So I have this little black book that I keep that holds all my greatest wishes, dreams and goals in. One of the things written down was to visit Paris. I love it when I am able to cross things out in the book! Besides Paris, I have always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower. So when I woke up on Tuesday, November 25th I was excited. I was humming all the way to the Amsterdam Central Train Station "I'm going on a journey, a journey, a journey. I am going on a journey, to see what I can see. Hurrah!" Our train to Paris left at 8:26AM on platform 13. We arrived at the train station a bit early so we had time to grab breakfast, buy some magazines and look at the strange ways they sell food. See picture. 
We had bought our train tickets online with Thalys, so it was pretty easy just to show up and hop on board. I must say riding the train to Paris was one of my favorite things about the trip. I loved taking the speed train. Not only did we get comfy seats but great window seats. I loved seeing the country side. Throw in some snacky poos and ou couldn't help but have a great time. 
The train ride took about 4 hours. On the way we stopped in Brussels and there were jokes about the hub being the muscles from Brussles. Ha Ha. You want to always make sure you buy a train ticket because they have people come around and check your tickets. IF you don't have a ticket they throw you off while its moving! We arrived in Gare de l'Est train station a little after noon. We hoped off the train only to hop on the metro. The first thing I noticed was that everything was in French. Time to remember what I learned in my French Class in my senior year in high school! 
We had researched previously and knew we had to take the number 5 to Place d'Italie to get to our hotel La Manufacture. The metro was full of people. The whole time I was thinking what it would be like if Los Angeles had a real true Metro. Good thing I voted for it in this past election. Too bad it won't be read until 2030. We selected our hotel from a suggestion from a friend. He hadn't stayed there but said he was interested in it. The hotel wasn't directly in the heart of Paris but rather on the outskirts. That was ok with us. This trip wasn't about staying in the George V. It was close to a Metro station and appeared nice so we jumped on it and booked 3 nights online. We arrived at the hotel and the lady at the desk greeted me and asked if I needed a room. 
I stupidly said "Si" and then quickly changed to "Qui." Not sure why Spanish popped out. The lady was helpful and we were able to purchase a boat tour and our caberet tickets through her which saved us from standing in line. We dropped our stuff off in the room, refreshened a bit and left to see the beautiful city. I instantly knew I loved Paris. Everywhere you looked was visual eye candy. From the old monuments, elaborate buildings and the amazing store windows, the whole city was alive with life. Minutes after arriving on the train I knew that this was going to be one of my favorite cities to visit. First and foremost on my list of things to see was The Eiffel Tower. 
Who can watch all those Chevy Chase movies and not go to the Eiffel Tower? You better believe there were a ton of movie references going on until we arrived. From our hotel we took the #6 to Trocadero. We had fun trying to buy a pack of 10 Metro tickets. Our stupid American credit card was not working again so it made it impossible to buy tickets from the machine. This gave me the chance to practice my French with a lady at the information center. She didn't want to help me at first but then she finally let me give her my credit card to buy the tickets. Just don't give up people if at first you don't succeed. We stepped out of Trocadero and didn't know where to go so we followed the hub's suggestion and followed the people. Sure enough we ran into the place we were supposed to go. It looked like it was going to rain so my first look at the big metal beauty had clouds overshadowing it. But kid you not, it was still beautiful. We raced past kids who were desperately trying to sell trinkets. After saying no a million times we made it to the front of the tower. We walked around and looked. I couldn't get over how beautiful steel could be. 
We decided not to go up in the tower. It was really windy and cold but that is not why I didn't go up. I just got the gut feeling that I shouldn't go up and that I should leave that experience for my next visit. While we didn't go up we had a great time walking around.
I would have loved to have dinner at the Jules Verne Restaurant but there was a 2 month waiting list! I have eaten at the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower Restaurant so for now I would just have to be satisfied with that. The sky cleared up for us so by the end of our visit it was looking nice outside again. After deciding to hit the Arc de Triomphe next we ran into a crepe stand and had the best crepe of my life. 
