Paris - Day 1

Max decided to take a 4-day weekend at the end of June. I didn't want to waste it, so we needed to figure out where to go. Max was thinking Neuschwanstein, but I didn't want to use a whole 4-day weekend on that. I had been thinking Paris would take 4 days if we included a day at Disney, so I, uh, broached the subject. (Really, I convinced Em that's where she wanted to go and went to the library for lots of Paris books) I also researched and bought a new camera. It takes panorama shots! We went to Paris. Max didn't want to come home late Monday and have to go to work Tuesday, though, so we made it a 3-day trip and cut out Disney. It was pretty awesome. We decided on Tuesday that we would go, I made all of the arrangements late Wednesday night, and we left early Friday morning. :)

I had looked at taking the train (we had heard that the tolls were outrageous, and we'd have to get gas at France prices at least once, since Paris is pretty far into France, and our special gas deal is only with Essos in Germany), but the train was going to be almost 500€. So, no. Driving it was. There were a million toll stops, but gas and tolls actually only added up to like 150€ total.

We got up painfully early on Friday and headed out. The GPS said it would take 5 hours, and we wanted to get there with enough time to have a full day. I had a list of things I wanted to so that we wouldn't need to go back unless we really wanted to. There is some odd "road art" on the road to Paris. Like the trip to Amsterdam, we tried to find the closest Esso to the French border. We made a wrong turn and ended up in France before we got gas. Oh, well, we just got gas near Paris. I took a picture of the "Douches" sign. I know it's childish, but it had to be done.

It did take about 5 hours to get to Paris. Unfortunately, we came in on the east side of Paris, and our hotel was on the west side. It took another hour just to get halfway around the city. But, it turned out OK, because we loved our hotel! We stayed at the Novotel in La Defense. It was a PITA to get to, and I was really angry that the pay parking it advertised on the website wasn't actually in the hotel, but we made it eventually. Plus, I got to show off my ninja driving skills. We turned up a ramp that looked like a turn around, but it must have been for motorcycles, because I had to do a 1,324 point turn to get out. I am so glad we were driving my Fit, because I seriously don't think we would have been able to do it with the Corolla.

Sacre Coeur from our window

Once we parked and found our way to the hotel, we checked in. At check-in, she asked if we wanted to pay an additional 10€ a night for a room with a view of the city. Sure, why not? We got up to our room an looked out the window. We had a view of the city, alright! We could see Sacre Coeur up on Montmarte and the Eiffel Tower! We could also see The Ile de Le Grande Jatte, for those fans of either Sondheim or Seurat. Which I am. The hotel's proximity to the island was one of the reasons I was so excited to stay there.

We took a potty break, slathered ourselves with sunblock, and took off! I had checked the metro map to see that our hotel was very close to the La Defense metro stop, so we found our way there. Since the Amsterdam card had worked out so well, we got the Paris one, too. Most of the museums in Paris are free for kids, so we bought the full passes for Max & me and just a transportation one for Em. The nice thing about the Paris one is that you can buy it at major metro and train stops. So, we just bought the cards there and off we went! We switched trains in the Charles de Gaulle Etoile station, and there I found a perfect dress! It was hot, and I had been looking for a sundress for weeks. It wasn't spaghetti strapped, it was a good shape for me, it was only 24€,  lovely! Unfortunately, it was in a teeny shop between two subway platforms, and there was no changing room. The lady looked at me and said a medium was the way to go, though, so we took her word for it.

The arc De Triumph was our closest landmark, so we went there first. The first thing to know is that the Arc is in the middle of a massive traffic circle. You have to go down into a tunnel under the road to get there.

 Even though our full passes came with line cutting privileges, and even though Em was free, she still needed a physical ticket to get in. But, the line wasn't long, so no big deal. We went right in. Uh, let me say this. If you don't like steps, don't go in. Unless you are handicapped, you have to take the steps. There are 284 of them, and all but like 50 of them are in one huge spiral staircase in one leg of the Arc. I was ready to die by the time we got to the top, and I'm not that out of shape. The monument people are smart, though. There's a nice large seating area at the top of the steps to catch your breath.

The camera looking down

The part over the arch is a large room that they have fixed up into a sort of museum & gift shop. You can't see out except through a camera that they have looking down from the very top of the arch. Once you're ready, you can take those last 50 steps up to the top for some spectacular views of the city. 

