Bonjour Paris, Take Deux

We started this morning still a bit grumpy from our previous day’s shenanigans.  Adding to our poor mood was the state of our accommodations.  The morning allowed us a better look at our home for the next 24 days and left us thoroughly unimpressed.  It felt dirty and there were items we expected which were not available.  There was no Wi-Fi, the clothes washer was broken (with clothes still in it), the three bathroom towels were all dirty (one was soaking wet), and the blankets on the bed smelled of stale cigarette smoke.  We were not happy.

We decided to get out of the flat, which we hoped would help to improve our mood, and experience Paris.  Hopefully upon our return we would no longer have the biases formed from our rocky introduction and be able to start again with the place.

We started at the boulangerie down the street, grabbing a pain aux raisins and a croissant for our breakfast.  Then we stopped at a café for a café crème and a café noir for our walk to the Seine.  We arrived at Place de la Concorde and saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time, which was actually quite underwhelming.  But, walking along the Champs-Elysees we experienced our first Christmas market and vins chauds which thoroughly improved our moods.  We reached the Arc de Triomphe and headed left towards the Eiffel Tower.  Reaching the Trocadéro first, we were greeted by the best view available of the Eiffel Tower and one which really caused us to pause.  Suddenly, we were very impressed by the tower.  The Trocadéro also had a Christmas market where we grabbed another couple of vins chauds before heading over to introduce ourselves to the tower.

We wandered underneath the Eiffel Tower for a bit, opting against venturing upwards, and then walked along the Seine to the Pont d’Orsay where we broke left, back towards our flat.  We grabbed some delicious lunch at a neighbourhood boulangerie, stopped at a grocery store for some very good €1.95 red wine, and headed back home to rest.

We’ve decided that we like our flat.  It’s in a great neighbourhood and internet is available, though not Wi-Fi.  We have to clean it a bit and wash the towels before we feel too comfortable but we’ll tackle that tomorrow.  On the whole our flat in the 17e is fine and will definitely work for us over these next few weeks. 

After taking a break for a bit we headed back out for dinner.  We wanted to visit the Christmas market in Montmartre and then check out the Sacre Coeur Basilica.  The Montmartre Christmas market was smaller than we expected but we did grab some vins chauds, a jambon fromage crepe, and churros before heading up the bluff to Sacre Coeur which was stunning.  We’ll definitely make that trek again in the daylight for the full stained glass effect and when there is better visibility so we can see the amazing view of Paris.

We had several successful transactions today and our French has already improved.  We’re happier than we were when we awoke this morning and no longer convinced that Paris hates us.  And, although we are bewildered as to why Paris is considered so romantic, we’re feeling the romance and happy to be here.  Bonjour Paris!