For Spring Break this year, we had the pleasure of visiting a quaint little town in this little country.  The country was France and the little town was Paris.  It was a dream trip come true.  I had hoped to have a little time to have a little rock & roll adventure while I was there, but there was so much to see and so little time to do it.

I did hit a couple record stores, but didn’t get to as many as I had hoped.  I didn’t get to see Jim Morrison’s grave or visit the Place Vendome to see where the band got its name.  But we did do so much that I thought I would share a little of it with you.  Oh yeah, this a music site so we will get to what I bought by the end.

Now, we skipped the whole Hotel thing and rented an apartment for the family and an awesome neighborhood with lots of cafes and lots of pastries.  Below is the door to the courtyard.  It was a beautiful blue door and made it easy to find.

There was so much room in the apartment which is surprising for Paris.  It was absolutely stunning. These were our windows right above that blue door.

And the view down our street was awesome as well. The architecture was always amazing. The streets were so cute. This one was a one way with real small sidewalks and we loved being in that area.  Everyone was so nice and helpful.

We of course visited all the museums and the typical Paris sites, but nothing is better than the Eiffel Tower.  Every time we saw it, I had to stop and just admire.  It is breathtaking.  There is just something about it that is so special and I don’t know what it is.  Here are a couple of my favorites…

Oh!  And at night!!  She is even more beautiful…

Now, a week before we arrived, there was devastating news that Notre Dame Cathedral caught on fire.  That bothered me a lot as that was one of the top places I wanted to see while we were there. Now, we weren’t able to get inside, but we did go on Easter Sunday and take a look.  This was as close as we could get.  We weren’t the only ones that had that idea as the area was slammed with people.  I am glad I got to see her.

I have no real exciting stories to tell on this trip.  It went off without a hitch and we got to see so much. Nothing unusual or strange happened, the weather was beautiful and all was right with the world so I apologize for no real adventure.  Just a lot of beautiful places visited, memories had and unforgettable times with family.

Here are a few more things we saw…

We saw the Louvre which houses the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo statue among many, many other things.  The Mona Lisa was tiny. She isn’t this grand painting and at times hard to imagine why this painting is so famous, but it is and we saw it.  The picture I took does it no justice so I am hoping my daughter with the good camera got some good pictures.

We also went to the many churches and cathedrals and all were amazing.

And the museums were boundless and if I never step into another one for rest of my life I am okay with that…just kidding.

And let’s not forget Versailles.  Wow!  What a place that small, tiny palace is.  I think they liked Gold…A LOT OF GOLD!!!

And the fountains were amazing at the palace as well…

Everywhere you went in the city there were statues and fountains as well.  I mean it, every time you came out on a new street, you had to stop and soak it all in.  There is nothing like that where I come from.

And of course the Arc de Triomphe…

Okay, Okay…I have bored you enough with the pictures.  Let us get to the music.  The goal on the trip was to hit as many record stores as I could find and only buy things I couldn’t find here in the States.  It didn’t always follow that rule, but I stuck to it pretty hard.  The first store I went was a bust.  Nothing.  The rock section was weak.  The next store, which happened to be a block from our apartment was NEVER OPEN!! I think they went out of business.

I was getting worried.  We were traveling around so much, hitting museum after museum and walking mile after mile (we averaged around 8 miles a day walking) that there was little time to record shop.  I finally got out one afternoon and walked to a place called Betinos Record Shop.

It was a great little store, but I didn’t find a lot.  I did find the UK pressing of Billy Idol’s Vital Idol with the different cover and one less track than the US version I have.  I was pretty excited about that.

I also found a 12″ Single of Billy Idol’s “To Be A Lover” from Whiplash Smile which I  could probably found in the states, but this was the French Edition.

And the last thing at this store was a 12″ Single of Whitesnake’s Give Me More Time from the album Slide It In.  The B-Side was the song Need Your Love So Bad which was the bonus track on the Cassette.

And that was it…only 17 Euros spent.  Not too bad.  After this stop, I continued over to Born to Be Bad Records and guess what, they were closed.  The website showed as open, but the site was wrong.  At this point, it was late and I headed back to the apartment so we could all go to dinner.

The next day, I was able to squeeze in a little time at the best record store I could find…Rock’n’Roll Voltage.  The specialize in Hard Rock, Thrash, Glam, Death, Doom and Black Metal…Heavy Metal Overload (HMO) would feel right at home in this store.

I found a lot here!!  A LOT!!!  If I wanted to spend $1,000’s on 12″ Singles for Def Leppard, Kiss, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, etc…I could have gone broke.  I needed unlimited funds in this store which I didn’t have.  I walked out with two Non-Kiss items at this store.  The first was this beauty…

A 12″ Picture Disc of the Coverdale * Page song “Take Me For A Little While”.  It gives you two versions of that song (LP and Acoustic) as well as “Shake My Tree” (The Guitar Crunch Mix) and “Easy Does It”.

And to top it off, I found a 12″ of David Coverdale’s “The Last Note of Freedom” from the Days of Thunder Soundtrack.  This will work great in the David Coverdale series that will be starting soon on the site.

Then I hit the mother lode of Bootlegs for Kiss.  The guy specializes in Bootlegs and he showed me all the bootlegs he had and he had tons!!!  We stayed focused with Kiss and I ended up buying 7 different Kiss concerts from his selection.  I am telling you, I needed unlimited funds and I would have enough material to write for years on this blog and never have to buy another thing.

Anyway, here are the shows I bought…

Kiss – The Summer of Satan: The Devils Ride Out! (Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, NJ – July 10, 1976):

Kiss – North Hampton, PA – March 19, 1975 (Roxy Theatre):

Kiss – With Fire & Thunder (He Victory Burlesque, Toronto, ON, Canada – September 14th, 1974):

Kiss – Return to Capital Center (Largo, MD – July 8, 1979):

Kiss – Look Wot You Dun To Me: Kiss On Japan Tour 1988 (The Castle Hall, Osaka, Japan – April 18, 1988):

Kiss – The Hottest Show On Earth (Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, CA – September 2010):

Kiss – Accept No Imitations (T. H. Barton Coliseum, Little Rock, AK – November 29, 1985):

And that was my haul.  Getting them back to the U.S. was a pain.  I had to borrow my daughters Paris bag she bought as it was the only bag that fit the albums and let me tell you, she wasn’t happy about that.  I had to carry them under my arm the whole way (except overhead bin when on the plane).  They weren’t light by any means, but no complaints from me.  All these Kiss Bootlegs will get reviewed for A Kiss Bootleg Series I will now do as a result.

There you have it. The Paris trip in a nutshell.  Thanks for taking the journey with me and I hope you enjoyed it.  It was the trip of a lifetime for us and memories the kids will have forever.  We did New York City last year, Paris this year…what will next Spring Break hold??? We will have to wait and see (I am thinking Hawaii or London; the kids are thinking LA/San Francisco)