Day 4: Paris

The Original Plan for Day 4:

Get up at 8:30 am and head to the Louvre for some good ol' fashion Art and History! After the Louvre we would head back to Rue Mouffetard (visited on Day 2) get some good food for a picnic at the Jardin du Luxembourg. After an afternoon of reading, writing postcards and relaxing we were going to head for an early dinner consisting of crepes at a local Creperie suggested by my Aunt Maureen. After the creperie we would make our way over to the Eiffel Tower to catch the night version of Fat Tire Bike Tours (also suggested by Momo). And then call it a night. Which would have been a lovely day!

But one thing happened that would forever change or lives (well that's a little over dramatic, it just changed our day) ... we slept in!

What Really Happened:

So, after finally convincing Laura that 11:00 am was the actual time and not a joke we got up and quickly got ready for our day. As the only thing that we had to do today was the Louvre because of our tickets, we decided to start the day with a little lunch ... well a little dessert ... ok, a lot of dessert! We followed the directions that Momo gave us to find what turned out to be the best Creperie in the entire world (at least that's what we think)! As you remove yourself from the fast pace of St. Michel there is a little side street with a few restaurants and even more creperies. How you figured out which one to choose Momo I will never know! Anyways, as we reached our destination we saw a little hole in the wall that fit maybe 15-20 people called Creperie St. Germaine. Little did we know Heaven waited through the little door that leads you inside. We sat down and as we sat down the waitress passed our table with a crepe filled with all sorts of goodies and gave it to the man behind us. Laura looked at me and said, "I'm having that!" And she did. It was called the Belle Helene and it had vanilla ice cream, apple sauce, pear, whip cream, and chocolate sauce! It was amazing! I had something a little more tame. It was called the Toscane and consisted of Canadian bacon, mozzarella, tomato, and olive oil. It was really good too, and that was just the tip of the iceberg on the menu.

After we departed the creperie we headed for the Louvre! It wasn't a long walk before we reached the glass pyramid and jumped in line. Since we had tickets there was no wait and we swiftly gathered a plan to see everything we thought would be great. First up, the Mona Lisa! Last time I was at the Louvre we were shoved into a room with the legendary painting and told to keep walking, no stopping, and NO PICTURES! Apparently they don't do that anymore. We walked right up to it and took our time examining it and taking a few photos too. After that we made the rounds visiting the Venus De Milo, the Greek Art, the Egyptian Art, the Statue Room, and a few other odds and ends. I believe we were there for a little over 2 hours. As much as I love the famous stuff there and see some of the other great pieces Laura and I agreed that the Louvre was not the most exciting thing in the world.

At this point it was after 3:30pm and we needed some grub. We went back to St. Michel where we passed a lot of great looking restaurants in our search for St. Germaine creperie and we settled on what we thought was a cute little place with a good deal on a three course meal. It sucked and I won't even mention the name or what we ate. So that's the end of that.

After beating ourselves in the head for picking a bad restaurant we decided to head back to the hotel and change for the bike tour. Laura got all bundled up because it was in the low-60s all day and is supposedly going to be colder tomorrow. We then set out back to the Eiffel Tower to jump in on the Night Tour with Fat Tire Bikes. Let me make a side note here: I like doing touristy stuff, but I love doing traveler's stuff! The difference is tourists see everything, but travelers EXPERIENCE everything! The adventure we were about to embark on this evening was an experience! We met up with the tour guides at the south pillar of the Eiffel Tower. We then walked with our tour guide back to the Fat Tire clubhouse and prepared for our bike ride. Once we were gathered with our group our tour guide Ned went around and asked people where they were from. Not only was there a group from Raleigh, but Ned himself was born and raised in Durham! He knew exactly where our house was! Small world, I know.

Anyways the when the tour began Laura struggled not to cry as we rode along busy streets next to cars and motorcycles. After we made a few stops we made a stop at Berthillion Glacier on Ille St. Louis, behind Notre Dame. Best Ice Cream Ever! Laura and I both had Chocolat Noir, or Dark Chocolate, in a cone and scarfed it down as we chatted with people on our tour. We made our way through the streets of Paris, riding around the Pyramid at the Louvre, across the Pont Neuf bridge and down along the River Seine. A huge reason we chose to do this tour was because it ended with a boat cruise down the river. We got to the boat around 10pm, sun was still on it's way down, so it was a perfect time. We went up and down the river for about an hour until we were right in front of the Eiffel Tower. Right at 11:00 the lights that enwrap the tower went off in a bright sparkle. Laura and I stood there together with our arms around each other. To quote one of my favorite books, "I felt infinite." It was extremely romantic and a great end to a great day. Oh, and by the way we did make a quick stop at McDonald's on the way home because it was the only thing open at 12:30am. We needed some comfort food.

-Kyle

Lessons Learned Today:

1. When choosing a restaurant in Europe, pick a side street away from the hectic-ness of the city and relax. If it's near a busy place and not recommended then its probably not worth it.

2. Paris is in fact the most romantic place in the world!

3. Go to Creperie St. Germaine and Berthillion Ice Cream if you are ever in Paris!