Day 3: Paris

We woke up...or should I say, Kyle woke up this morning feeling rested and ready to take on Paris! I could've slept another couple of hours, but since breakfast at the hotel was only served until 10, I gave into my 9 o'clock wake-up call. I will say that it didn't take long for energy to kick in. We realized that whereas we had done lots of thoughtful packing, we weren't accounting for the fact that it might be colder in Paris. Luckily, we had our Northface jackets, and I had some capris, so we managed to prepare for the colder temps (for summer, that is...probably about the 60's). We ate breakfast in the basement of our hotel, and it consisted of lots of bread products...croissants, baguettes, etc, some fruit salad, yogurt, and thank goodness...Special K cereal. Kyle had a croissant, I had cereal, and we were good to go!

We decided to walk everywhere we were going today, and I even offered for us to walk back too, but thank goodness Kyle said we could take the metro home because little did I know we would be walking miles upon miles! First stop...Notre Dame. It was absolutely beautiful, inside and out. After a short visit inside we decided to visit the back part outside, with its gorgeous arches. They even had a small, modern-esque carousel that you could sit and spin on, but the French group ahead of us took way too long on it for a couple such as ourselves who had lots to do and not a lot of time!

Next stop, the Pompidou, which is the modern art museum. Because of the long line, we decided not to go in, but we did take our time examining the modern marvel of a building that it is! Highlight for me--when we saw a bickering couple, and the wife proceeded to yank her hubby's ear and punch him aggressively in the arm....how romantic!

By this time, I had to ditch my Euro-chic flats for the comfort of my rainbows if that gives any indication as to how far we had already walked, and it was just lunch-time! We found a cute little cafe called Velocyclette where we munched on Ham baguettes. Kyle thought they had cheese on them, but we discovered it was just a bunch of butter! And how is it that they say French women stay thin?

Onwards to the Place de la Concorde. Except, wait...we stumbled on the Louvre instead! Being that we had tickets to come back the next day, we just enjoyed the glass pyramid and marched on through the Jardin de Tuilleres. Being Ann Barkley's daughter, I, of course, chose the worst place in Paris to have to use the restroom. We literally searched for 30 minutes for a restroom! After that rat race, we decided to settle down in the Jardin with some delicious ice-cream from Dammann's Glacier and our books to read.

Finally, we reached the Place de la Concorde, and in the distance lay the Arc D'Triumphe and in between, the Champs-Elysees. I got excited about all of the shopping on this avenue, and Kyle was a great sport! And what store did I chose to spend my money in...the Gap! But everything looks better in Paris! At this point, I had everything I needed to fit in as a Parisan...cute flats and a scarf! Kyle opted out of purchasing, but did mention he wants to buy a cardigan, which is a big step for him! We reached the Arc D'Triumphe only to discover that we couldn't actually see what Kyle described as the best part...the center... because there was some kind of ceremony taking place. We didn't know what, but all we knew was that it required an enormous French flag that stretched from the top almost to the ground, but the Arc was still beautiful!

By then it was approaching 5:30 and we knew we had the Eiffel Tower at 8, so we thought we'd head back to the hotel to freshen up and grab a bite to eat...scratch that! After taking a wrong train here and there, we ended up going straight to the Eiffel where we grabbed a quick crepe and who did we see...Jean-Claude Van Damme, whose dessert of choice was ice-cream! We were still in line so I sent Kyle out to take pictures...even though I'm still not sure who he is! Van Damme's lady friend thought Kyle was the paparazzi and quickly glared and alerted Van Damme! We quickly left!

Thanks to Kyle purchasing our tickets ahead of time, we didn't have to wait in line and were able to waltz right up! We were both feeling a little nervous on the elevator ride up but were super excited! The elevator takes you first to the middle level, where you have to get out and get on another elevator that's for the true brave of heart....the one that goes all the way to the tip tip top! At this point, I was freaking out, but Kyle helped calm me, and we both agreed that it was a once in a lifetime experience that we wanted to share. However, we also agreed that Kyle's dad, Ronster the Monster, would as Kyle said, "Crap his pants" (I'm sorry Grandmother and Grandaddy!). It turned out that we had nothing to fear! The top layer was fenced in so no crazies could accidentally push us over! If you have never been to the tip top, you should definitely go because words cannot describe nor can pictures capture how beautiful it is to look out over the entire city of Paris, which is, huge! We took lots of pictures from each side of the tower as Kyle pointed out all of the major sites and landmarks! It was the perfect way to end the day as the sun set in the sky surrounding us and the tower! We made our way back down, ready for dinner and bed!

Before getting back to the metro station, we stopped at the Castel Cafe for a ham and cheese toasty (me) and a ham, cheese, & potato omelette (Kyle). Delicious! By the end of dinner it was 10pm and time to end the day! We were tired from walking ALL day long, and our bellies were full! We heart Paris!

Au Revoir until next time! And a special Bon Anniversaire shout-out to Beebs!

Je T'aime

-Laura

Lessons learned today:

1.) McDonalds is a great and clean place to use the restroom in Paris

2.) Flats are cute but not for traveling with Kyle, he walks a lot!