Meet the Muir Family: Oui Oui pour Paris!!!!!

Dusting off my French.....Yes Yes to Paris! Any Time, All the Time! I'd go back in a heartbeat! After our trip, Paris ranks up at the top of our "favorite cities" list along with Barcelona and New York City.

It was everything I hoped for, it was everything I dreamed. It was just what I envisioned and how I've seen Paris portrayed in movies and books. Full of history, romance, music, museums, & food. Definitely can't forget about the food.

Our days were action packed and we crammed in as many touristy things as we could. Before our trip I prepared by speaking to our neighbor who just so happened to live in Paris for 3 years and gave us the scoop about what to see and do. She gave us some very valuable information!

Our checklist included the following:

Sacre Coeur -
Village of Montmartre -
Palace du Tertre
Notre Dame
Bon Marche
Le Grand Epicerie
Luxembourg Gardens
Musee d'Orsay
Eiffel Tower
Champs de Mars
Arc de Triomphe
Louvre
St. Chapelle
River Seine
Le Marais
St. Germain des Pres Quarter
Trocadero
Palace de la Concorde
Tuilleries Garden
Palace of Versailles (The only thing we did not see/do)

By the way, I highly recommend traveling overseas with a newborn baby. We never had to wait in any lines. At the train station there was a 2 hour wait for taxis and we were ushered to the very front of the line and directly into a taxi (because of Emily), the morning we decided to venture to the Arc de Triomphe we were given restricted access to use the elevator to the top instead of taking hundreds of stairs and were rewarded with 360 degree views of the entire city all to ourselves for at least 10 minutes while everyone else was climbing the stairs, any museum we went to we were able to access through the exit and not wait in any lines. So I highly recommend taking a baby for the red carpet treatment!

We arrived early at the Paris Train Station and made our way by taxi to our super cute boutique hotel called Hotel Le 123 Sebastopol. You can see more about our hotel (here) . From there we checked into our cute little rooms (ours had a nice terrace that we enjoyed) and went off in search of food!

A huge spread set up every single morning for breakfast and afternoon tea. Lots of food choices for every type of breakfast eater, pastries galore, eggs, veggies, breads, potatoes, yogurts, teas, juices, drinks. Oh and I should mention that they had lots of gluten free options for myself. I mean, I could not go to Paris and not partake in their pastries. One morning they brought out a gluten free coffee cake and they said they'd stash away the rest for me to enjoy on another morning and I ate the entire thing right then and there. It was superb!

Emily and I at our boutique hotel.

First meal in Paris for me was a creamy dairy free risotto with chicken!

Scott ordered some wine and steak tartar with pomme frites. Those people standing at the bar behind Scott are sipping their espresso. It's very Parisian for natives to go into a bar/pub/restaurant in the early afternoon order an espresso and stand there sipping it for 10 minutes before continuing on with their day.

The supped up Espresso Machine behind the bar.

Emily slept during her first meal in Paris. Cutie pie.

Day 1 - Sacre Coeur and VIllage of Montmartre.

We saw amazing architecture on our drive to Sacre Coeur. One after another, after another of gorgeous buildings. The next one being prettier than the next. We almost got whiplash from turning our heads so much trying to crane our necks to see every building we past.

In the photos below is the sprawling Village of Montmartre. Sacre Coeur is to our backs in the pictures. After touring Sacre Coeur we walked across the street you see in the picture below and down to the very bottom of the hill to rummage the cute shops and peruse all the little trinkets for sale and made our sweet leisurely way all the way back to our hotel in the 9th arrondissment (district).

Village of Montmartre above and below.

Our first view of Sacre Coeur. You can read all about the history, architecture, and other information about Sacre Coeur (HERE).

Statue of the Virgin Mary.

A model to scale.

We quickly learned that anything in Paris that looks like gold is actual real gold. Time and again on our trip we were just dumbfounded and at a loss for words at how what we were seeing could have been created the way it was so long ago. It is truly a remarkable city!