The Hanus’ & Hills take Paris!

A couple weeks after settling (aka calling our “lovely” Landlord, Eileen, SEVERAL times to get Mick, our handyman, over to fix everything before the parents arrived!) into our new flat, Kim and Scott touched down at Heathrow! After a quick pit stop to drop off all 5 of their bags (3 of them were mine…as you know, I do not travel lightly, so you can imagine the number of bags needed to make this leap across the pond), we walked over to The Pembroke for lunch.  My Dad had a hard time holding back his excitement for some true British Fish & Chips and, of course, a beer…finally!

After lunch, we made a mad dash to King’s Cross to catch the EuroStar to Paris! Our cottage in Paris was amazing (thank you Marriott Disneyland Paris!).  Although we were a little ways outside of Paris, the accommodations made up for it!  I think we all enjoyed “the space”, as we were about to come face to face with the challenge of sleeping 4 to a 1 bedroom flat in London…

On Friday, my parents and I made our way into the city for a day of sightseeing!  Before heading out to Versailles, we emerged from the subway only to find ourselves a mere 25 yards from Notre Dame…the perfect backdrop for a delicious crepe lunch in Paris!  We then made our way over to Versailles and spent hours roaming around the magnificent palace.

Grant wasn’t able to join us until Friday evening, so we made our way back to Paris in order to meet up with him before my birthday dinner!  On our way over to the Rue Cler neighborhood, we strolled by the Eiffel Tower, and escaped the cold by popping in the first café we could find for a pre-dinner drink (more importantly, an escape from the cold!)

Thank goodness we stopped for that pre-dinner drink because our walk over to the restaurant for dinner was “challenging”. As we were loyally following the “blue dot” on my Dad’s google map, in the hopes that it would lead us directly from point A to B…we were unfortunately led astray.  Remember now…it was FREEZING!  We were determined NOT to give up though, so hailing a cab was NOT an option!  We walked up and down the same street about 3 times, until we finally gave in, hailed a cab, only to be laughed at by the driver as he pointed to a restaurant 10 feet away.  Well Mr. Cab driver, that was NOT the restaurant!  So, we continued our walk and FINALLY set our eyes on Le Florimond (2 hours later…).  Those Paris streets can be tricky :)

It was all worth it though, as Le Florimond was the perfect birthday dinner…a true Parisian restaurant!  The waiter kindly (and patiently) read through the entire menu for us, as it was all in French (a good sign that thankfully, you have not found yourself at a tourist trap), and we all found our dishes to be absolutely exquisite!  The entire restaurant even joined in on the singing of Happy Birthday…I felt very special!

Saturday was full of museums and the many sights that Paris has to offer!  Our day started out at Notre Dame (where they happened to be holding mass), then hit the Louvre, followed by the d’Orsay, and ended the day on top of the Arc de Triomphe (spectacular view of the city from there!).  For dinner, we traveled up to Montmartre, where we discovered a fabulous fondue restaurant – La Poutre!  It was the perfect ending to my 27^th birthday weekend celebration!

Climbing to the top of the Arc de Triomphe!

Montmartre at night

Delicious raclette fondue at La Poutre