Paris – Day 2
Well, today we started the day by sleeping in. We were both exhausted from last night and didn’t leave the hotel room till 1pm. That’s noon for us though because we are still on London time 
. So, yeah, we got a late start, but we made up for it.
First stop: an awesome street market right outside our hotel. We bought a baguette, grapes, tomatoes and apples before being yelled at by a cheese vendor. Nicole politely asked “par le’ vue engle” (or however you spell it) and was greeted with a harsh no, a shake of the head then 10 seconds of french that neither of us understood. Our guess is that it wasn’t nice. The positive, a women next to us offered to translate our needs. When we asked for a nice cheese with bread the women selling cheese rambled something else (which we assume was rude) then walked away. The translator just shook her head and asked another employee to help us. We walked away with a slice of brie, happy that a local was there to give us a hand.
We took the subway to where? The Eiffel Tower of course. Hey, if you’re gonna have a late lunch in Paris it might as well be near the Eiffel Tower. We ate our food, marveled at the tower and headed to Rue Cler, a small shopping street. Oh yeah, that brie we bought, it tasted terrible, we think it had gone bad and they sold it to us anyway. Damn cheese Nazi.
Rue Cler was pretty cool. A small, quaint street full of vendors of all sorts. Chocolate, flowers, cafe, bakeries, pastry shops and more. We wandered around for about 30 minutes before heading to the Champs Elysees.
The Champs Elysees is chaos. That’s the best way to describe it, pure chaos. People, cars, stores and restaurants galore. We walked up the Champs Elysees for what I think was over a mile before coming to the Arc De Triumph. The ADT is amazing. It’s huge, gorgeous and crowded. We walked around the outside for about 30 minutes before I headed up to the top. The 300 stairs to the top weren’t too bad and culminated in some amazing scenery, you’ll see it if you go to flickr. The entire city is there, ready for your viewing pleasure all from atop something Napolean had built. Pretty amazing to say the least.
After the ADT we headed back down the Champ Elysees to try to make it to the Louvre to see the outside. It was another 2 mile walk to get there but hey, who’s counting? Well, actually, I am. I think we did about 6 miles today. I know because our feet our killing us. Anyway, we made it to the Louvre and it was more than I could have imagined. This place still doesn’t seem real, it’s like I am dreaming about these things, not seeing them. Anyway, it was night time so Nic busted out the tri pod and we went to work. Pictures fo the Louvre, of the Champ, of The Eiffel Tower, of the ADT, anything and everything she could see in the dark, lit up, she caught on camera. Turned out to be some amazing pics. On a side note, we didn’t get to see Cleopatra’s needle in London; however, we did get to see the one in Paris today. The needle was brought over from Egypt and re-erected in Paris. Its pretty cool; covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics and gold.
Dinner….Well, dinner was a bit of a fiasco. We talked about going back to where we had dinner last night but I said no because we should be going to new places. So, we walked around looking at menus, unable to read a damn thing on them and finally sat down at a place that had an english and a french menu. We waited at a table for a waiter, who, before coming to our table was arguing with another person eating, and ended up coming to our table and yelling something in French. I couldn’t find the page I was looking for to order so after about 15 seconds he huffed, mumbled something and walked away. So, we left. Neither of us wanted to sit there after that. We made our way back to the spot we had dinner at last night and sat down.
Our dinner, because I know you’re wondering, was pretty good, though NOTHING like the night before. We said it was our punishment for not being brave. Tomorrow, we vowed, we’ll try something new. For tonight, good night. Tomorrow is Versailles.
Hi there, Well everyday can’t be a good food day. Are you still having good weather? Maybe when you get into the tour group not speaking French won’t be so much of a disadvantage. VERSAILLES from all I have heard is wonderful, can’t wait to hear about it.
Keep writing and we will keep reading.
Love, Mom and Dad
Hi. No, every food day can’t be an awesome one, but between the Boxwood Cafe in London and our first dinner in Paris, if we don’t have another edible meal the rest of this trip, I’ll be okay with that…those two were amazing enough to sustain me a month!!!
The weather is BEAUTIFUL! It really is amazing that we’ve fallen into this weather. Today was 72* and sunny, PERFECT!
Versailles was beautiful as well, though I never imagined it would be so enormous! We thought we walked a lot yesterday, pfft. We’ve been on our feet, walking, alllllllllllllllllllll day today, almost 7 hours straight! We figure, the human race takes us 2 hours, and that is six miles; granted our pace isn’t quite as fast here, but still, that is a heck of a lot of walking!
Glad you’re still reading and enjoying the blogs! Love you both and miss you! xoxo
Hi again, Forgot to mention how wonderful your pictures are. You are really doing a great job. We are enjoying looking at them, keep up the good work.
Love, Mom and Dad
Still loving the blogs!! it is 1am and here I am reading them and looking at your pics. Nicole, congrats on trying K’s meat dish
. You guys look so happy in all of your pictures.
You are in Paris…who cares if the food isn’t great and you run into a few nut cases! I am sure Versailles will be everything and more than you expect. Is the weather chilly there? I see you both are in coats and Nicole is wearing a scarf? Love to you both…Auntie
Second note..should have checked out your day 2 pictures. All sunshine! Pictures are fabulous. Must tell you that your blogs continue to fascinate me. It seems you both are really into the history, etc. of the places you visit. That is wonderful.
Hi Auntie! The weather has been fantastic! We really couldn’t have asked for anything better! Yes, the history in these places is amazing, makes us realize how young we are in America!
Did yo have any idea how exhausted you’d be? I’ve heard that about Europe, but you are truely experiencing it. When do you join a tour?
Love the pictures! I usually read, then look a the pictures….but sometimes, just sneak a pick at the pictures, they are great. Have a loaf of bread and hunk of cheese for me, and a beer for Darren…heck, I’ll take a beer too!!! Happy travels!
-shelly
Hi! We knew we’d be tired, but, well, there isn’t really any way to prepare for this. I’m guessing it is kind of what it is like having kids! We join our tour in 22 hours! We’re excited, but a bit apprehensive about the group, we’re really curious who the other 20 people will be and what they’ll be like!!! Going on vacation with people is always a risk…here goes!
Beer, bread, cheese x deux…DONE!
From what I read about the tour, there is a fair amount of walking. So, that leaves out the old folks who are out of shape! Even if the others are not your favorite folks, rememer EUROPE…NO WORK….couldn’t get much better. Except, of course, if all of us were with you too!!! Love your blogs and thanks so much for writing to each one of us.