Paris Day 1

Our first day in Paris, we woke up early and went downstairs for our complimentary breakfast that the hotel offered. We had wonderful croissants and baguettes with café au lait (coffee with milk). After that, we headed down to the spot where our tour was meeting in front of the Fountain of St. Michael. The free tour was offered by the same company that did our tour in London. They are not kidding when they say it is a walking tour. At 3 hours and 45 minutes long, we were able to see most of the sights in Paris and lose a few toes on the way. We began our walk down by the river Seine, and discussed many of its bridges, as well as a whirl-wind history of Paris.

We then went by the ministry of culture, where the people who actually decide what French words are masculine or feminine work. I had never actually thought about the fact that there are people who do this, since new words are always appearing, such as ipod, which they decided was masculine. After that we headed to the Louvre, which was a former royal palace. The structure itself is amazing and enormous.

We then went by one of the famous metro stops, that is covered by a modern art sculpture, and very different from the other stops. Then it was onto a garden, which was one of so many examples of the love the French have for straight lines. The trees being so straight and manicured was really beautiful.

From a far, we were able to see the Grand Opera house, before we took a lunch break.

Unfortunately, it was unbelievably hot, so lots of water was a must. Will and I split a sandwich, which is still a large amount of food, because the sandwiches here come on a full baguette, about a foot long, so it is plenty for two people. After lunch we headed to the Jardin des Tulieries, which is an excellent example of beautiful French manicured gardens.

Then it was off to see the Eiffel Tower, though we only talked about it from a distance in the Place de la Concorde, with the Crillion Hotel. It is the most expensive hotel in Paris, and where they have the annual world society ball, where kings and other wealthy dignitary’s daughters are presented to the world society. Then it was up the Champs Elysees, though we did not go all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe, because it was a really long walk. After our tour was over, we headed towards the Eiffel Tower. It really is an amazing structure, but Will and I did not go all the way over to because the crowds of people were just more than we wanted to get into to, instead we found that the view from the museum up on the hill was much more amazing, and not nearly as crowded.

We then took the metro back to our hotel, so that we could rest after such a long day. That evening, we ate dinner at a tiny Italian restaurant, which had really amazing food, with homemade pasta. We then went by one of the many patisseries to get small desserts to try. Although I had the meringues, which are not small at all! After that we headed to bed, not being cool at all, but instead being exhausted from such a long day of traveling to get to Paris.

Carrie and Will