Down the Champs-Elysees

When you get to the top, you can see Paris. We had fun picking out our hotel, the Champs-Elysees, the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and all of the other landmarks we knew. You've seen Sacre Coeur from our hotel, and there will be a million pictures of the Tower later, so for now I'll share the Champs-Elysees.You tromp back down the 50 steps to the museum level, you look around the gift shop, you stand in line for the bathroom and decide that you really don't want to wait behind the 4th grade field trip (though it is somewhat entertaining to hear the girls talking about Gaston because, of course, it makes you think of the Gaston from Beauty & the Beast), and then you look with horror at the steps you now need to go down.

Luckily, it's in another leg, so you don't have to worry about people coming up, but still. Holy crap.

Mmmm...mayo

After that, we were starving. We walked down the Champs-Elysees (I think that's the last time I'll have to type that) to find lunch. We took a picture by a street sign, 'cause we could. We didn't feel like spending a million dollars in the very touristy places there, so we ate at Quick Burger. It wasn't very quick, and the food was mediocre, but we had fries with mayo, so ya know.We proceeded to the sightseeing bus bus stop and waited the couple of minutes for it to come. Our passes came with a 2-day bus pass, and it went to pretty much everywhere we wanted to see. It was full. Not just a little full, but sitting on laps full. No thanks. We got back on the subway and headed to the Eiffel Tower. Note that I was looking the whole time for those Metro signs you see in all the art prints. The one by the Arc was OK, but not great.

We had heard that the lines were long, and we hadn't planned on going up in. But, Em decided that was the one thing she really wanted to do. She's such a good sport about being dragged into every museum that I really try to do some of the things she wants to do while we're out. The lines were horrendous, and we were accosted by many, many men asking if we wanted these lovely Oriental Trading looking Eiffel tower souvenirs. "Bling bling or no bling bling? Four for a Euro!" See the line behind us in the picture? Yeah, that's for people wanting to WALK UP THE STAIRS! Oh, hell to the no. You can imagine the lines for the elevator tickets.

We looked at catching the bus from the Tower. Still full. Ever the victims of not-to-scale maps, we decided to walk the "short" distance to the tomb of Napoleon in Les Invalides. It wasn't on the original list, but it was close. It wasn't close. It was closer than some other landmarks, I'm sure, but not close in the strictest sense of the word. But, I'm glad we went, because on the way, we spotted a tiny little market with fruit out front. We were all thirsty (it was friggin' hot), and the fruit looked gorgeous. Em got some strawberries, Max got a fig, and I got the best peach I have ever had in my life, Georgia be damned. We ate our fruit in the garden of Les Invalides and then went inside. I'm also glad we did because it's really cool in there! Literally and figuratively. It was neat to see Napoleon's tomb, and the dome was spectacular.

Napoleon's tomb (one of my cool new camera's panoramas)

We were dying of thirst, so we went to the snack bar for some waters. They had lunch-sized bottles of wine for the same price, but we stuck with the waters. Nor did we get any of the awesome Napoleon suckers.

You ate his face?

That's not our tray

We looked for the bus again. It doesn't go to Les Invalides. We walked. By the time we got to a metro stop, we were nearly at the Musee d'Orsay. By now, it was 6:30, and I knew it was open late on Friday, so we gave it a go. No way, line way too long. I knew the Notre Dame towers were open later on Friday (though I didn't know exactly when), so we went that way. Subway this time, too far to walk. We came up in St Michel. Not in the slums, though, for those who know Les Mis) Angels sang. The sign! Aaaaahhhhh! (That's an angel singing, not screaming, BTW). We walked through a little street lined with Maisons de Gyro and lots of little cafes and food shops. It all smelled so good, but we wanted to get to Notre Dame. We got to Notre Dame. Turns out the late opening was only until like 6. Damn. There was a sign out front that said the church would be closed the next morning for an ordination, but that the towers would be open at 3. OK, will do. We walked around, saw a monk & a nun, took some pictures, and went back to the little food street in St Michel for dinner.  We also ducked into an alley so we could take a picture of Em in her Gavroche hat in what could pass for the slums of St. Michel.

These'r me people, n'here's my patch!

We headed back to the Eiffel Tower for another go. Nope. Lines were actually worse. So, we headed back to the hotel, so we could get an early start Saturday. We wanted to be at the Louvre when it opened to beat the lines. When we came out of the station at La Defense, we could see the Eiffel Tower all lit up with a huge moon right next to it. It was gorgeous. By the time we got back to our room and looked out the window, the Tower was not only lit up, but it was sparkling! It was a lovely thing to see before bed.

From the station

Le Grande Jatte

Emma says - At Notre Dame, a guy was entertaining people in line for the towers. He had a creepy mask on, and was sneaking up behind people and scaring them. It was funny. The stairs in the Arc were the most horrifying thing I've ever seen in my life, and that even counts my nightmares.