Outside the Frame: simply magical.

ok, my first post of the lovers bridge was a bit out of order, but i truly didn't know where to start.

however, i guess the beginning would have been a good place.

so today, i will share the beginning.

we stayed at the hotel concorde opera paris.

it was actually pretty close to everything.

there was a metro station right outside of the hotel, so had we taken the metro, we would have had easy access to EVERYTHING. but we walked everywhere instead.

it was an average of about 5-6 miles per day.

i highly recommend good walking shoes.

i was more concerned with how my outfit looked, and by day 2, my poor feet were pitiful.

back to the hotel.

it was by far the nicest place we've ever stayed.

typically we go cheaper on the hotel, but hey, this was paris.

we actually upgraded when we got there. ;)

i mean really, how often do you go to paris?

so this window here opened up to a balcony with a view!

ironically enough, this brown building here was a mcdonald's.

we did not even step foot in it.

i got really excited about the bathroom, which also had a balcony!

and it was my first time having bath robes!!!!

i wanted to take it, but i knew they'd probably charge me $100, so i refrained.

here's another view from our room.

so we got off the plane, took a cab to the hotel, changed clothes/freshened up, and then we were off!

we met with the concierge and she explained the map to us. then we just started exploring.

we happened upon this church.

all of the buildings, like every single one, were so very ornate and detailed.

could you imagine going to church here?

this was the ceiling.

it was beautiful, and scary all at once.

ok, maybe scary is the wrong word.

just so....old.

so from the top of the stairs of the church, this was the view. we thought that looked like a good direction to walk, so we were off again!

that road dumped us right here. Place de la Concorde.

it was so overwhelming and magnificent all at once.

but then, THEN we looked to the right, and over the trees was the eiffel tower.

now, couple of things to note here.

1. we had not planned on going to the tower until the next day.

2. it was at this moment that i started bawling. BAWLING i say. i was so overwhelmed that we were ACTUALLY there and dreams were coming true. i'm crying right now as i type this. pathetic - lol.

so of course when we saw that tower peaking through, we just started walking towards it.

after all, it was PARIS!

so as we're on our way, we ran into this beauty.

now, i have always heard how beautiful paris is in the fall, and my heart was hoping that i'd be able to get a glimpse of it even though it was the middle of december.