Two days in Paris

When I first told people I was only going to Paris for two days, they looked at me and said "only??" as if it was impossible to get around and see everything one would want in that period of time. I'm not saying it was easy, and I'm not saying I have no need to go back, but Jen and I managed my full list of monuments and we still had time to sleep and go shopping.

We left early Thursday morning for the train, and travelled by tram, intercity train, high-speed Thalys and the Paris metro to arrive at the hostel in Paris. Our travels were not without their mistakes, as we went the wrong direction on the Paris metro towards a suburban town called "Louvres" instead of the single stop to the mid-town hub where we would transfer to get to the Musee du Louvre. In the end we got there alright, if a little irritable.
We spent the rest of Thursday walking around. After eating at a streetside cafe, and witnessing some rather heavy rain, we decided to go to the shops on Rue de Rivoli. So, we did that, and it became sunny again! After a little shopping, we decided to walk down to the river and follow it in the direction of the Champs-Elysees, since I wanted to see where the Tour de France bikes had been less than a week before. The river walkways and bridges were very pretty and I took several pictures of them and the many large, architecturally interesting buildings we passed along the way. [I will upload the photos from the Canon Rebel I have been using when I return.] When we reached the Tuileries, we turned away from the river and went to the Ferris Wheel, where we had some crepes and took a ride. The view from the top was gorgeous. After our ride we walked through the Tuileries towards the Obelisk and the Arc de Triomph. We made a few stops on the way, and switched to the metro for part of the way up the Champs-Elysees (we were both tired by this point), but eventually we reached the Arc de Triomph, located the underground passage and went up to it to take photos.

You'll never believe this was at around 8pm!

It was certainly interesting to look down the Champs-Elysees and see the Obelisk and the Louvre back down where we started. After some very touristy behavior, we stopped at a nearby cafe for some drinks (Orangina!) before heading back into the subway to go to the Tour Eiffel. We got out of the subway just as they turned on the lights on the tower, and followed the herds in the general direction of the base. We then, of course, took the proper number of photos:

After photographing the Tour and the river, we decided it was best to take a taxi back to the hostel, since we were hot and tired and our feet hurt. So, I can say I have ridden a taxi in Paris and I didn't die, though I'm pretty sure Paris is a more dangerous city for pedestrians, given the way people drive. Within 5 minutes of being out of the metro in Paris, we saw a fender-bender at a cross walk. No one was hurt, but still!

Friday morning we woke to a free breakfast at the hostel (jam, fresh bread, hot chocolate and juice) and headed over to the Musee du Louvre. After walking through the relatively fast paced line we arrived inside the pyramid and went down to purchase tickets into the galleries, which were 10 Euro. Not bad! Jen and I definitely didn't get to everything, but we went to see the things that I knew would be interesting the whole time and never boring. Someday I will go back and visit the painting galleries that we did not visit this time around. We first went to the Mona Lisa, since I figured the crowds would be smaller since it was early. It was still crowded, but not so much so that it was extremely difficult to get this photo:

We then walked through almost the entire Egyptian gallery and some of the Greek and Roman stuff. The most interesting things there were the ink on papyrus writings and drawings. Those were so cool to see!! I took some pictures with my camera, they'll be up later with the others :). We also went through Napolean III's apartments. Fancy!
After the Louvre, the last thing on my list was Notre Dame. After some lunch and the most delicious quiche I have ever eaten, we took the metro to Cite, got off and walked the block and a half to Notre Dame. We took some photos and rested outside for a few moments before getting in line to enter.

The inside was so pretty! But very dark so I only have photos from the nice camera. I'm glad I made a point of going here.
After Notre Dame, Jen and I took the metro back to the shopping district where we used the restroom in the super nice McDonald's on Rue du Rivoli. Seriously. It's all digitized and well lit and nice. It was sort of odd. After, we went into some stores and I bought a pair of skinny jeans so I could be fashionable walking around Europe. Everyone here wears skinny jeans, all the time. This new pair are actually quite comfortable!
After that we went to a creperie and had another small meal and drank some French wine. We got the Rose, since most of the other wines looked drier than is to either of our tastes. It was quite good! After a long rest there, we toodled our way back to the hostel, stopping at some souvenir shops on the way, got our bags and took the metro back to the station for the Thalys. We got on the train fine, but then it was delayed for an hour and a half! We did not return to the apartment in the Hague until around midnight, at which point I promptly went to sleep.

Today I go to Amsterdam! Perhaps another post tonight. If not, tomorrow. I am loving Europe so far!