We returned from Europe only a few days ago and we have been working at breakneck pace to try to get back into the normal schedule of everyday life.  After six loads of laundry, some cleaning, picking the cats up, and going back to work immediately upon returning, we’re finally ready to reflect upon our trip.  We were gone for about twelve days, two of them lost to flying, four days in Paris, five days in the Czech Republic, and a day and a half spent in transit around Europe.  To make these posts more palatable to the reader, I’ll break them up by country.

We left Nashville in the afternoon on Friday and arrived early Saturday morning.  After several wasted hours waiting for our shuttle, we eventually arrived at our hotel, checked in, and headed out for a day of sight-seeing.  In the first day, we saw a ton of very important sights: we went to Ile de la Cite to see Sainte Chapelle (home to some of the best stained glass displays in the world), the Palais de Justice, the Conciergerie (once a palace, then home to prisoners like Marie Antoinette before being executed), the Archaeological Crypt (the site of old Roman ruins from Lutetia underneath the city), and my personal favorite, Notre Dame.  We had our first lunch at a cafe near Notre Dame and it tasted fantastic, though we were all starving and hunger, after all, is the best seasoning.  In the afternoon, we went to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and wandered the Champs Elysees down to Place de la Concorde.  It was a very full day, but it did keep us from going to sleep (that and a lot of coffee) and adjusted us to Parisian time quickly.

The next day was filled primarily with a trip to Versailles.  It was so crowded, there was a constant sea of people all around us.  We wandered through the chateau and rented a golf cart to explore the gardens fully.  Unfortunately our camera ran out of batteries when we made it to the gardens so we have almost no pictures from that.  We also went to the gardens of the Tuileries before dinner at the Gare de Lyon train station at their famous restaurant, Le Train Bleu. It was a very traditional French meal, complete with cheese course, amazing desserts, and very rich (delicious) sauces; dinner lasted a very long time – it was about three hours from beginning to end.

Day three was a museum day. We went to the Louvre in the morning, practically running through it to see the most important pieces (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Winged Victory of Samothrace) and glancing past the important Italian Renaissance, Egyptian, Etruscan, Iranian, and Medieval art.  One fun surprise happened when Andy and I were staring at the Mona Lisa and he asked me why it was such an important painting, why everyone was gathering around it.  I didn’t really know the answer, but suddenly, an American woman turned to us and asked if we really wanted to know the answer.  Of course we said yes, so she explained that she was an art history professor and she told us the significance of Da Vinci’s work and La Gioconda (the Mona Lisa).  It was a really unique and fantastic experience.  In the afternoon we took a guided tour on medieval Paris, culminating in a stop at the Cluny Museum for medieval art.  Our guide, a PhD in medieval studies, explained the significance of the museum’s most important tapestries, the Lady and the Unicorn series, as well as explaining medieval life and society.  It was very interesting and not something I knew a significant amount about.  In the evening, Andy and I went to the Eiffel Tower (though we didn’t go up it) and took a river cruise on the Seine.  This was the high point of the trip for both of us.  The food was delicious (foie gras, veal, filet mignon, ratatouille, chocolate mousse, champagne, and more), the sights were wonderful (seeing all the sights along the Seine by twilight), and it was incredibly romantic with their live band.  I had a wonderful conversation with our waiter (in French) after dinner, asking about the EU, Turkey, multi-lingualism, Obama and American politics, and Parisian real estate (an apartment on Ile Saint Louis costs approximately 14,000 euro per square meter – the most expensive place in Paris).  As Andy and I were walking across the Champ de Mars back to our metro stop, the heavens opened up and a violent thunderstorm began.  We raced across the park, the sky lit up with lightning, the cobblestone streets teeming with water, and us laughing hysterically.  My poor Stuart Weitzman ballet flats did not fare too well after the storm, but it was totally worth it.

Day four was our last full day in Paris.  Andy and I began our morning at our favorite cafe of the trip in Place Saint Augustin, then went to the Opera Garnier and the main department store, Galeries Lafayette.  The store, if you haven’t seen it, is housed in an impressive building, complete with stained glass dome.  Andy started feeling a little sick, so I took him home before going out to the Musee d’Orsay by myself.  In the evening, Andy felt better, so we went to Notre Dame to see it by moonlight and strolled Ile Saint Louis for crepes and ice cream.

By the end of the night, our time in Paris had come to a close.  We know we’ll go back to Paris (as soon as we have the time and money), but it was a great introduction to the city for Andy, who had never been.  I’ve been a Francophile for as long as I can remember (second grade, I think) and it was so gratifying for me to know that Andy enjoyed himself as much as I did.  I know if he had his way, there would have been fewer museums and more crepes and more ice cream, but I think we did well with the limited time we had.  Up next in the series: traveling to the Czech Republic.