Paris-Malta-Rome 2011

This summer I took a trip to Europe to visit friends who were living in Malta over the summer. On the way there I stopped in Paris, and on the way back I stopped in Rome. It was so lovely! I had just found out I was pregnant a week before I left, so unfortunately my plans for drinking red wine and eating stinky cheese were dashed. But I was lucky to wander at my own pace and to be able to visit my friends, who took such good care of me.

Paris was great, of course. I stayed in the Latin Quarter at the Hotel Diana, which was perfect for a solo lady traveler. It was so close to everything! It was right down the street from the Musée Cluny, aka the Musée National du Moyen Age. They had some amazing things– my favorite was a small black room with backlit stained glass.

These statues had been stolen from Notre Dame, defaced (literally), and stashed in the basement of a bank until they were discovered in the 1970s.

And this set of tapestries was beautiful. There was a group of schoolkids in the room with their teacher telling them some fairy tales, it was hilarious.

I wandered by the Delacroix museum, which is a little hidden treasure. I really enjoyed sitting in the little garden. I got to go to Ladurée for macarons! I ate them on the Pont Neuf and then walked through Louvre courtyards and the Tuileries, where kids were pushing sailboats in little ponds. Went to see Monet’s water lilies in the Musée de l’Orangerie, which is a great display.

Then I wandered through the Rodin Museum’s sculpture garden. It was funny being there after just having seen Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which had a long scene filmed there.

I wandered by the Hotel des Invalides. And, of course, I had to see the Eiffel Tower.

I ate at a little place called Les Cocottes, which was right by the Eiffel Tower and was fabulous.

…And finished off the day with Berthillon ice cream on Île Ste Louis. Yum!

About these ads