Rendez-vous in Paris, Part 1

Day 1

After an early flight on Tuesday morning, I arrived in Paris! But, before any fun could begin, I had to get out of the Charles De Gaulle airport which was easier said than done. The airport was so confusing with buses from the plane, no clear signs, no customs, and what seemed like no air conditioning in the bathrooms. Baggage took forever and then the bus stop into the city was relocated to another part of the airport. About 2 hours after the plane landed, I finally got out of the airport and on the bus to the city. I arrived at the hotel to meet my long lost friend Zack, who I know from Guam, and his roommate Josh. Then, our 4 day long adventure in Paris began!

Our hotel was right across from the Arc de Triomphe. Even though it was raining, we climbed up to the top where I got my first glimpse of Paris!

Looking down on to the Champs Élysées

Sacré Coeur in the distance

Josh, me and Zack on top of the Arc de Triomphe

French flag flying inside of the Arc de Triomphe

After the Arc de Triomphe, Zack and I strolled through Paris in the rain. It was so nice to be in the city that I've wanted to visit since 5th grade when I included a trip to Paris in my project on the novel Brewster's Millions. Anyway, we wandered through Paris, down the Champs Élysées, past the Seine, got another glimpse of the Eiffel Tower and then headed to the Musée de l'Armée. Then, it really started pouring. We got completely drenched and quickly ran to a Metro station to figure out how to get back to the hotel.

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Day 2

The second day started out with a long walk down a bunch of Parisian side streets. We ended up near the Panthéon and then headed to the Jardin des Tuileries and the Musée du Louvre.

The Louvre is huge! I could have spent the entire 4 days in the museum! But, we covered as much as we could. We saw the Mona Lisa (La Joconde), which although it is an amazing piece of art surprised me by how small it looks in real life. We also toured the apartments of Napoleon III, which were so ornate and beautiful.

Looking up into the glass pyramid built by I M Pei

Me and Zack outside of the Louvre
Then we walked to Île de la Cité to have lunch and see the Cathédrale de Notre Dame. Although we didn't go all the way to the top, the inside of the Notre Dame was beautiful.
GargoylesThe back of the Notre Dame

After the Notre Dame, we walked back down the Champs Élysées where I stook in the middle of the multi-laned traffic to get another photo of the Arc de Triomphe.

We ended the night with a wonderful dinner at The Market, a restaurant owned by a French chef, followed by drinks at Café George V on the Champs Élysées. It was 400 Euro dinner for 3 people with 3 courses and 3 bottles of wine! Zack felt compelled to take a photo of our fancy desserts, while all poor Josh wanted to do was put the camera away and eat his sorbet that was served on an ice block!

To be continued...