Bon Jour, Paris!

So, Ben and I had this crazy idea to take a somewhat impromptu trip to Paris right before Easter, right before Market, and while I was midway through my latest manuscript deadline. Honestly, it was the greatest thing ever and I really want to runaway again.

 This was our wonderful room for a few days with a view of a lovely courtyard outside of our hotel. Almost everyday we were graced with various musical performances and the fresh air was perfect. BUT WAIT - before we could get into our hotel, we had to get creative...

When flying international, you fly through the night and land in Paris in the morning. But you can't check into your room until usually 3 in the afternoon. Luckily the hotels are used to this and will store your luggage until your room is ready, but when you've been up for almost two days (if you couldn't sleep on the plane due to really bad turbulence like we had) it's a bit tough trying to muster up the energy to fill your time until you can get a shower and a nap and feel human again. But this is Paris, so it wasn't that hard to kill time.

 We walked across the street from our hotel and we were greeted by the Louvre. It's one of my favorite places and I could spend forever there.

 We walked through the many courtyards and past the fountains and were just strolling along.

 We crossed the Pont Neuf bridge. It's one of my favorite things to say while in Paris. Pont Neuf. Pont Neuf. Okay, moving on :)

 Then we spotted Notre Dame but we were on a mission...

And at the Pont Des Arts bridge we found it.

Ben and I missed the opportunity to place a lock on one of the many Lover's Lock bridges in Paris when we were here before. We weren't going to miss it this time because it's such a touristy thing to do, that it's almost out of control and the city is thinking of banning this activity because the weight of the locks is actually damaging the bridges.

Now, I know some of you may be thinking if it's damaging the bridges, then why do it? Well, when in Rome, or Paris... But this is how several bridges look around the city. There's only about 30+ bridges in the city, but not all can be lock bridges.

So Ben and I put our lock on the bridge and followed the ritual... You lock your lock, kiss each other and throw the key into the river so that without the key, your love will be locked together forever. Or in this case until the panel collapses and they take it down, but the novelty is the same all around.

So here is our lock with a gorgeous view of the Louvre... (you can't see it in this picture, but it's there!)

But seriously, people go crazy with these locks. Some locks are locked to locks and lights and trash cans and whatever you can attach them to. We brought our own, but several street vendors sell locks with a key shaped like the Eiffel Tower. :)

And here's a view of the Pont Des Arts bridge from afar. Those are some seriously thick panels of locks.

We continued to stroll around the city a bit and then sat and relaxed in the gardens outside the Louvre and just enjoyed doing nothing for a bit while sitting around a fountain. Then once we got into our room we finally were able to get a shower and feel human again and wouldn't you know it? We were so exhausted we thought we'd sleep for hours... Well, two hours later we were both wide awake :/ But we quickly adapted to the time change after that and had a great trip, more pictures to come soon!