Oh, Paris!

I really wish we had more time to stay in Paris. First day, we took a train in, and got into town early afternoon and checked into the hostel. We started with a walk to the nearby Sacre Couer, a nice church on top of the hill, it had a great view of the whole city. Then we took the metro to L'Arch de Triomphe, and walked down the busy Champs-Elysees, stopping in a couple shops. At the end of this path was the Obelisque, which was really not that exciting, but the fountains were nice. On the way, we also stopped and looked at some bridges and buildings.

graffiti on the train tracks

view of Paris from Sacre Couer

L'Arc de Triomphe

Grand Palais

On our walk, we also passed by some other gardens or a palace (it's hard to keep all these things straight, and we really only just passed by some of it...), then headed in the direction of the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at a little sidewalk cafe and had some tasty dinner, then finished the trek to the tower. When we got there, Paula got a bloody nose, and as a result, we didn't come out of the bathroom until it was almost dark, but seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up was wonderful. We took the trek all the way to the top and spent a good chunk of time hanging out, looking at all the lights. I'm definitely glad we went at night, I think the view was very pretty then.

Eiffel Tower at Night

Seine at Night, as seen from the Eiffel Tower

The second day of Paris, we got going a little later, since we were all low on sleep, but then we headed to the Louvre, and waited in line for a surprisingly short period of time, for both entrance and the Mona Lisa (which you cannot get nearly close enough to for it to be that impressive.. I would love to be able to see brushstrokes or something, but oh well.) I did like seeing the Venus de Milo and the Venus of Samothrace, though. After the Louvre, plenty more walking, through some gardens, then out to Notre Dame. The ceilings were impressively high, and the stained glass beautiful. Then off to Jardin de Luxembourg, which were some really gorgeous gardens. We spent a good chunk of time just resting and hanging out by the large central fountain.

Venus of Samothrace

little dude by Notre Dame

Hangin' out in le Jardin de Luxembourg

A snacky dinner was pretty much the end to this night, as we had to pack and get ready for a super early morning flight...