So it’s been a while since I posted some photos…
Eiffel Tower and clouds and stuff.
Most of you are over there, somewhere... Some of you are little bit off to the left.
Can anyone explain how this is any more Canadian than the other baguettes? (they *are* tasty, though...)
Space Invaders are taking over Paris.
Sailing in the Jardin de Luxembourg.
Alex and I managed to find THE grossest bathrooms in all of Paris!
We decided to go and eat at a restaurant after visiting the Towers at the Notre Dame Cathedral (400 steps up and down btw - but who’s counting). The food was yummy, the service was phenomenal (if you discount the fact that 3 out of the 6 pieces of cutlery we received were dirty), and it wasn’t too expensive.
The bathrooms were something else! Not only was there no toilet seat; very little toilet paper (except for on the floor); water all over the floor; general dirt and grime all over the place, but the men’s washroom made you figure out the plumbing before you could get water to wash your hands. Alex equated it to a skill testing question…. All in all quite the experience!
For the future, anyone traveling to Paris: if you choose to eat at Chez Panis, great, go for it! Just don’t use the washroom there!
So Notre-Dame de Paris, in spite of the gigantic stained glass windows everywhere – which are really quite nice – is impossibly dark, and crowded. It’s like being at a concert at Metropolis, only without the noise or the smoke. Even if I had a tripod with me, I would not have had room (nor inclination) to set it up. Handheld photos at 1/20th being what they are, the photos I took will need much more time than I feel like putting in to them right now, and may all very well be hopelessly blurry.
Sadly, the cathedral’s spirit is under siege by the tourist industry, and tourism is winning. Large herds of tourists follow guides holding giant felt sunflowers, the whole place is cordoned off bus-terminal-queue-style, and signs are everywhere to let you know that you may light a votive candle if you wish – for a mere €5.
So, Al and I decided to spend the day at the Louvre. We were there for three and a half hours (who knew that it closed at 6?), and managed to see most of one of the three wings. Lots of statues, lots of paintings, lots of nude women frolicking around drunken men…
Low and behold, we finally made it to the Mona Lisa…. And the security around the Mona Lisa….
Why was it so important for it to be the only painting in the Louvre to have (and yes, I’m well aware that I should already know why!! - but let me rant anyway!!): two panes of glass; four security men; a barrier limiting how close you could get; as well as a line that you had to get into to get up close to take a picture with the camera that you really shouldn’t have brought in the first place!
Silly cameras! Who in their right mind decides to take pictures of statues and paintings in a museum? Especially considering the number of people there who will no doubt get in your way?!
Needless to say, I didn’t like having to maneuver around them. Made the place seem a lot more crowded…
After all that: we’re planning on going back. There is a lot left to see, and it’s very reasonable to get in, so we figured why not?
Tomorrow: the Notre-Dame Cathedral.
Well, yesterday was even lazier than expected… lots of napping. Here’s photos from day 3, during our walk to the Eiffel tower.
Dog waiting patiently at a crosswalk.
Parisians *do* play hockey! (but what's with the weird goals?)
A four-door Smart Car, which would SO TOTALLY sell better than the two-door version if only they'd bring it to North America. (like, ohmigod!)
Emma, showing off her bling, yo.
We're here! ... now let's wait 'till tomorrow to go up, ok?
Having hiked up and down the Eiffel Tower yesterday, we’re taking a lazy day today. No sightseeing planned… On today’s list: laundry, groceries. Maybe a picnic at Sq. du Vert Galant, nearby.
I might do the gallery thing and/or otherwise spruce up the site later this afternoon.
328 steps to reach the first floor, and a grand total of **drum roll please** 668 steps to reach the second floor. Thank goodness they paint the digits beside the steps, I never would have been able to keep track!
Al and I marched all the way up, took the elevator up the tower, and marched all the way down again. I never thought I’d feel my legs shakier than they were during the wedding… After going up and down the Tower, I was unable to keep my legs steady….
We didn’t make it to the Arc today either. Combine the walk up and down the steps with waiting in line, and the Tower ends up being a full day event.
Photos to come 
Flying over Paris reminded me of Ireland. Same rectangular plots of land, different colors. Lots of yellows, greens and browns. On the ground, Paris is a strange cross between Ireland and Montreal. It has the little cars, small streets and streetside vendors that I associate with Ireland, plus all the hustle and bustle that I associate with Montreal. But let’s face it, without having traveled very far, where else am I going to compare Paris to?
And yet, Paris has some things that are entirely it’s own. Again, it could be similar elsewhere, but how would I know?! What other city has dogs that are so well trained they walk without a leash, sit at their owners’ feet outside of cafes, accompany them in to stores, and wait to cross the street until their owners do first? What other city displays pin-up girls, and sex-related playing cards and dice right at children’s eye level (which as Al rightly points out, is less damaging than the violence that North American culture offers children)? What other city is so tourist friendly that there are signs everywhere, informing us which streets are where, which major landmarks are in which direction, where the closest train or metro is located (imagine, both cost the same inside of Paris!), or where the closest WC is?
The city is wonderful! Lots of new things to discover and see! The architecture is gorgeous; the weather is amazing, despite forecasting rain all this week; the food is yummy; the people are incredibly pleasant, if a little hard to understand sometimes…
For those of you who want a day by day account, you can ask. I’ve been keeping a diary to remember what we have done and when.
For those of you who don’t want to be bored, I’ll give you an outline of some of the things that we have done (including the fire, dum dum dum!)
One of the reasons that we chose the Citadines that we did was because of it’s location. From here, we can access many different trains and metros, walk just about anywhere, and have easy access to different areas in Paris. However, some of our options have been limited due to a fire the day before our arrival. The RER (local train) doesn’t travel to the few stops in our area. When we arrived in town, we had to take the RER to Gare du Nord, and then transfer to the metro, quite a hassle, especially considering we were towing suitcases around. Needless to say I was pretty frazzled by the time we got to our hotel (Emma.. frazzled? NO!) It hasn’t hindered us since arriving; the lack of suitcases makes the metro a lot more travel friendly.
We’ve spent a lot of time walking around Île de la Cîté and the area to and from the Eiffel Tower. The first day, our walk took about 6 hours, yesterday, about 5. It’s a good thing we both love walking! We’ve seen the Louvre, the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the National Assembly, and many other things that I am no doubt forgetting. We haven’t visited the inside of anything yet, we’ve been waiting for a rainy day. Thankfully, we haven’t had any of those yet! Today, we travel up the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. According to Irene and Chad, the Arc has over 300 steps to reach the top… We’re planning on walking up the first two floors of the Tower… I’m curious how many steps it has….
And that’s it for now. Al and I are enjoying the city immensely! I must admit that I’m enjoying having Al all to myself as well :)
Enjoy the photos! I hope everyone is doing well!!
Sorry all, we’ve been a little busy… We do have a bunch of photos, which I’m in the process of fixing up to post, they’ll be up soon.
The plan was to post things on a nightly basis before sleep, but both sleep and the weather have been conspiring to keep blog updates from happening, with the weather ignoring the daily forecast of rain altogether.
I’m debating whether I need to put in a gallery thing, or just put the photos up as a big post… I think I’ll go the lazy route and just post them all in a row, to save time (warning, long load times may result). If there’s a rainy day, I might go back and gallerify them (making up words is fun!).
So here are select picks from days one and two:
The Louvre and I. M. Pei's pyramid.
Aww...
Six hours of walking later...
One, two, three, four...
It just isn't the same back home...
*sings* ...our bridge, in the middle of our street...
Best... room... ever!
Alex says: Whee! Emma says: Ack!
