La Belle Ville Paris
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2008
1
13
14
Trip End
Aug 31, 2008
Paris,
France
Friday, August 29, 2008
We were starting the day with Rick Steves' Walking Tour of Paris. We took the metro to Notre Dame where our first stop was a cafe (with bathroom facilities). Attila discovered the French strategy for keeping undesirables out of restaurant washroom facilities.... heat lamps. As you are sittin on the toilet, a heat lamp is blasting its rays from above. (Not what a person with food poisoning needs). After the pit stop, we shared some French Onion Soup and a Croque-Monsieur (think grilled cheese with cheese on the outside too... yummy).
We walked over to the Notre Dame but descided to forgo the inside after seeing the line that went right to the other end of the sqaure. Instead, we admired the outside facade and strolled the ajoining riverside gardens. Our next stop was the Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust, but we couldn't get in as it was lunchtime (and everything in Paris shuts down at lunchtime). We visited the prison where Marie Antoinette and other members of the bourgeoisie spent their final days during the French Revolution. We continued on through the Latin Quarter and walked along the banks of the Seine, admiring the used book stalls along the way. By the time we reached the Louvre, Attila was starting to feel better. We sat in the gardens outside the Louvre and shared our snack with the pigeons and finches and naked lady staues.
From the Louvre, we walked down the Champs d'Elysee, admiring the high-end jewelry, perfume, and car stores in amongst the McDonalds and Disney Store (I might have stopped for a look....) Attila, still trying to do pennance for the lost perfume from our luggage, spent a great deal of time in one perfume store, trying to find a good deal. Ha! Very funny!
At the end of the Champs d'Elysee we crossed underneath the swirling traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the stairs to the top and enjoyed the dizzying view of the traffic below. It was a great vantage point to see the places we'd been that day. By now, Attila was feeling MUCH better (thank goodness!) and the sun was dipping low in the sky, so we hopped the metro over to the Tour Eiffel. Again, deciding to forgo the ascent based on the lines, we instead wandered around underneath the massive structure, giving a wide berth to the security guards with AK-47s?!?! We bought a couple of crepes chantilles (chocolate & whipped creme) and headed across the street to watch the tower light up at dusk. It was beautifully lit with sparkling blue lights and the perfect conclusion to a long day of touristing.
