Les + Ang: Celebrating Four Years Together

On Friday, November 16, Les and I celebrated four years of marriage. We began the day with Starbucks. Yes, I was extremely excited! Over the past year I've had wonderful Italian coffee but nothing is quite the same as a Starbucks Cafe Latte. It brought me a bit closer to home.

Les and I enjoying our coffees

Ok, so he was saying that he couldn't believe that I wanted our pictures in Starbucks, he thought I was nuts.

After we enjoyed our coffees we set off to explore Paris. Our first stop was the music store next to Starbucks. Les was in heaven looking at all the "toys". I have Starbucks, he has music stores. At least they were next door to each other!

Once Les finished building a massive wish list of musical equipment we headed toward the Seine River.

Conciergerie

Famous prison where Marie Antoinette was held

We crossed the Seine to the Ile de la Cite and made our way to the Ile St. Louis. We found quite a few little shops and art galleries on the Ile St. Louis. I could have spent a fortune! Lucky for my pocketbook I brought a small suitcase and had to be careful with the number of souvenirs I purchased or I wouldn't be able to get them all home.

A painting in a gallery window that I really liked.

We grabbed a tasty lunch as a small brasserie on Ile St. Louis. I warmed up with a tastey bowl of French Onion Soup. After lunch we crossed back to the Ile de la Cite and made our way toward Notre Dame.

The park behind Notre Dame

We hung out in the park for a few minutes enjoying the view and the colors. We also had a bit of fun on the kids' playground equipment.

This is a big, tilted disk that spins

Looking at the sky while spinning on the disk

The colors were spectacular.

We finally had to leave the playground behind...there was a line of adults (more tourists) that thought our idea of pictures on the playground was great. We made our way around the side of the cathedral and toward the front.

Notre Dame and Fall Colors

This is one of my favorite pictures from this trip.

We explored the inside of the massive cathedral. I took a few pictures but flash wasn't allowed so most didn't turn out very well.

Once we finished touring Notre Dame we set out to see some of the sights listed in Rick Steves' Paris 2008 book on the Historic Paris Walk. I like Rick Steves' walks because they point out sights that I would otherwise walk past and never notice.

Robinier and Me

Robinier is Paris' oldest inhabitant - an Acacia tree. It was planted in 1602 and nicknamed Robinier for the man who planted it.

I don't think I've mentioned yet how cold it was in Paris. We were lucky if the thermometer reached 47F. That explains why we are bundled in all of our pictures. It was so cold! I loved it! I love sweaters, scarves, and drinking coffee and tea to warm up.

Our last stop of the after noon was Place Numero The' in Place Duphine. Les enjoyed a beer and I soaked in the warmth of a pot of tea. Pleasantly warm we headed back across the river towards our hotel. We had to get ready for our amazing dinner cruise on the Seine.

All dressed up and ready to go we went downstairs to ask the hotel receptionist to call us a cab. Unfortunately, because of the transit strike, the taxi companies were pretty much maxed out and as a result they decided to take their phones off the hook...Our receptionist tried for about 15 minutes to get through but didn't have any luck. Les & I were getting a bit anxious at this point - we had prepaid reservations and didn't want to miss them! We walked a couple of blocks and managed to flag a taxi after about 10 minutes.

We arrived near our dock with plenty of time to spare. As we got out of the taxi the Eiffel Tower began to sparkle! Perfect timing! We were mesmerized and pulled out the camera as quick as possible. Les turned the camera on and....battery empty...arghh...put in new batteries...ahhh, battery empty again! The whole pack of batteries was crap.

The camera in question was purchased for our anniversary evening. We didn't want to have to tote around my big ol' SLR so we bought a tiny, pocket-sized Nikon for the event. Of course, that would be when ALL of the batteries didn't work. We ran over to a souvenir shop at the Eiffel Tower and bought a new pack of batteries, and viola! it worked! Evening saved!

Batteries working, YIPEE!

We enjoyed the Eiffel Tower for a bit and then made our way towards our boat to check in.

Les and I, waiting to board our boat

Les & I at our table

Kir Royal - my favorite French drink

Me and Notre Dame

The dinner cruise was fabulous! I couldn't have asked for a better evening. It truly was a romantic dream come true. We paid a bit extra for the window seats and were rewarded with the best views in the house. I can't even begin to explain how amazing Paris looks at night, especially from the water with live music and delicious food and wine. The best part was my wonderful husband sitting across from me sharing the experience.

The Eiffel Tower after the cruise

Getting back to the hotel wasn't as easy as we had hoped. We ended up walking for about an hour (at 11:30P at night, in the freezing cold) before we finally caught a cab. Les had to run for about a 1/2 block when we saw one that wasn't occupied - my hero!

I will never forget our 4th Anniversary in Paris!

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Now playing: Josh Groban - Hymne A L'Amour
via FoxyTunes