Thoughts on Paris

Well, I'm back from Paris and I had a wonderful time! Here are some thoughts and stories from my trip.

1. Traveling solo has its advantages. However, I did not enjoy having to eat dinner by myself and there was an incident one day when I wished I wasn't by myself.

2. As mentioned above, the incident happened in Monmarte, near the Sacre Coeur church. If you are alone and a woman, be aware if you go there during the day and I would NOT go there at night if you are traveling alone. There was a large group of African men trying to sell bracelets to tourists, one tried to put one on me and I told him no. He proceeded to grab me roughly by my arm and I told him not to touch me, he then grabbed my arm again and I pushed his hand off of me. He proceeded to shout all sorts of insults at me. Definitely the worst part of my trip.

3. I've never been hit on so much in my life. Living in Italy, although Italian men have a reputation, I am very, very rarely hit on here. In Paris it literally happened every day, all throughout the day. Some guys were skeezy, some had crazy approaches and some of the old men just made me laugh. One older gentlemen who was probably in his 70's and missing teeth lamented the fact he met me on my last day there. Which really made me laugh, as if he had a chance if he'd met me several days before?

4. In the same vein as the above paragraph, I had a weird Paris movie-esque moment my last day there. I had been taking pictures at Luxembourg Gardens and was walking towards the Metro. A guy around my age ran up behind me and proceeded to tell me he'd seen me taking pictures while walking towards a meeting and wouldn't have forgiven himself if he didn't chase me down and introduce himself. I, of course, told him I was married, but we chatted for a bit and turns out he's "supposedly" a physicist, who happens to be young and cute. If I'd known better I would have gotten his email so I could have hooked up some of you single gals out there.

5. Disneyland Paris was a great break from all the sightseeing and museums in Paris. I thoroughly enjoyed my day there. An extra bonus? There was hardly a wait time for most of the rides. Nothing like the wait times I've seen during the summer at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

6. I much preferred the Orsay Museum to the Louvre. Even though I went to the Louvre on the day it stayed open late and it wasn't as crowded, they still had run out of audioguides, which in a musueum the size of the Louvre is really essential. I was NOT a happy camper.

7. The macarons at Laduree were to die for. Seriously...they were amazing. I had a box of 8 in all different flavors. Salted caramel was by far my favorite, but they all tasted so good. I ate all 8 of them in one day....don't judge me.

I'll have more thoughts and pictures soon, but I have 1500 pics to go through, so it's going to take me awhile!