The Cav's Travels: PARIS and NYE 2012

This year we chose beautiful PARIS as our NYE destination. We chose our restaurant reservations carefully (its PARIS - there is so much good food!) and made sure to do all our sightseeing prior to Jan 1. It was a great trip, and even better that we got to spend part of the weekend with some of our good friends from Germany.

As soon as we got into town, we did a quick walking tour of the Ile de la Cite and checked out Sainte Chapelle. I don't think we've ever seen such beautiful stained glass windows.

We knew it would be a busy weekend in Paris, but had no clue it would be absolutely CRAZY. We took ol' Rick's advice and went to the Louvre on Friday evening before our late dinner reservations.

Rick says the Louvre is open late on Friday evenings so its a great time to check out the art without the crowds. Well, apparently that is not always the case... There were people everywhere! We had to b-line to the Mona Lisa, view it momentarily and find that we couldn't get anywhere near it, and leave pretty quickly afterward because people smelled so awful! It was as if everyone had arrived in Paris in Friday, decided not to shower, and chose to go see the Mona Lisa and lift their arms up to take a picture of her. Gross. We did the Louvre in no more than 15 minutes, most of which was walking, and waiting in line at the restroom.

We felt much better when we got out into the fresh air, and grabbed some wine at this tiny restaurant where we sat with a view of the kitchen, and enjoyed descriptions of each course of our delicious meal from the chef himself.

The next day we toured the Musee D'Orsay and Orangerie - loved both- and then met up with friends to hike the stairs up to the Sacre Couer. After, we enjoyed desserts and the most decadent hot chocolate at Angelina's Tea Room. It was a great day. In spite of the rainy weather (what else can you really expect from Paris in the winter?) it wasn't too cold, so sight seeing was pretty easy.

Midway up to the Sacre Coeur

Colin daintily holding his hot chocolate at Angelina's Tea Room

For New Years' Eve, we spent some time sipping champagne and wine with our friends in our hotel, enjoying our view of the Eiffel Tower. And then we walked to the Champs Elysees to count down till midnight. The scene was not as crazy as it could have been, but it was fun and festive and even the Paris police seemed to be in good spirits, telling us to just keep our bottle of champagne in our bag, but no need to stop the drinking!

We had a great time partying it up with Margaret and Brandon just steps away from the Arc de Triomphe!

On New Years' Day, Colin and I went to a very crowded Mass at Notre Dame, grabbed some delicious falafels in the Latin Quarter, and then headed to the Eiffel Tower before having a great quiet dinner together in the Rue Cler neighborhood near Les Invalides. We took one final walk down the Champs Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe, and called it a night. 2011 was so good to us, and we are very excited for what 2012 may have in store.