Girls Trip {Paris}

Paris Girls trip. How many people can say they've done that!?! Seriously feeling so very blessed with the amazing opportunities I have living overseas and with the incredible people I come in contact with over the years. This trip was completely unexpected, happened so fast, but was much needed. I very rarely get any sort of break from everyday life. I love my kids. I love being a Mom....THEIR Mom. I love my job. I also love some ME time. I cannot tell you the last time I got this much uninterrupted time. It was so good for me on a bunch of different levels. It was hard too. My family is my EVERYTHING. I thought about them A LOT while I was gone. 3 days was the perfect amount of time.

I've been to Paris several times. This time was so different than the rest. We spent all of our time in parts of Paris I had never been to before, visited places I never thought I'd visit. The majority of our time was spent in the Montmartre region and the Opera district. Montmartre is the area where the Sacre Couer is. Every time I have been to Paris I have wanted to visit the Sacre Couer. I had heard the view of the city from there was amazing. It didn't disappoint.......and it was even overcast while we were there.

We had to go back at night for another look

The Sacre Couer itself wasn't so bad either.

It started snowing on us

We spent almost an entire day in the Musee d'Orsay. I honestly never thought I'd pay to go into an art museum. I love being creative and crafty but looking at paintings and statues all day has never really been my thing. I can't say I loved it, but it wasn't terrible either. Definitely not anything I would have been able to do with kids.

The main reason behind the trip was because one of the girls had recently been to Paris and found a fabric district of sorts. She is big into dress making and really wanted to go back with some girls to these 4 story stores (she went with her husband before and I don't think he was really into it). I must confess. I am not much of a sewer. I would like to be! I have had a go at a few things....but it takes me forever. Most of the fabrics we found weren't my cup of tea. I think I much prefer the things I would find at Michaels or JoAnn's. This fabric was so expensive too! I'm used to using coupons when buying fabric. ;) There were a few solde (sale) bins outside the stores and so I did find a fabric for a potential project. It was only 4.50 euro for 3 meters! I really should have taken a picture of the fabric district!

On the evening of the day we spent in the art museum we wandered the shops of the Galleries de Lafayette. Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, all the big names of fashion in one place. However, I am not a fashion guru. I love to shop. Maybe if I had the body for those styles it would have been more fun and appealing for me. My absolute favorite part of the shopping.....and maybe the whole trip, was the view from the rooftop. Breathtaking!

We stumbled upon a Scottish parade, of all things, one day. Not only did we stumble upon it but we were pretty much in it! 

We tried to go take a tour of the Opera House but arrived too late.

Of course, we had a lot of food. Paninis, French onion soup, fondue, patisseries just to name a few French dishes we had. My new friends are quite the foodies. Eating things I had never been brave enough to try before. They let me have a taste of some of their meals so I can now say that I have had lamb and duck, which I will say are quite tasty.

Yes, I said new friends. I barely knew these ladies. In fact, I just met one, Emily, the week before the trip. Jodi and I had only met in person once before...and then lunch the week before as well. We have a mutual friend and when Jodi found out they were coming to England our mutual friend, Lorna, got us in contact with each other. So we had done a lot of communicating back and forth before they got here and then we had them over for dinner a month or so after they arrived in England. We really like their family. They are so fun and are the type of people we are drawn to and tend to be friends with. However, we had not been in contact since that time. We just assumed they didn't like us that much...or we didn't leave a good enough impression. Who knows. Maybe we didn't. I'm not stupid. I'm pretty sure I was invited on this trip because one of their original trip goers had trouble with her visa. She had already purchased her flight and they were looking for someone to fill in for her. That said, I was thought of! I'm grateful for that. I hope I am cool enough for them to want to hang out with again. ;)

I can't believe I forgot to post a picture of the sweet note I found in my luggage.