Arriving in Paris, France

First day in Paris .....

Reading on the train,  heading to Paris!

View from the train, so beautiful!

Looking crazy on a travel day.

We arrive off Eurostar from London and everything is in a foreign language and we definitely feel "foreign".   { Side note:  The Eurostar is a super cool and fast and comfortable train.  Way nicer than plane rides.  I wish we had more trains like such in the U.S. } I had been studying French for awhile so was able to maneuver around a decent bit, but still pretty intense and crazy.  And thing is, I really did not want to speak English.  I was there to learn and practice more French!  And you should've heard Steven's French, oh so silly and cute.

We arrive at Gare du Nord, which is a huge transportation center with trains, the metro, Eurostar, taxis outside, etc, etc.  Intense.  We try to find out how to get on the metro, look at maps, walk around ... we start to bicker a bit, it was hilarious how lost we were but still trying to keep it together.  I say lets just take a taxi, but he keeps insisting we will figure it out, then finally (and still bickering) I decide that a taxi it is. I'm ready to get on with it.  We wait in a long line, grab a taxi.  He speaks no English, I speak a little French.  10 Euros and less than 20 minutes later, we arrive at Hotel Monterosa!

Our super cool pad. 

Small, but appointed.

And it had a bathroom!

And ...  ta-da, we have these cool windows!

Its a cute, small hotel with lots of old charm and a modern flair.  I just loved it.  Staff was super nice and helpful ... except there was one cranky one in the bunch.  But the one bad apple didn't bother us.  We laughed when we saw the size of the elevator!  We thought the one in London was small, but Paris totally had it beat.  It was so small that only one of us could go up with our small amount of luggage.  They had a large, beautiful staircase though that we used most of the time for extra exercise, you know, besides the miles and miles we walked each day!

Tight hallways, but oh so charming. 

Stairs!

And more stairs!

So cool in Hotel Monterosa

A little travel advice, if you'd like.  Hotel Monterosa is a 3 star hotel (different rating system than in the U.S.) in the 9th Arrondissement of Paris, which is near Montemartre and Opera.  I loved this location.  It's good to find out more about all the Arrondissements of Paris (districts) and see which one is close to where you want to be in town and the style of neighborhood you like.  From this location, we were out of the real touristy areas but still could walk to a good bit and easy transportation (including walking!) is everywhere.

Also, I researched a lot through Trip Advisor and Booking.com.  I found it really helpful to cross reference these two sites with a few others to get a solid feel about what a place is like and if it'd fit our needs and budget.  It really payed off because we loved ALL of our hotels and B&Bs.


Okay, back to our trip ...

I am so super ecstatic at this point, everything is wonderful, everything is grand.  Paris was by far my most treasured destination of all our stops.  I was head over heels IN LOVE instantly.

Happy as can be ...

... can you tell?

We check in and go out!  First, we walk to a bar and all locals there.  I loved the neighborhood we were in because it did not seem touristy at all.  Pretty low key, cool, authentic.  We had two beers each and we hang outside, listening to all the beautiful French and Frenchies acting crazy.  And, I order everything in French.  Next, we need to go to the stores.

We arrived in the late afternoon, so we want to take it easy the first day and get ourself acquainted with everything.  There are two little markets we visit, Le Marche and we forgot the name of the other one!  Shopping in France is too funny.  Markets our tiny and to the point here, which we loved.  BUT, our French is sketchy so figuring out what was what was hilarious.  Us and the two employees trying to help us out were all cracking up at our language barriers.  But we made it through and conquered shopping!  Then we pick up tall boy beers at another little market.  Everything is kind of separated here in little markets (le marche), which is a welcomed change up from the huge box stores we are accustomed to.  And you walk to everything and buy what you can carry.  Simple and brilliant.  I want to move here for this reason too.

We're off to the hotel to order room service, relax, and plan Paris!  So so nice to be here!