And Then There Was Paris

We flew from Venice to Paris, and found out right away, Paris was AWESOME.  By the time we got there we were beat though.  We had put all our planning into Italy, that by the time we even thought about Paris we didn't have a clue.  We couldn't climb another step, walk another mile, see another statue.  Well, we felt like we couldn't, but we really could, and we did.  And so, I paid for 2 overpriced, but very worth it tickets for the Red Bus, that got us into 60 museums, 1 ride on the Seine River boat cruise and tickets to ride the train system.  Done and Done.  We had very little time in Paris and had to get around fast.  We traveled by foot, bus, and waterway.  Since those tickets didn't start till the next day... we got to walking the city after we dropped off our stuff at the hotel.

Our hotel was very close to the Eiffel Tower, so we spent most of our time there, admiring it.  However,  we also spent a lot of time just riding the top deck of the red bus and seeing the sights from the street.  We were able to hop on and hop off whenever we like.

I loved the buildings and architecture of Paris... quite different from Italy.

Arc De Triomphe

Paris atop the Eiffel Tower.  We paid the money and went straight to the top.  While I was scared of the elevator moving slow as molasses I was glad I went up all the way.  The city was absolutely stunning at night from the top.

One of our stops on the bus was Notre Dame Cathedral.  By far, our favorite church (we had been in quite a few), besides the Vatican.  The stained glass was just beautiful.  And I liked the gothic style.  Who knew how different one church could be from the rest.

Fresh flowers were everywhere in France!

This guy made me laugh... he kept shouting "I love Ammmmmerrrriiicca!"

Being at the Louvre was pretty darn cool too.  We were able to see Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.  Other than that we followed the Rick Steves' tour and saw the other highlights too.  They say if you were to look at every piece of art in the Louvre for 30 seconds each, with no breaks it would take like 3 months to see everything.  We also went to the Musee' Orsay, which was full of Impressionism.  There, I was able to recognize more artists that I have studied and it wasn't so darn boring.   

I have so many pictures and we saw so much even in those 2 days, it's hard to present just a few.  Paris, and France in general, is definitely a place I would like to go back to eventually.  There is so much to do.  We didn't receive as much of a warm welcome as in Italy from the Parisians, but we will live.  People can be just as crappy here.  However, I would like to brush up on my french when we go next.  That was the worst part, not being able to understand the menu's, the Parisian's don't even help you with that.  You really are on your own there.  And while we were trying to be very courteous, we were making it worse by forgetting we were in France and using Italian words.  Oops.  It was also much more expensive.  But really, our favorite parts were just walking around and taking in the life that they live, and that part is free.  It is so different than the American life.      

And with this picture, the end of our 2 week adventure....