Brian and I had so much fun eating it and getting chocolate everywhere and watching people walk buy. It was a great people watching experience. Visiting the Eiffel Tower will be something I will always remember.
We had bought our train tickets online with Thalys, so it was pretty easy just to show up and hop on board. I must say riding the train to Paris was one of my favorite things about the trip. I loved taking the speed train. Not only did we get comfy seats but great window seats. I loved seeing the country side. Throw in some snacky poos and ou couldn't help but have a great time. 
The train ride took about 4 hours. On the way we stopped in Brussels and there were jokes about the hub being the muscles from Brussles. Ha Ha. You want to always make sure you buy a train ticket because they have people come around and check your tickets. IF you don't have a ticket they throw you off while its moving! We arrived in Gare de l'Est train station a little after noon. We hoped off the train only to hop on the metro. The first thing I noticed was that everything was in French. Time to remember what I learned in my French Class in my senior year in high school! 
We had researched previously and knew we had to take the number 5 to Place d'Italie to get to our hotel La Manufacture. The metro was full of people. The whole time I was thinking what it would be like if Los Angeles had a real true Metro. Good thing I voted for it in this past election. Too bad it won't be read until 2030. We selected our hotel from a suggestion from a friend. He hadn't stayed there but said he was interested in it. The hotel wasn't directly in the heart of Paris but rather on the outskirts. That was ok with us. This trip wasn't about staying in the George V. It was close to a Metro station and appeared nice so we jumped on it and booked 3 nights online. We arrived at the hotel and the lady at the desk greeted me and asked if I needed a room. 
I stupidly said "Si" and then quickly changed to "Qui." Not sure why Spanish popped out. The lady was helpful and we were able to purchase a boat tour and our caberet tickets through her which saved us from standing in line. We dropped our stuff off in the room, refreshened a bit and left to see the beautiful city. I instantly knew I loved Paris. Everywhere you looked was visual eye candy. From the old monuments, elaborate buildings and the amazing store windows, the whole city was alive with life. Minutes after arriving on the train I knew that this was going to be one of my favorite cities to visit. First and foremost on my list of things to see was The Eiffel Tower. 
Who can watch all those Chevy Chase movies and not go to the Eiffel Tower? You better believe there were a ton of movie references going on until we arrived. From our hotel we took the #6 to Trocadero. We had fun trying to buy a pack of 10 Metro tickets. Our stupid American credit card was not working again so it made it impossible to buy tickets from the machine. This gave me the chance to practice my French with a lady at the information center. She didn't want to help me at first but then she finally let me give her my credit card to buy the tickets. Just don't give up people if at first you don't succeed. We stepped out of Trocadero and didn't know where to go so we followed the hub's suggestion and followed the people. Sure enough we ran into the place we were supposed to go. It looked like it was going to rain so my first look at the big metal beauty had clouds overshadowing it. But kid you not, it was still beautiful. We raced past kids who were desperately trying to sell trinkets. After saying no a million times we made it to the front of the tower. We walked around and looked. I couldn't get over how beautiful steel could be. 
We decided not to go up in the tower. It was really windy and cold but that is not why I didn't go up. I just got the gut feeling that I shouldn't go up and that I should leave that experience for my next visit. While we didn't go up we had a great time walking around.
I would have loved to have dinner at the Jules Verne Restaurant but there was a 2 month waiting list! I have eaten at the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower Restaurant so for now I would just have to be satisfied with that. The sky cleared up for us so by the end of our visit it was looking nice outside again. After deciding to hit the Arc de Triomphe next we ran into a crepe stand and had the best crepe of my life. 
Brian and I had so much fun eating it and getting chocolate everywhere and watching people walk buy. It was a great people watching experience. Visiting the Eiffel Tower will be something I will always remember.
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