Paris Day One

Our
first day here was a full one!  We
arrived in Paris at 6:30 in the morning. 
We went straight to the Marriot where we are staying the first 2 nights
and dropped off our bags.   We
then went to the café next door and had breakfast and planned our day.  They have WIFI so it was nice to play on
the internet.  The bread served is
fantastic!  We have been steering
away from breads, but here it is a must!

We
chose to walk a mile to Notre Dame. 
It was fun to see all the little shops and cafés along the way.  There are several fruit stands, cafes,
and bakeries on every block.  We
went through a farmers market with many booths with things such as
olives,
dried fruit, flowers, fish, bread, stinky cheese… 

 

 

We
walked by the Pantheon so we took some pictures of it.

 

It
was getting hot by the time we reached Notre Dame.  It is an amazing place!  The details of the building itself could take an entire book
to explain it all.  Every stone
sculpture or item represents something- a disciple, or king… 

 

Until
we got here we had not seen many people at all, and even the amount of people
here was not like the craziness of Rome. 

 

After
walking through Notre Dame, we walked across the river to get to Ile St .
Louis, a little island filled with sorbet and crepe shops and is on of the most
exclusive neighborhoods in Paris. 
Of course we had to get some sorbet and a crepe with Nutella and
bananas!

 

We
then took the train back to the Marriott cause we were hot and exhausted.  We maybe got 1hour of sleep on the
plane.  We took a 4 hour nap. If
Michael had not set an alarm to get up, I am not sure when I would of woken
up!  It was 7:00 pm so we went back
to the internet café and skpyed the kids. 
What an amazing thing to be able to talk and see the kids on the other
side of the globe all for just 2 cents a minute! 

 

We
took the train up to the river to catch a boat tour.  We first walked to see the smaller version of the Statue of
Liberty.  It is on the River.

 

We
then took an hour boat tour.  You
get on right if front of the Eiffel Tower.  We went at a great time you could still get some great
pictures with the daylight that was left, and then were also able to get some
great evening shots too. 

 

We
were able to see from the boat the Eiffel Tower, Grand Palais, Army Museum, Orsay,
The Louvre, Notre Dame and more. 
We had wonderful time! 

 

It
was neat to see people sitting all along the river just out enjoying the
evening.  People bring a picnic and
sometimes a guitar and just enjoy being out. 

 

There
are many people hanging out by the Eiffel Tower as well.  It is amazing to look up 1,063 feet to
the top.  On the hour at night it
would have flashing lights all over it for several minutes.  It looked amazing!

We
were hungry and decided to split a pizza on our way back and I was surprised to
see it was 11:30!  We had not had
lunch except for the crepe and did not eat supper.  We sat and people watched while eating a very good pizza.  It was just before 1:00 am by the time
we got back. 

 

Side
notes on the day:

~When
looking for English speaking channels we found a sports one hoping to catch up
on the Tour De France.  No, they
were not covering that, they had Dominoes on.  Who watches Dominoes on TV?

~Why do the loved ones of all the smelly people here let them go out
that way?  Take a shower and use deodorant!