Travel :: Paris. Part 2.

Thank you all for the sweet comments on my first Paris recap and for putting up with all of my trip recaps! Hopefully they will be helpful for those of you planning to visit Italy or Paris or at least be a fun break from your work day!

I am so glad I could share these photos and experiences, it will be fun for my husband and I to look back at them in the future! I left off with photos from the Luxemburg Gardens, which was one of the prettiest spaces in Paris. This last shot of the gardens had these gorgeous vines going all the way down each side of the pond.

By the second day of driving the Vespa I felt pretty confident, but Paris traffic picks up on Monday just like anywhere else. We attempted to drive through St. Germain and get a glimpse of the famous Cafe de Fiore, but I almost manged to go down two one-way streets in the wrong direction so we promptly ditched that plan.

Of course, one more stop at the Eiffel Tower on the Vespa! People were not very good at helping us take photos in Paris...

We parked by the Left Bank to peruse the stands along the street for souvenirs. It was really fun to look through all of the vintage magazines, prints, and trinkets without people hounding you like they did in Rome.

We weren't planning on putting a lock on the Pont des Arts (lock bridge), but they were selling locks at these stands and we decided we might as well. When in Rome! Err.. Paris!

There are quite a few bridges in Paris with locks, but the Pont des Arts is the main lock bridge. It's unreal how many locks are there, you couldn't even find a spot! We had to hook ours onto other locks. Tradition says to throw your key into the river and your love will be locked forever... or something like that.

After dropping off our scooter at the hotel for pick up, we opted to walk all the way from the Champs-Elysees to the Louvre. Definitely not the best idea considering Paris is huge. (It's kind of like in DC when you stand at the Lincoln and think, hey lets walk to the Capitol building... it's not that far. Umm, wrong. It's over 2 miles.)

On our way there we made a pitstop at Angelina, which has the most amazing hot chocolate you will ever taste. Seriously, please do not miss it if you are in Paris! We also ordered a Mont Blanc. I'm still not entirely sure what it was but it was heavenly and oh so sweet.

We honestly spent about 45 minutes at the Louvre. I wish we had the energy to handle the crowds and the sheer size of that place, but it was our last stop after 11 days of walking and traveling. The Mona Lisa is tiny and crowds were about 20 people deep even during the off-season so we gave up and headed for dinner at a cafe nearby.

I had high hopes to make it to the top of the Eiffel Tower but knew immediately when I saw it that my nerves would never be able to handle it. The line was really long for the elevator to the 2nd level, so we opted for the steps. Terrible idea. I was a wreck! I felt really bad because Steve wasn't able to go up higher than the first level.

Crappy iPhone photo, but had to include it :)

I hope Steve and I will make it back to Paris in the future. Two days just wasn't enough! I could watch the Eiffel Tower sparkle anytime, it can pull you out of any mood.