our honeymoon!


A week in Paris with my favourite person on the planet...how can I properly blog this experience in a way that will make us remember all of the adventures we had? This has been my internal struggle since we landed in France and took our first breath of Parisian air.

But lucky for me, I have this amazing ability to share my experience, as if through my own eyes.

Is it me, or is the camera the single best invention ever? :) But as much as I love my camera...she's a bit of a BEAST in terms of heaviness. There were a few days I didn't bring it out at all, so I was really happy to have instagram to pick up the photographic slack. 

The act of going through my photos today was an experience all of its own...all the while reliving our wonderful honeymoon. I guess the simplest way to recount our trip would be to take it one day at a time.

So here we go...

DAY ONE!!

When we got into Paris, we were exhausted. We had a little power nap in the lobby of our hotel while we waited for the room to be ready. Can't say I've ever napped in a more beautiful place though... 


The Westminster Hotel was stunning, and our room was lovely and quaint :)


We quickly realized that you can't just type in "restaurants" when you're staying in downtown Paris lol... With hungry bellies, we headed for the nearest cafe. 


Our first Parisian meal! Baguettes, americanos, and quiche :)


After our tummies were satisfied, we ventured down the street with no destination. I included the following two pictures because the first one represents the very first photo of the trip, and the second captures the first time either of us spotted the Eiffel Tower. 

You'll have to look closely, but it's there (on the right)! 




We did a quick walk of the Champs that night and then went off in search of dinner. Which, little did we know...would prove to be an adventure. 

You see, we found this little Irish pub called Kitty McGees. We went in, stood around by the bar (where 2 old men were doing shots, and 1 bartender was ignoring us), and decided "...maybe it's a seat-yourself type place..."

So we sit down at a table, take off our coats, stare blankly into each other's eyes for approximately 6 minutes while the restaurant staff ignore us, and decide to leave. Coats on, we walk out. For some reason we found this to be the funniest thing ever, and wondered if there were rules about how to sit down at a restaurant for dinner that no one told us about. 

We find another restaurant down the street and are served without any complications. And finally, we eat :)


The next morning we scoped out the locks on one of the bridges near our hotel (not the actual Pont des Arts), and found a lovely cafe for breakfast. 




After our amazing meal (we LOVED this place and ended up going there again another day), we started the trek to the Tower of Montparnasse, a 59 storey building with a sweet panoramic view of the whole city. 

This was our first real chance to walk the streets of Paris in a less-touristy area. 


The Tower of Montparnasse was AMAZING, and totally worth the trip. Because of the weather, (it was a little chilly) we were the only two people up on the roof of the 59th floor. We danced around and yelled "BONJOUR PARIIIIIIS!" at the top of our lungs. 

The only problem was...Beans didn't fit in the viewing area lol. 



From Montparnasse, we walked in search of the Eiffel Tower. Although we came close the night before, we hadn't really seen it at that point.


Iced green tea tastes pretty good here :)




We walked underneath the Eiffel Tower during the day, but also wanted to see it all lit up, so we grabbed dinner and waited for it to get dark. 

I took this photo and it's one of my favourites from my trip. I framed a 16x20 version of it and gave it to my father for Christmas :)





We walked the Champs again on our way home, and stopped into Swarovski where Beans bought me a GORGEOUS crystal ring as a souvenir. Followed by sushi for dinner :)


The next morning, we dressed up all cute and fancy because we had tickets for Moulin Rouge that night and knew we probably wouldn't be back to the hotel before the show. We walked up the streets of Montmartre on our way to Sacre Coeur :)






Beans spotted a man who apparently evens out my sheer hatred for birds. Blechhh, I can barely look at this photo. 






This is the part where Laura and Beans find a restaurant that sells bottles of wine for 13 euros. We make our way through about 4 bottles. We refer to this as our "drunk lunch" and remember it fondly. 


After that, things get fun in the streets of Montmartre. 



And we decide this is a perfect time to visit a cemetery. Did I mention we stole a chunk of someone's grave and used it as chalk for a photo later? I didn't? Well I'll get there. 




Here we go! The chalk. 



We sober up to make it to Moulin Rouge for the dinner and show :) It was such a great night! The show was so amazing. 


The staff was INSANELY strict about not taking photos, so I had to sneak these 3...

I legit saw someone from the staff DELETE a photo off someone's iPhone. Intense. 



The next couple days were our museum days. We bought the 4-day museum pass and made a plan of which ones to visit when. We stuck to it pretty well actually, and ended up seeing a lot more stuff than if we hadn't bought the pass. 

ANDDD, we got to skip all the lines and go right into each museum without waiting. Amazingness. Highly recommend. 

We started with the Museum of Modern Art (Pompidou), where we put on our artsy faces and stared at canvasses of blue squares and random letters and numbers. 

Seriously. 




After that, we found a shop too trendy to actually sell anything, broke the record for fastest-pizza-ever-eaten, and casually spotted the blue van from the Mr. Bean movies. 


Beans pretends to be interested in the books on the Seine. 


And we made our way to Notre Dame, where we climbed the 400 steps up the towers to see some crazy gargoyles, and another lovely view of the city. This is one of those things we wouldn't have done if we didn't have the museum pass.


From there, we went to the Pantheon to see some pretty cool stuff including Voltaire's grave. Creeeeeepy. 


Stopped for dinner at an Irish pub with a fully Asian waitstaff and (I kid you not) a barking dog chillin' at the bar. Macarons from a fancy shop for dessert :)


The next day was Louvre Day!!! We were excited for this part :)


We followed the advice of the guide book and got there at about 7:45am, waited for the doors to open at 8:00am, and BOOKED IT right for the Mona Lisa room. 

It's not like we were crazy excited for it, it's just that we knew we had to go see it in order to complete the Paris experience, and decided it would be better if there weren't TONS of people around. 


Even by the time we were done looking and taking pics, there were only about 10 people in the room with us. Pretty cool, and worth the brisk walk :)


Two of our fave things we saw that day:


And my personal favourite...Napoleon's digs, which were lavish and amazing and made me very jealous that I didn't live there. 


After a long nap back at the room, we made our way to the Opera House, which was right down the street from our hotel :)

Note: we are classy. 


We saw "La Cenerentola," an Italian opera that's very much like Cinderella. The music was obviously in Italian, but there were French subtitles at the top of the curtain, and that made it a lot easier to understand. 


We woke up on our last day with only a couple things left on our "Paris To Do" list. First, we hit the Pont des Arts to put on our love-lock (a wedding gift from Beans). 



Together, we picked the perfect spot for the bridge, took lots of photos, kissed each other, and threw the keys into the river. 





Next stop: AQUARIUM!!!


#43: visit an aquarium



Beans and I each made a friend. 




Side note: did I mention how close people park to each other in Paris? I know that's totally random but it has to be said.


We spent our last night strolling down the Champs again, this time stopping for treats. Churros for Beans, and a stick of cotton candy the size of my head for me :)




A nice couple took our photo after I took one of them :)



And that, my friends...concludes our trip :) We packed up that night and flew home the next morning. If there's one thing I know, it's that I'll always remember this view...


It was a gift that we will never be able to say a proper thanks for. But we should probably try anyway...

Mom and Dad, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for this amazing opportunity, and MORE than generous wedding gift. Not only did we have an unbelievable time, but we have memories to cherish for a lifetime. Thank you :) 
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