During our [intlink id=”673″ type=”post”]visit to Germany[/intlink] last February, Megan and I decided to take a quick overnight trip to Paris, France. While we didn’t really want to leave Germany for two days, we both thought it was a good idea since Megan has never been to Paris and it really wasn’t that far away.

Paris here we come!

So Wednesday morning we woke up bright dark and early ((3:30am)) to catch our train in Frankfurt after partying for the last four days. That was a tough morning, let me tell you… It took us about an hour to get to the train station where our train – a Deutsche Bahn ICE 3MF – was waiting for us. This thing was beautiful and super comfortable. While reaching speeds of approximately 330km/h (approximately 205 mph) we barely felt like we were moving. Plus the gentle rocking motion was just enough to help you fall asleep. A few hours later we were in Paris – it was such a pleasant trip. Of course while in Germany many people told us that we could have saved a lot of money and just flew, but the tickets were already purchased and, well, we got to experience great European rail travel!

We arrived in Paris at approximately 10am and since our hotel room was clear on the other side of town we decided to start touring. Knowing our stay wasn’t that long, there were a few sights we knew we wanted to see:

• Moulin Rouge
• Pigalle
• Notre Dame
• Deportation Memorial
• Sainte Chapelle
• Seine River
• Eiffel Tower
• Arc De Triomphe
• Champs Elysees
• Louvre

We really wanted to visit Sainte Chapelle and the Louvre, although due to either long lines or just running out of time we decided to wait until our next visit for those two. Most of the places we wanted to visit where not near each other, so we either used the Metro or walked. The Metro was a great way to get clear to the other side of the city quick, although we tried to walk as much as possible so we could take in the sights!

And walk we did. We walked so much that somehow little pieces of glass popped through the bottom of my shoes and constantly poked the bottom of my feet. This, in addition to several huge blisters, caused my feet to hate Paris. By the end of our day both of our legs hurt from all the walking and my feet felt like they wanted to fall off.

Of course in typically Josh and Megan fashion we couldn’t figure out what we wanted to eat for dinner. We were starving, but everything we came across was either crepes (which we had earlier) or something very French that we didn’t want to try ((I, for example, have no desire to taste rabbit)). We decided to try our Hotel’s room service to find out they close at 10pm. It was 10:05. This led to us walking the streets of Paris after 10pm trying to find somewhere, something to eat. We found nothing, nothing at all. Everything was closed. Luckily Megan noticed that our Hotel was right next to a Shell ((Really could have used Mom J’s Shell gift card!!!)) gas station – so that’s what we had. We raided Shell, grabbing everything from Pasta Salad ((just like the Pasta salad I had during our layover en-route to Morocco)), chips, ice cream and soda. Of course we did want to buy a few beers although it seems that you can’t purchase beer or liquor in Paris after, guess what time, 10pm. Stupid Paris. 😛

After our quick dinner we both passed out from exhaustion. About six hours later we both woke up ready to tackle the day! First stop, the Eiffel Tower.

We did the whole Eiffel Tower thing and even walked down the East ((Est)) leg instead of taking the elevator. We then decided to try and find my Parent’s bench. Yes, their bench. They said it was “go to the right of the tower, around the leg, blah blah blah and you’ll see our bench”.  Right, there are 9,000 benches in the park. I think this is a little joke they played on us! Well, we have our own bench now too – go find it! 🙂

Well, that’s our trip to Paris in a nutshell. We spent the remaining few hours grabbing something for lunch and then sharing a few beers in the train station people watching while waiting for our train. It was a very quick and fast-paced trip to Paris, but very enjoyable. We might not be back to Paris for many years, but at least we’ve been there together once!