We must have walked for at least 5, but probably closer to 6 miles, this afternoon. Arrived in beautiful Paris at about 2:30, found the hotel, found a place to park about ½ mile away, checked in and started our walking tour right away.
Our hotel is across the Seine from the Louvre, so we began our walking tour of all the must see sights with the Louvre. The Louvre closes at 5:00 pm so we grabbed info for Sunday planning and kept walking straight toward the Arc de Triomphe. When we started in that direction both the Arc and the Eiffel tower seemed deceptively close. Boy were we wrong.
We went through the ‘Jardin des Tuileries’, across Place de la Concorde where the Egyptian Obelisque stands with its gold top. Down the Avenue des Champs Élysées where some of the best and most expensive shops in Paris are. So little time so much to see. I did see a coat I loved made of Python for 2200.00€. I also saw a beautiful little dress for miss Ava Lynn, it was only 340€ so no, not this time.
Then on to the Arc de Triomphe where you are not allowed to cross the street to it you have to go by underground tunnel and pay to go up to the arc and you can also go up to the top of the Arc. Of course totally innocently we went up the stairs that are meant for going back down to the tunnel and ended up not paying. It was not until we were leaving that we noticed the signs. Oh well. We didn’t go up to the top, too many friggin stairs. Also didn’t feel bad about not paying since most of the Arc is shrouded by scaffolding. You’ll notice that a lot of our photos will be of stuff with scaffolding around it. Typical of off season tourist places.
Then hike back to the river and get back across the Seine, about another mile walk, to the Tour Eiffel. Then back toward the hotel along the Seine. We wanted to take a river dinner cruise but they didn’t start until 7:30 or 8:00 and we would have had to wait for about an hour and then you are on the river until 11:00. It was too much after a 6 ½ hour drive and 5+ miles of walking. We opted for heading back to the hotel and finding a place to eat near there.
I just kept saying “We’re in Paris! Hey S, we’re in Paris.” I kept saying that until just after the Eiffel Tower, when my feet made their discomfort known and my legs also began to complain, plus I was hungry and it was getting dark and cold. Yeah, right about then I was just a tad bit cranky, though S might describe the mood as significantly more black.
Making it back to our little hotel and our even littler room was the high point of the evening for me. I was way past cranky by then. I yelled at S that if he slowed our progress by stopping to take one more picture I was going to kill him. I’m not fun when I’m hungry ask any of my friends (or maybe ex-friends?). Our room is so little it’s the size of say my old bedroom at home but squeeze in a bathroom and closet into that room too. Our room is tiny and our hotel is tiny, but who the heck cares, WE ARE IN PARIS!
Dinner was around the corner at a little trendy looking bistro. It was good, but nothing special, just food to ‘un-crank’ Missy.
Tomorrow we’ll do the Louvre and Notre Dame. S wants to attend mass at 12:45 at Notre Dame. We’ll see. Anyway, time for bed and I know that I’ll sleep like the dead. So will S if he doesn’t quit trying to cheer me up. We’re in #*&@#% Paris!
Anyway, below are some photos from the day.
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