Well here I am after my second exhausting day in ol' Gay Paree. I was much more comfortable today. I had a better grasp on things and best of all - I saw the Eiffel Tower today! Up close and personal - I stood on it, under it, beside it, in it or whatever else you might be able to think of. We also got a little lost, to tell the truth, but I was not afraid. Somehow you can never be lost in Paris. There is always a way to get from once place to another place. It's really nice actually.
Day two began late, as Lindsay and I were both pretty jet-lagged and slept in. We went to breakfast in the hotel (or did we - we might have missed it, though I might have grabbed a pain au chocolat to bring back to the room!). Once we got dressed (and fought with the weird tub/shower thing), we headed out for the Champs Elysees, knowing that we would be able to walk to the Eiffel Tower from there, and we could also see the Arc du Triomphe. A quick glance at the map showed us the way and we were off.
I suppose we DIDN'T make it to breakfast that day because we were both pretty hungry and stopped at this little Panini place near the Place du la Concorde. They were having a train exhibit in Paris that week, so the beginning of the Champs Elysees had a bunch of old train cars along it. After we sat and ate our sandwiches, we continued walking, enjoying the little flower displays and the signs we could read, which are so different from the ones we have here.
We didn't go into any stores, but instead walked directly to the Arc. Once we were there, we wondered how on earth you get to it without dying, as the traffic circle around it was very congested with speedy cars. Finally one of us noticed the underpass to get there, and we sat beneath it for a little while and used up a roll of black and white film.
When we felt rested enough to continue our walk, we mapped out where we needed to go - and the promptly took the wrong street. We walked for a while, wondering why the Eiffel Tower was not getting any closer. WE continued, both thinking we should be able to see it in the distance. We finally realized we had walked down the wrong street, going in the wrong direction. A quick look at the map and Lindsay has us oriented again, and we walked down the CORRECT street, where the Eiffel Tower just got bigger and bigger as we made our way towards it.
We headed to the tower and paid to head up to the top - by WALKING! That was not fun at all, so we ended up staying on the first level and looking down. Even from there, everything looks miniscule!
After some fun at the top of the tower (including our heads in the gates), we headed down and walked to the other side for some pictures and headed towards the Metro station, passing L'Ecole Militaire and more French sites. I particularly liked the way they put up ads and things.
Oncw we finished at the tower, we were really tired so we went back to the hotel (or we may have walked over by the Louvre; it was so long ago I can't remember - and we DID do a lot of just walking around).
That night we wanted to have an authentic French meal at a REAL restaurant. After consulting the guidebook, we found a good one just a few blocks from the hotel and walked over. Dinner was good but then we were so tired we headed back to the hotel for bed. We had to be up early the next day for Montmarte!
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