Paris!

Oui Monsieurs and Madams, Shea and Geoff took their first visit to the French capital of Paris and though their Eiffel tower doesn't have a cowboy hat on top, I do have to admit theirs is quite a bit larger than the one in Paris, Texas. So, we left Frankfurt via direct train at 6:00am on Friday Nov. 21, and quickly discovered that the long distance direct trains are super nice. Unfortunately, however, our train had a technical problem so we were delayed an hour and arrived into Paris about 10:30. We ended up thankful for the delay though, as rain was in the forecast for Paris on Friday, and by the time we got off the train, the clouds had cleared, the sun was peaking through and all we had to do was avoid the puddles. We were immediately impressed with Paris and started a short walk to the Louvre. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed in. We saw all sorts of art we had forgotten about since our days of college art history class. We saw the Mona Lisa, Wedding Fest at Cana, Madonna of the Rocks, Venus de Milo, and countless other classics. It was amazing. You could spend a week in this place, we did all we could in 3 and a half hours. We left the Louvre and headed over to Notre Dame. Unbelievable. We toured the exterior, flying buttresses and all, and then went in and sat in a pew and took it in for a while. Saw the Rose windows and couldn't believe the detail. We left there and went and checked into our hotel. We set our bags down and freshened up and then set out for a delicious French dinner in a small bistro we found on a market street in the Latin quarter...très délicieux.After several hours of eating and wine drinking, we headed back to the hotel but quickly stopped into a wine shop and purchased a bottle for our picnic at the Eiffel tower on Saturday!After a morning breakfast of coffee and croissants at a french cafe, we stopped in a bakery and purchased a baguette and then some cheese from another shop on the market street. We bought our metro pass and took the 10 minute ride to the Eiffel tower. We had planned to tour it and take some photos before returning to enjoy our French lunch in the park area below. However, when the security guard told us we would have to throw our bottle of wine away before we would be able to go up, we decided to go ahead and eat first! No self respecting Keller will ever let a bottle of French wine go to waste.We enjoyed an early lunch and then headed up. Again, we were very lucky with the weather, as the skies were clear, though cold and windy. We took in the views and enjoyed Paris from on high. We left and walked the short distance to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. We strolled down the street all the way back down to Notre Dame where we took in a French Mass at 6:15. Amazing. We headed back out to eat and had an even better meal then the night before in another small French Bistro! We laughed, ate, and drank for hours. Ask Shea how she liked the escargot.We then got a few hours sleep before our 9 am train back to Frankfurt on Sunday.All in all, we both loved Paris. The people were incredibly friendly and the sites were amazing. We truly hope to go back as two days isn't enough time (but somehow in such a short time we managed to take over 350 pics, so we will pick out some of the best and forward them on soon.)Next Stop on the Shea and Geoff tour- Rome for Christmas!