Plaza Etoile Paris

... here. Back to the Louvre.

The building itself is amazing. One would need weeks (at least) to go through the collections. Unfortunately, we only had a couple of hours. After the inevitable references to Tom Hanks and The Da Vinci Code brought on by the initial view of the exterior, we rushed inside.

Limited time forces quick decisions. We ended up separating inside and meeting back up at intervals. I ...

... Monmatre district. The metro is so awesome, never more than 500m away, fast and aften and not too $$$. The Sacre Coeur is a beatiful church right up high. We had to navigate heaps of steps and I got rather out of breath. The trip is worth it though, a wonderful view and some gorgeous little streets to explore Mind you they are ful of souvenier shops but cute nevertheless.

The we strolled along the Champs Elysee, had something to ...

... were on the corners of streets since we couldnt understand ANY of the street names she gave us. Once we got there, check in wasn't until 2 so we locked up our stuff and went to start sightseeing and grab lunch. We got McDonalds (shameful, I know) but in our defense, we were starving and had just spent like and hour and a half looking for our hostel, only to find out we were only like 3 blocks away from it (in the wrong direction) the whole time. ALSO, can I just say, dining at McDonalds ...

... sights and taste the local neighborhoods. Our first hotel was near the Arc de Triumph. We barely managing to decipher the Parisian subway system and dragging our 50+lb luggage up and over the never ending flights of stairs underground and end up in a cute and sophisticated neighborhood. The hotel was just situated in a tiny street of local produce and cheese shops , a few blocks from the train ...

... Luxembourg, we saw a couple of bees today at the Jardin des Serres, and some tiny little green bugs kind of like aphids while under some trees in a couple of places. I posted our itinerary on TripAdvisor before we left to get some feedback, and a few people said our schedule looked very packed and they didn't think we'd get it all done. Not only did we get it all done, we had a couple of extra days left over. I don't know if we didn ...

On Day 2 in Paris, we decided to do a bit of shopping. We walked along the rue du Faubourg St. Honoree, where stores like Hermes and Lanvin have their flagships. We also went to the famous concept store Colette, and Fauchon gourmet market (we ended up back here several times to re-stock on goodies). We bought some wine, pate, jam, and other delicious items. Next, we headed to the Champs Elysees ...

... one side was an Aquarium called, "Musee De La Marine" and the other side was a museum called the "Musee Du Cinema". Since neither museum really interested us, we got a snack from the food stand (another Croque Monsieur) and as we were getting ready to walk back down, I asked Steve to take one more picture. By now you can only imagine his frustration after watching me take more than a hundred pictures already. I walked him over to the end of the square overlooking the water ...

HAPPY CANADA DAY from Paris! Hello all...we've fallen a bit behind in the updates. As we're sure you know there are enough things to do and see here to keep you busy for weeks and months, so not much time has been devoted on the ol' laptop. We arrived last Tuesday, June 26, in the afternoon, to our campground in Maisons-Laffitte, which is about a twenty minute train ride from Paris central. We bought our Carte Orange (weekly transit passes) immediately and took the train in for a few ...

... than Paris. It was great, we chilled out at this cafe just across from Notre Dame. We had du cafe au lait, et Orangina aussi. There is no better way to start a trip, this place is amazing and when you look around it leaves you breathless. Just thought to myself, I'm in Paris right now, crazy. Time to speak French, and chill out with Rat's family. So, until next time, A tout a l'heure.

... found the most honest person in South Africa. During my pleasant, but pleading, conversation with the head guard, I asked, as tactfully as possible, if perhaps they offered entry for an additional fee. I was either too subtle, or he was very honest, because that idea went nowhere.] Eventually we were sent to the standby line and about 45 minutes later we drove into the park. We had really gotten our hopes up about seeing Kruger and would have been very disappointed if we ...