Day 1 - Friday
Since we've been to this city so many times before, we didn't really come with a lot of plans of where we'd go or what we'd see... we just expected that we would eat great food, drink great wine, see great art, and take it easy. We'd never been here during the Christmas season, or even winter, so we were looking forward to experiencing Paris differently this time. We also stayed near the Arc de Triomphe to get a different feel. We wanted dressed windows, winter coats, and Christmas markets...
What we didn't expect was the protests right outside of our hotel!
Day 2 - Saturday
Apparently there were planned protests every Saturday. Who knew!?! I woke up the following morning to get some tea and a bottle of water, so I left to run to Starbucks and there was something in the air that wasn't quite right. When I got back, mayhem broke outside our door. Here is Jason pointing to our hotel on the TV. You can see the throngs of protestors, the police, the tear gas, it was nuts and right below our window!
With all of this going on, we decided to spend our day in museums, away from the protests and chaos.
But we could see that it was still crazy outside from the windows.
We were to have dinner is this lovely little restaurant, but we weren't able to go home and freshen up because the roads were closed, the metro was closed, it was unbelievable. So we went to a cafe and had some wine and a beer and headed to Rue Saint-Georges our amazing dinner at Le Bon Georges.
Walking home from dinner, though, we saw all of the destruction from the protests. Destroyed ATMS, burned cars, downed streetlamps, graffiti, it was terrible!
Day 3 - Sunday
We woke the next morning to a city that looked sparkling and new, overnight the crews came out and towed the cars, power washed the walls and streets, and gave us a beautiful city to wander. We strolled the flea markets of Les Halles, walked the streets of the bustling city like locals.
And then headed to the same restaurant in Montmartre we had been to before and loved, Le Potager du Père Thierry. We enjoyed the cafes into the night and loved another trip to Paris, one very different from any trip we've taken there before!
Au revoir, Paris!
Since we've been to this city so many times before, we didn't really come with a lot of plans of where we'd go or what we'd see... we just expected that we would eat great food, drink great wine, see great art, and take it easy. We'd never been here during the Christmas season, or even winter, so we were looking forward to experiencing Paris differently this time. We also stayed near the Arc de Triomphe to get a different feel. We wanted dressed windows, winter coats, and Christmas markets...
What we didn't expect was the protests right outside of our hotel!
Day 2 - Saturday
Apparently there were planned protests every Saturday. Who knew!?! I woke up the following morning to get some tea and a bottle of water, so I left to run to Starbucks and there was something in the air that wasn't quite right. When I got back, mayhem broke outside our door. Here is Jason pointing to our hotel on the TV. You can see the throngs of protestors, the police, the tear gas, it was nuts and right below our window!
With all of this going on, we decided to spend our day in museums, away from the protests and chaos.
In between museums, we waited in line to have the most glorious hot chocolate and galettes.
Then on our way to more sightseeing
But we could see that it was still crazy outside from the windows.
We were to have dinner is this lovely little restaurant, but we weren't able to go home and freshen up because the roads were closed, the metro was closed, it was unbelievable. So we went to a cafe and had some wine and a beer and headed to Rue Saint-Georges our amazing dinner at Le Bon Georges.
Walking home from dinner, though, we saw all of the destruction from the protests. Destroyed ATMS, burned cars, downed streetlamps, graffiti, it was terrible!
Day 3 - Sunday
We woke the next morning to a city that looked sparkling and new, overnight the crews came out and towed the cars, power washed the walls and streets, and gave us a beautiful city to wander. We strolled the flea markets of Les Halles, walked the streets of the bustling city like locals.
And then headed to the same restaurant in Montmartre we had been to before and loved, Le Potager du Père Thierry. We enjoyed the cafes into the night and loved another trip to Paris, one very different from any trip we've taken there before!
Au revoir, Paris!
