s response.

Well, she speaks the language and loves France and I guess it would be cool to see the Eiffel tower and I have to admit the food is great. So I know why I have to go to Paris: Because I love my wife and want to make her happy. And she can give me the tour. (P.S.: She also gets to plan it so that is less work for me. Haha.)

Getting acquainted with Paris

First up was to get myself acquainted with Paris with a walk around the city. This would prove all my reasons why I didn’t want to be there. However, I reserved the right to change my mind as I felt I might need more information.

The people we saw were good … but strange in some ways

It’s well known that the people of France are snobs, especially those in Paris. That rumor didn’t take long to dispel since every Parisian I came in contact with was warm, friendly and eager to help. This just didn’t look like a good way to support my arguments to stay away from Paris.

I just want to see who’s behind that camera.

Such kindness of the French pouring three glasses of wine. That’s a good start!

Aboard a river cruise vessel with Batgirl in Paris, France.

Nice to know the superheroes are out protecting the French. Get’em, Batgirl!

Little girl in line for the Eiffel Tower.

She followed us up the Eiffel Tower with 453 questions.

It seemed to me that the visitors were a little quirky, not the locals. The tourists had a strange fascination with various aspects of Paris and acted upon those wacky senses to amuse themselves like children with a favorite toy.

Posing for a picture with the Eiffel tower.

Hey take a picture of my underarm please… I need a new profile picture.

I’m just trying to get a handle on this whole Paris thing.

I might be wrong, but I don’t think she is saying “talk to the hand.”

Remember that bread comes out the other end quite differently.

Feeding the pigeons in Paris, France is loads of fun.

You can do it. We can help. Lowe’s in Paris?

Okay, everyone line up and 1… 2… 3… Jump!

The Louvre Museum

So I decided to play along with Nana’s plan, in order to gather more facts about Paris to use against her later. Next up on the schedule was a museum that an uneducated French person totally spelled wrong, the “Loove.” Why do they put a bunch of unnecessary letters in this language anyway? Maybe they have the market cornered on ink and thus throw letters around to make you buy more of it.

Okay, French is another subject, but the Louvre is fantastic, full of masterpieces. Just the building itself is rather impressive. Did you know it was once a royal palace? the only thing that I really wanted to see there was the Mona Lisa. I saw it and was totally taken aback, such a big buildup from all my years of hearing about it, just to see a postage stamp-sized painting? The crowds pushed forward towards it because it was small, but at least I can check it off my bucket list.

Fantastic details inside the Louvre, Paris.

The Eiffel Tower

Okay, I had to admit that the Eiffel Tower did strike my fancy. I have always wanted to go to the top and see the view. But as storms moved into Paris the evening before our planned trip, my only joy of Paris was in jeopardy. Maybe God would strike the tower and remove my only reason to visit Paris. Was not to be, but those storms did yield some great photo opportunities.

Lightning along the Seine River in Paris, France.

Darn, God missed … even with a double shot.

The next day was beautiful and thankfully, God spared the Eiffel tower so we headed off for our visit. The ticket lines were long, but we (I should say Nana) were smart and bought the tickets ahead of time, which allowed us to skip the line. I loved the structure of the tower itself as the amazing work of engineering displayed Eiffel’s brilliance. Once on top, I was not disappointed; the view completely erased my disappointment from the postage-stamp sized Mona Lisa yesterday. Okay, so I was not going to admit it to Nana, but Paris was breathtaking.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

Trust me… Buy the skip-the-line ticket in advance.

Paris, France from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower.

View up the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.

I’m running out of space on this postcard, guys, so I’ll write more later.

To Be Continued…

♥

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P.S. – If you have Pinterest you can click the top left of any photos in our story to add them to your Pinterest boards. We would actually like that a whole lot.