Le Train Bleu | Paris, France

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Le Train Bleu is a stunningly beautiful restaurant that was built for the Exposition Universelle in 1900. It's located in the Gare de Lyon station and is a full service restaurant. Le Train Bleu is an incredible restaurant that takes you back to another time period. The restaurant is covered in elaborate and ornate decorations and 41 original paintings from popular artists from that time period. Markus and I kept talking about what it must've been like to travel by train and stop in for a meal. It must've been a stunner in it's heyday. 

When I saw photos of the restaurant, I knew that I wanted this to be where we spent our last night in Paris. We couldn't have chosen a more magical and perfect place. I knew the minute we walked in that it would be a meal and experience unlike any other I've had before. We ordered the foie gras, liver mousse, veal cutlet, roasted leg of lamb, blue cheese potato gratin and ended with the rum baba, which came with a whole bottle of rum. You know I liked that part! Our meal was so decadent and really delicious. My favorites were the foie gras and the blue cheese potato gratin. If you know me, you know I love pate, liver mousse and foie, so that was a no brainer. The real surprise was the gratin because I don't normally go for potatoes, but these were a game changer. We kept ordering and eating even though I was stuffed. I think it was because I didn't want to leave. It also helped that the servers were hilarious and kept telling funny jokes. Overall, our experience at Le Train Bleu was unforgettable and I'm pleased that it was where we spent our last evening in the City of Lights. 

Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries | Paris, France

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One thing that I knew that I did not want to do in Paris was go inside the Louvre. As someone who really likes art and museums, I tend to get annoyed at museums, especially if they're popular ones. They tend to be overflowing with tourists who want to get that obligatory photo in front of "that famous painting". Also, I kept reading that I should avoid the Louvre at all costs. So that's what we decided to do. We didn't even plan on being in the area but on our first day we somehow found ourselves at the Jardin des Tuileries at dusk. As we walked through the garden we realized that it led to the Louvre. Since we didn't know when we would ever get the chance to see the Louvre, we walked over. It was probably one of the best decisions we made because there were barely any people around. Walking around the courtyard and seeing the glass pyramids without the crowds was a pretty cool moment. I'm glad that we decided to skip the lines and just "happened" upon the Louvre.   

Mini Tour of Montmartre | Paris, France

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Since Montmartre is a bit further away from all the popular sites we decided to spend our first real day in Paris in Montmartre. We woke up decently early and had breakfast at Cafe des Deux Moulins from the film Amélie. Afterward we decided to take the 15 minute walk to Sacré-Cœur. We passed the Moulin Rouge and it definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Maybe it was because it was daytime. I didn't get the full effect and maybe I needed a bit of help from the Green Fairy? I did look up tickets and they were around 115€ and up. Maybe one day we'll be able to catch a show! It was our first taste of Paris and it was really lovely. The real star of Montmartre is the Sacré-Cœur, but that will be a post for the future. Just for now, enjoy all the photos from our mini tour of Montmartre!