We arrived in Paris around 5:30 in the evening, checked into our hotel, and then set out for dinner. We made a picnic lunch, buying things from shops along the street our hotel was on, Rue Cler. Rue Cler is a street known for its markets, so there was lots to choose from. We bought cheese (Camembert...not a big fan) from the fromagerie, mozzarella and tomato salad and rosemary chicken from the traiteur, cherries from the stand, wine, and soda. Then we set out for the Eiffel Tower and ate our picnic dinner on the lawn below the tower.
Lots of people hanging out on the lawn (Champ du Mars)
There was two moms with their kids sitting on the ground next to us, giving us entertainment with dinner.
After dinner we went up the Eiffel Tower. The top was closed so we could only go to the second level, but it was still really high with great views. We got up there with the last of the daylight, and stayed for a while to see the city light up.
See the dark clouds coming....
Champ du Mars
Trocadero
There was a thunderstorm rolling in, so we got to watch the lightening from the Eiffel Tower. It was quite a show.
It wasn’t raining too bad when we walked home, and our hotel was not far anyway.
The next morning we walked from the Arc de Triomphe, down the Champ-Elysees, and through the Tuileries Garden. We took a bus from near our hotel up to the Champ-Elysees. The bus system/metro in Paris has been the best public transportation we’ve seen so far. There is always a metro nearby, and the bus stops all have maps with where the bus is going and the other city busses available. The tickets are the same for the metro and the buses (and the regional trains called the RER), so we bought a carnet, which is 10 tickets, that can be shared and are cheaper than individual tickets.
The Arc de Triomphe
Champ-Elysses has lots of high end car dealerships and stores, with some cafes and restaurants. There was even a McDonald’s. We went in to see if they had anything special, and there were croissant meals and salads that came in boxes, but nothing too exciting.
Charles de Gaulle statue
Champ-Elysses behind us (see the tiny Arc de Triomphe?)
A fountain in the Tuileries Garden
Birds in a puddle, all fluffy
At the end of the Tuileries Garden is the Louvre. Tons of people taking pictures and street hawkers trying to get you to buy their hats or mini Eiffel Towers. We have found it amusing that they always seem to have items that fit with what’s going on. When it’s sunny and hot they have hats and cold water. When it starts raining half an hour later, they all of a sudden have umbrellas. And the items they sell are similar, whether in Rome or Paris (or any other major city).
We weren't going to the Louvre until the next day, but we went to the underground Carousel of the Louvre to the Apple Store (yay for free internet!).
After that we went to the Orsay Museum. This was the most frustrating museum so far. First of all, it was a free day (good: saving money, bad: lots of other people saving money). We did have to pay for a Manet exhibit, which is annoying because the only works we wanted to see are normally at the museum anyway, they'd just been pulled to a "special exhibit." Our audio guide was out of order because they are renovating the museum. Not Rick Steves' fault, not the museum's fault, it has to be done. However, they should update their signs for which artists are in which rooms. There would be a room with Van Gogh on the doorway....filled with Monet work.... But we made it through. It was pretty neat to see the paintings I've always seen in books just hanging out. We couldn't take pictures, but here's a few from the internet that we saw:
Van Gogh
Renoir
Monet
There were lots more, but I'm tired of google searching for pictures :-)
Then (this was a busy day), we went up to Montmarte, which is the highest hill in Paris (giving some spectacular views).
We took the funicular (like an elevator)
the Sacre Coer (church at the top)
We went in here, but there was a service going on so we just glanced around and left.
This guy was pretty amazing, he was doing all sorts of tricks with the soccer ball. In this picture he is holding himself out sideways (after climbing the light pole), and bouncing the ball between around, under, over, etc around his feet.
View of Paris
We watched some break dancers for a while who were quite good. One sat his hat on the ground and then in the middle of flips put his head into the hat so when he stood up he had the hat on. We had dinner at a little cafe up there and headed home for a bit.
Lastly (okay it was a crazy busy day), we headed out for a night cruise of the Seine River. As soon as we got to the dock, it started pouring. And there was thunder and lightening again. We did the boat anyway because it was covered, but I wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped to be. Maybe I was too tired, but it didn't seem like there was that much to see. Some of the buildings were very pretty lit up, but nothing that was really incredible.
Walking to the dock....see the thunderclouds coming?
The seats on the edge were wet, so we had to sit behind each other
Giant ipad 2 ad (see the rain bouncing off the ledge!)
More to come on Paris later, au revoir for now!
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