The City of Light!

I would love to start this post with a beautiful French phrase, but my language attempts in that country only receive painful expressions from locals, so I will spare you all (also the blog doesn't do accent marks!) Brandon and I popped over to Paris for a long weekend earlier this month via the Eurostar (high-speed train from London to Paris.) It only took four hours to get from our flat in Notting Hill to our rental apartment in the neighborhood of Saint Germain des Pres just off the River Seine - amazing! Our AirBnB host had a gorgeous, Parisian apartment decorated with vintage furniture and wild Louis Vuitton shoes. If the shoes weren't so tiny I would have tried them all on!


Let me explain why we just got around to visiting Paris after living in London for over nine months when it is such an easy trip. Rewind to August 2006, my first trip to Paris. It's hot (read: smells like urine), insanely crowded with tourists, my friend and I have been traveling/studying in Europe for two months, and I have a stomach bug. Neither of us speak any French and all waiters and service people give us the cold shoulder. The fact that I can't remember the hotel we slept at is probably a bad sign.

Fast forward to the present, and you see why I may have been putting off Paris. But now I am a convert! Paris is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited. Yes, some Parisians suck, but who cares. Brandon's petit French helped immensely (thanks, Mark, for those lessons in the Markley dorms!)

Because it was Brandon's first time to Paris, we needed to check off the big guns from the list - the Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.

Selfie in front of the Arc de Triomphe

In addition, we did a 3-hour walking tour of the city and learned some interesting facts about the city's founders (Celtic tribe) and its current architecture (Haussmann.) Other than those sites, we just ate tons of cheese, bread and pain aux chocolat and drank Bordeaux wine, yum! Oh yeah, and shopped on the Champs Elysees of course!

Musee du Louvre

They are going to have awesome photos of the Mona Lisa

Notre Dame

Notre Dame stained glass

My favorite meal was Saturday morning brunch at Laduree, most famously known for its macaroons. On a recommendation from a friend, we ordered the French toast or pain perdu (literally: "lost bread" for the day-old French bread used), covered in homemade raspberry coulis and creme freche and a side of scrambled eggs. For good measure, we added mini pastries, which included a croissant with German strudel filling (swoon!) To top it off, they had the best coffee we tasted all weekend.

The Laduree bakery has been around since the 19th century, and the decor in the cafe (Asian tea garden) alludes to the oriental fads in Europe at that time. It was a perfect meal in a lovely location. On our way out, we purchased the obligatory macaroons (my favorite was pistachio!)

I think our approach to the weekend was a big part of why we enjoyed the two-day trip. Paris is a substantial city with an insane amount of things to see, do and taste. We knew we couldn't come close to seeing everything we wanted to see, so we made a short list and stuck to it. We didn't make ourselves crazy rushing from one museum to the next. We took our time walking along the Seine and around the winding, cobblestone streets just enjoying each other's company and the scenery.

Suffice it to say we loved our little hop over the English Channel so much, we've already booked a return trip at the end of May! Interesting fact: Paris is nicknamed the "City of Light" after the scientists who philosophized at the famous Sorbonne university during the age of enlightenment (17th century) and for being one of the first cities to adopt gas street lamps. Au revoir!

Copenhagen

I didn't forget about this blog! I was sidetracked by a new job and a broken computer, but now all is well! Going back in time to recap our weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark, today.

We traveled with our fellow DC-er, Ben, and donned hats, gloves and umbrellas for our first venture into Scandinavia. It was early February. What were we thinking?! So we opted for an indoor activity as our first stop - the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

The museum started from the sculpture collection of Ny Carlsberg of Carlsberg beer brewery fame. He really loved ancient Greek and Roman statues (glyptotek means sculpture museum). I could picture his huge office filled with random marbles like these:

Peek-a-boo! Ben and I stare creepily at Brandon from the upper gallery.

The city's buildings were beautiful - a mix of old and new construction and styles. They reminded me of Amsterdam's with their pointed towers, slate-colored roofs and dark red brick.

City Hall

After the museum, we searched for a lunch spot, and since we weren't too keen on pickled fish, we made a beeline for a hot dog stand recommended by good ol' Rick Steves. It served organic meats AND sauerkraut and pickles from Germany! Food highlight of the trip.

Epic hot dogs

Once it stopped raining, we walked around the palaces and found these dudes guarding them. There were four buildings in a square where the royal families live, and the guards rotate around each door.

Center of the square facing a palace

Another palace

The red stalls in the above photo had an adorable cut-out heart, alluding to the nine red hearts on Denmark's coat of arms (left). While the design has changed over time, the hearts date back to the 14th century version. So cute!

For even more cuteness, check out the city of Copenhagen's coat of arms (right) - a princess castle! When your garbage trucks, sewer plates and trash cans have cute castles, you know you're in a happy place. In fact, Copenhagen is ranked the happiest city in the world, in large part to taxes paying for all health care, child care, college education - pretty much anything that would cause worry and stress. That and employers allotting tons of vacation time!

One of the prettiest spots in Copenhagen is the neighborhood of Nyhavn on the canals. It's the part of the city you usually see in postcards with brightly colored buildings and picturesque boats bobbing in the clear canal. You could see all the way to the sandy bottom. This is no Thames, Seine or Potomac River!

Nyhavn at dawn - thanks to Brandon for rising early!

Brandon may have gotten minor frostbite for taking photos that early, but he said it was worth it! Group shot:

B is realizing his frostbitten hand...

The only site on my must-do list for Copenhagen was the tribute to one of the city's most famous residents, Hans Christian Andersen. The author is most known for his fairy tales like The Little Mermaid (Den Lille Havfrue.) And in 1913 sculptor Edvard Eriksen dedicated this statue of den lille havfrue to the city. She looks longingly towards land in search of her prince. She's actually bummed because every time a group of people want to make a statement to the Danish government, she gets stolen, covered in paint or decapitated! True story.

I'd be blue too! Poor havfrue

We had a great little trip to the Danish land. The people were the friendliest I've encountered outside of the Michigan. At the bars in the evening strangers make friends over foosball and pool tables. The Danes LOVE foosball - every bar had a table. Thanks Copenhagen for being such a lovely host!