Paris in a Day!

Because of Kristin's flight delay, today was our only full day in Paris so we were determined to make the most of it.  We got up early and treated ourself to the standard French breakfast of a croissant and juice/coffee.  After breakfast we took the metro right to the Eiffel Tower.  We were told if we got there early the lines would be much shorter.  The lines for the elevators were relatively long but the line for the stairs was pretty short so we decided to go for it since neither of us is exercising this week. 670 steps later we made it to the second level of the tower. The views were gorgeous.  We tried to get tickets to ride the elevator all the way to the top but they weren't selling tickets for at least another hour because the line was so long already so we decided to skip it.  After heading down we took the metro over to the Louvre.  Unfortunately, when we got there we found out that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays so the plan now is to go there first thing tomorrow morning.

We were told there was a tourism office near the Opera and the Louvre so we decided to check that out.  We figured we could at least buy our Louvre tickets for tomorrow and maybe find out about going out to Versailles.  Finding this tourism office was definitely more challenging than we anticipated and we ended up walking all around that area of the city for at least an hour trying to find it!  It was a good use of our time though because we got to see a number of cool things including the Opera, the Madeleine, and Palace Vendome.  There will be plenty of pictures posted when I eventually get them off of my camera!  We finally found the tourism office but at that point it was way too late to go out to Versailles.  At least we have a moral victory that we actually found the thing!

After our tourism office adventure we then took the bus over to Notre Dame and had lunch in a cute little cafe.  We then visited the Notre Dame Cathedral.  It was huge!  To imagine what it was like to build this church without modern equipment is crazy!  We also walked by Saint Chapelle, another beautiful church right by Notre Dame but the line was really long to go in so we skipped it.  We then headed back towards the Champs des Elysees to see the Arc De Triomphe.  When we got there we found out you can pay to go to the top of it.  Since we hadn't gone all the way up the Eiffel Tower we decided to try this and that was definitely the right decision.  After climbing another 250 stairs we made it to the top.  The views of the city were breathtaking - you could see just about all of the sites we saw today!  We took plenty of pictures then headed back down the stairs and back to the hotel to relax for a bit.  We had been on the go for about 9 hours and climbed over 1000 stairs so we needed some time to put our feet up, as well as figure out how we are getting to Belgium tomorrow!

After mapping out our plans for our trip to Brussels (EuroRail stops, metro, directions to hostel once we get there, etc.), we decided to head out for dinner and drinks in the Saint-Germain area of the city.  One of Kristin's friends and a random elderly Parisian lady in the Philly airport that she met had recommended Cafe de Flore on Boulevard de Saint Germain, so we stopped in to check out the menu!  There was probably some excellent choices on there, but unfortunately it was all in French and they did not offer a copy with English translations...overall, this was not very accomodating for us American tourists so we decided to move on!  We found a cute cafe with a nice prixe fix menu and a good bottle of wine (Bordeaux) and we were set!  We both had the chicken dish and really enjoyed it.  Overall, the first course was better last night and the life-changing chocolate mousse was not on the menu tonight, so we enjoyed our dinner a little more last night, but the dinner tonight was still good!  And the wine was great!  After dinner, we started our search to find the "baby bottle" bar.  L'Urgence was recommended by one of Kristin's friends (American) who lived in Paris for 6 months.  He said that they serve all the drinks in baby bottles....so we had to check this out!  After a little walk in the wrong direction, we finally turned ourselves back around, found our landmarks and made our way successfully to the baby bottle bar (thank you google maps)!  We were very proud that we had successfully found all of the sites that we wanted to see in our "Paris in a Day" adventure!  We walked in and the bar had a very unique vibe.  It was themed with pills/hospital/emergency type pictures and props.  We think the "L'Urgence" means ambulance, but me might need to look that up in French dictionary to verify.  Overall, it was very cool, and we got some yummy liquor drinks in our baby bottles. :-)  We took some pictures and only stayed for one drink because we know we have a jam-packed day in Brussels tomorrow.  We took the metro home which is second nature by now because we are officially Parisian metro experts....and it only took one day!  Now it is time to rest...the Louvre is tomorrow morning and then Belgian waffles in the afternoon!  Good night!