The City of Lights and Love: Paris, France.

 

Falling in Love: Dan’s Version.

So there I was waiting for Jenny to message me. According to her, she was supposed to land around 11am and we were going to get together. I was super excited because it had been over three years since we last saw each other. Before I knew it though it was 6pm and I thought to myself, what the hell? I thought at first she didn’t want to hang out with me but I decided to message her and see what was going on.

Of course, in true Jenny fashion, she answered and said, “Oh you actually wanted to hang out? I thought you meant sometime over the next three years.” I said, “No you knucklehead, get dressed. I’m on my way.” So I pulled up and there she was standing outside her hotel in a beautiful yellow sundress. I remembered her being beautiful but I was blown away at how amazing she looked. We hugged and talked for a little bit and I took her to my house. We shared a beer and caught up and after a bit I took her back to her hotel. Little did I know that would be the last night we would spend apart from each other. The next night I told her to come stay with me (just as friends) because her hotel was, for lack of a better term, crappy.

Our first activity we did together was go to the gym everyday. Jenny told me she wanted to get whipped into shape and she wanted me to be her trainer. I don’t think she was ready at all for the pain I was about to put her through. She didn’t realize that I have a completely different personality when I am the gym. My motto in life is work hard and play hard, so I work out hard in the gym and my reward is to relax on the weekends. A couple days into our gym trips I was really starting to like Jenny. I enjoyed spending time with her and to be perfectly honest I loved watching her workout. In all our previous conversations Jenny had said that she was always attracted to jerks. So one day I decided to take on that persona in the form of her trainer and see how she would respond. Since I never act like that, she immediately knew something was different. I was being extra hard on her at the gym. I wasn’t being mean per say but I was having her work out harder than usual. Then she asked me why am I being such a douche (this is a favorite expression of hers, it’s basically a form of affection). I said “I thought you liked jerks” and I winked at her. She smiled and laughed and I could feel real chemistry starting to develop.

Over the next couple weeks, we spent everyday together and traveled all over. We took day trips to Frankfurt (for Chipotle obviously) and went to visit my Aunt in Nuremberg. I never imagined things going any better than they were. She was such an amazing and interesting woman and I seriously felt like the luckiest guy in Europe. She had made a list of her top 5 travel places that she wanted to visit and Paris was at the top. I knew we would make it there eventually but I didn’t realize the perfect opportunity would present itself so soon.

I got a random Facebook message from my lifelong friend Jimmy. He mentioned that him and his fiancé Sara were coming over for a four day weekend. They were going to look at venues for their upcoming wedding and that he wanted to get together. Jimmy has always been such a close friend of mine, even though he was always “Eric’s friend.” Jenny asked me to describe him and I had the perfect thought. When Jimmy wanted to do something serious or just hang out, he would call Eric. When Jimmy wanted to get in trouble or do something stupid, he called me. The memories Jimmy and I have made will last a lifetime and I couldn’t wait to introduce Jenny to someone I care so much about.

When we got there we checked into the hotel and shortly after Jimmy and Sara came to meet us. It was such an awesome feeling being able to see those two and spending the day with them. From walking up the Eiffel Tower to bar hopping, it turned into one of our classic amazing nights. All I can say is that when Jimmy and Sara tie the knot in Paris, that will most definitely be a night we will never forget.

-Daniel

48 Hours in Paris

We looked into taking the Ice train to the city but due to the time crunch the tickets were really expensive so we ended up driving instead. It’s pretty common in Europe for most people to be on vacation for the entire month of August. The traffic wasn’t nearly as bad as it normally is according to the locals. We stayed at Hôtel Le Relais Saint Charles in Paris. It was located about half mile from the Eiffel Tower. I was surprised with how friendly the locals were to us.

Shortly after we checked in Jimmy and Sara surprised us by knocking on our hotel room door. We had such an amazing time walking around site seeing with such a fun couple. We walked to the second landing of the Eiffel Tower…. YES… we took the stairs. 42 flights of them according to my iPhone app.

The view of the city was the best. Since we didn’t have time to see absolutely everything we wanted to… seeing much of the city from up high was really cool!

My favorite view was from behind the fountain with the statue below. There were tons of kids (and adults too) playing in the fountain and swimming because it was outrageously hot that day.

It was such a blessing getting the tour of the city from someone that is actually from the area and can speak French. Sara knew all of the cool places to see and took us to a wonderful cafe near Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. From the stained glass to the uniquely designed architecture it was gorgeous.

We ended up spending the rest of the night in an Irish style bar near our hotel. Dan had “just one more beer” about 5 times because sometimes when you’re with people you love it’s just too soon to say goodbye just yet.

When in Paris… take the stairs.

Love,

Jenny

 

Ps. Happy Valentines Day!