Our first day in Paris!

• Rlineurope's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Paris

Trip Start May 18, 2007 Previous
Entry Trip End Jul 18, 2007 Next
Entry

  Paris, France
Saturday, June 9, 2007

Bon Jour from Paris!
 
Today was a great day in Paris with sunny skies and perfect for walking around the city!
We started the morning with a typical Paris breakfast: café au lait with ham and cheese omelete from a local Brasserie. It was yummy! Our morning started a little later than usual as we slept in after a long journey from yesterday.
 
After breakfast we headed out in the direction of the Opera House, which caught the morning light for a good photo opportunity. From there we headed to the Louvre which by 10:30 am was teaming with tourists. We walked down Rue de Rivoli and through the Louvre square and onto the Tuileries Garden, peeking at the musee d' Orsay and all the crowds

Black and white shot of the Eiffel Tower

. We did not want to wait in the crowds so kept walking until lunch. We had a nice chevre chaud (goat cheese) salad along the Seine River and took in some people watching.
 
We circled back around the Tuilerie Gardens to see if by chance the Musee L'Orangerie might be open. This museum has been under renovation for the past 4 yrs and we had heard it might open sometime in 2007. To our luck the museum was finally open and we beat the crowds and had a nice stroll through some fantastic original Monet art as well as Picasso, Matisse and Renoir. We had the best of all the Impressionists in this gallery, but the most interesting note of this Museum was that the security was very low and the space between us and the Monet art was less than 2 feet, with just a small railing in between. The other interesting thing was that when we walked into these round rooms with the Monet art stretched around the walls, there was not a word spoken in these rooms - everyone was in awe of the fine Monet display - no one was even taking pictures! We did snap a few non-flash photos as this was quite a spectacular site for us and were so thrilled to see the finest work from Monet! What a treat!
 
The crowds in Paris this time of year were nasty yet we caught up with our hop-on-hop-off bus in front of the Tuileries Garden and took it around Paris, around Invalides (where Napolean is buried) and Arch de Triumphe, Eiffel Tower, Rodin Museum and made the round trip back to the Opera House

Eiffel Tower at night from Tuileries Gardens

. This bus was PACKED with people and honestly, we were so tight in our seats that we could barely snap a photo! Our arms were glued to our sides with our head phones on blasting Parisian music in between an English speaking guide. We were lucky (we think) to get on the top deck but with absolutely no room to move was a joke! We got off hoping to get a little value out of the journey and spotted where we wanted to spend more time - The Eiffel Tower!
 
After getting a 20 minute rest at our hotel room, we packed on the tripods and took a cheap taxi to the Eiffel Tower for twilight, planning to get to the top and back down in time for the great sunset view. This did not happen! We stood waiting in line for 1 hour and saw at least another hour wait before getting on the lift to the top. We made the decision to bail our of the line and concentrate on the Eiffel tower from the ground level.
 
We were entertained during our wait by a band of Gypsies who were practicing their approach to ripping women's handbags off their shoulder, right out in the front of everyone - such scammers! We saw them huddle together to plan their next strategy and then fanned out to try to get some money from an unsuspecting tourist. This was after 2 attempts on Ryan earlier in the day with Gypsies bending down right in front of us and mysteriously producing a giant-size gold wedding band asking Ryan if he had dropped his ring!

Eiffel Tower from Trocadero Square

! This happened to Ryan 2 times in less than 20 minutes as we walked through the Tuileries Garden so it was not a surprise to see the rest of the gang of women at the Eiffel Tower - begging and playing their game. They left empty handed with us ready for the next joker! This is apparently the new trick for gypsies during high season - we were extra careful after this experience!
 
The Eiffel Tower was spectacular! We found the perfect spot to set up our tripods in the Tuileries Garden and waited....the wait was worth it as the top of every hour the brand new 20,000 twinkley lights sparkle for 10 minutes and we were there! It was truly a site to behold and watching the 900 foot tower built in 1889 sparkle across the sky was thrilling!  Needless to say, we snapped a few photos and were so mesmerized by it all that we did not leave the gardens until after midnight! Super fun!
 
We were hopeless after this point and absolutely wiped out! Of course we had not eaten so were starving and on a Saturday night there was not much open at that hour except for a small place, the Hippopotamus Café! Thankfully we were able to grab a small bite before bed and slept well!
 
Tomorrow we are off for another site seeing day in Paris.
 
Today's walk: 6.8 miles
Total for the journey (128 miles, 23 days)
 
Love,
Laurie and Ryan
 

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Hotel Charing Cross - bathroom	Hotel Charing Cross - Gross Bedroom!	Laurie and Ryan at the Eiffel Tower	Laurie overlooking the Seine river
Local Parisian Knitting Bee	Monet's Waterlillies at l'Orangerie	Night shot of the Eiffel Tower from the bottom	Paris Opera House
The Louvre - Paris	Wide angle shot of the Louvre in Paris

Slideshow Print this entry Share Paris hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry