We decided to start off our Oktoberfest holiday with a Jimmy Buffett concert in Paris. We took the train down to Paris on Saturday morning which got us in by 12. After grabbing a bite we toured around one of our favorite areas - Montmartre. Next we went around to gather materials for our tailgate - French wine, bread, sausage, and cheese. Then we met up with Bill, Maura, and Sara to start the tailgate. We first started at the Chat Noir with Jeff and Sara.
Pre-gaming at the Chat Noir
Next we met up with Bill and Maura.
Bill and Maura!
All of us together at the show. We were 30 feet away from stage and the venue only had 1000 people in it.
The group at La Cigale
The concert was great. Of course “Fins” was played.
Fins up!
We were really close up!
Signing autographs
We saw this guy throughout the show, so I had to talk with him afterwards.
The ultimate Buffett fan
Walking from the show.
Moulin Rouge
Next up - Oktoberfest. The next post is coming soon!
Lindsey flew into town for a long weekend in February over Valentine’s weekend (sorry, I’m obviously behind on my posts). Since we’d already gotten the gist of Den Haag, we decided to make a weekend trip to Paris. After staying the first night in the Netherlands, we took the Thalys train from Den Haag Holland Spoor (the other train station) to Paris Noord train station. It was about a 3 hour trip and was very pleasant as we packed a lunch and ate it on the train. Upon our arrival, we pretty quickly figured out the metro/RER system to get close to our hotel. After we got off the RER (B line), we had a 10 minute walk to the hotel, where we passed by a group that was protesting - that’s when we knew we were in Paris…
Lindsey with French bread on the way to the hotel
We stayed at the Hotel Grande Ecoles in the Latin Quarter, which was a very nice and quaint hotel. The room wasn’t anything special, but the location was great and the gardens around the room were very nice. This would be an excellent place to stay in the summer.
The first night we went to dinner at a really nice restaurant with a view of Notre Dame. This dinner was an engagement present to us from Eric & Courtney, and we had a blast. Really good food and the view was incredible. Unfortunately, our waiter “accidentally” charged us about 75 euro too much, to which we quickly alerted him of his mistake. He corrected it, but it left a sour taste in our mouths.
Notre Dame during the day
Thoughout the next two days we saw all of the great tourist attractions: Notre Dame, Musee D’Orsay, Eiffel Tower (at night), Arc Du Triumph, Montmarte, Sacre Couer, Musee Du Louvre, and St Chapelle. My favorite was the Sacre Couer because it offered a fantastic view of the entire city. We first had to climb the towers to the top and were rewarded with a 360 degree view.
Artistic Shot from the top of Sacre Couer
Another highlight was visiting St Chapelle with its beautiful stained glass windows.
Musee D’Orsay and Musee Du Louvre were both excellent in their own right - I didn’t particularly favor one over the other, I’m glad we did both!
Matt & Polynesian Statue
When we weren’t going around the touristy sites, we made plenty of time to visit cafes and to relax. Next time we’ll plan to do less on the tourist side and more on the relaxing side. While we had great weather overall, it was still only in the 40s since it was February. This probably helped to keep the crowds down as we didn’t have to wait more than 10 minutes at any tourist attraction. We’re definitely looking forward to going back during the summer
