A Day in Paris!!!

Our Paris day began at 3:45 when we got out of bed so that we could be at the airport in time for our flight. (Yes, we now realize that we are NUTS.) Jon (what a sport) drove us to the airport and we left England behind at about 6 in the AM!! We arrived 55 minutes later at Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris, France and immediately boarded the Underground Railroad into the center of the city.

Our first planned stop was to be the Sacre Coeur. We did not know the best way to get there, so Lucy found an old woman and asked her (in French, uh huh) how to get there. The old woman gave GREAT directions, but we failed to follow them. MMM HMMM...because of this, we climbed a great many stairs (too many to count) at the end of which I thought I was going to pop a lung. At the top, Lucy (conveniently) remembered that there was an escalator and, had we listened to the old woman, we could have taken it up instead of the stairs...oh, well...we needed the exercise. We toured through the Sacre Coeur and then viewed a BEAUTIFUL bird's eye view of Paris.

After viewing the gorgeous view, we headed toward the Louvre and a restaurant that was featured in the guide book as a great place to have a real French hot chocolate. At Angelina, Lucy and I each ordered a chocolate croissant and a hot chocolate which was so thick, it was like drinking thick chocolate syrup. It was amazing!! After that, we walked around the Louvre and even stopped to have our picture taken so that you would all believe that we were actually there!!

After the Louvre, we headed to Notre Dame, which is the MOST amazing place I have seen. It was so ornate and lovely, with the pipe organ playing the whole time. It took some time to go through it, but was totally worth it.

After Notre Dame, we boarded the Batobus, a river boat that takes passengers down the Siene River toward the Eiffel Tower (or Tower of Eiffel, as Lucy called it). It was a great and relaxing ride with a LOT of great buildings and bridges to see. It was so relaxing, in fact, that Lucy fell asleep on the boat. I went to the back of the boat and enjoyed the sights, taking MANY pictures. I loved it!! We got off the boat very close to the Eiffel Tower. There was only one lift running at the tower, so we opted to walk around it taking pictures and then sat down in the nearby park and enjoy the scenery. Lesser humans might have taken a nap during this time, as the weather was gorgeous and the sun was warm (read between the lines here, people).

After the Eiffel Tower experience, we walked around just taking in the sites. Everywhere you go in Paris, there are beautiful and ornate carousels. Here is a picture of just one of the ones we saw on the way to the...



...Arc de Triumph. It was amazing and beautiful. We also, incidentally, saw three nuns who were asking a passing pedestrian to take their picture. We found this quite amusing as we were SOOOO tired from our early morning departure. We walked around the Arc de Triumph and took pictures, then took a stroll down the Champs-Elysees.

We looked in some shops and stopped at a sidewalk cafe and had some dinner before strolling back toward the Louvre. We stopped in a park and relaxed in a beautiful park by a pond. We strolled a little further and enjoyed watching some kids sailing some boats in a little pond with sticks. It was all VERY French.

After this, it was time to start making our way on the Underground back to the airport. Jon (again~what a sport) picked us up and drove us back home....we were SO completely exhausted, but WHAT A DAY! I have never been so tired, yet so excited!!