Paris in 8 hours or less

We made it home today but I wanted to do a blog on Paris.   Due to an unforseen incident that Shelley will address we got to Paris a day late and had half a day to see all of the sites that we wanted to see.  We took the Eurostar train from St.Pancras Station.  We had booked first class tickets for Sunday morning but ended up going on Monday afternoon and were relegated to the pull down seats when we bought our tickets prior to boarding.

  As you can see we were sitting in the baggage area.  We had to sit on the seat that you can see.  It was crazy when we were trying to get off and we were sitting there amongst the bags.  Awkward.  We were just happy to make it to Paris.  There was a time when we were not sure that we were going to make it or not.

We jumped off of the Train at Gard du Nord train station and hiked a just a few streets and were at our hotel.  It was near the station and called the Albert Premier.  Not so premier but it was a roof over our heads and a bed to lay our weary heads.  We had to hit the road running so we hopped on The Metro (subway) and easily found our way around.  We started at the Cite looking for the Cathedral of Notre Dame.  I knew that it was near the Seine.  I took this picture not knowing that the Cathedral was in the background.  We wondered off to this tower thing soon to find out that it was not the Cathedral.  We consulted the map and got back on course.  The Cathedral has the 2 matching square spires in the background of this picture.

The famed Rose Window.  All cathedrals have these type of windows. 

Scary looking gargoyles.  That was their purpose I suppose, to scare off bad spirits.

Then it was off to find the Louvre.  We had to hike around a bit to find it.  The map confused us a little but we did eventually find it.  This pyramid was built in 1989.  It doesn't really look like the scenery around it but it would be hard to build things like they did that long ago. 

  I wish we could have gone inside but there was no time.  I plan on going back and seeing the inside some time.  This place was massive.  The buildings are set up in big rectangles with big open courtyards in the middle.  There are several buildings and it is more like a complex similar to the Smithsonian although they are all connected. 

From The Louvre you walk down through the Jardin des Tuileries to the Champs Elysees.  We walked on this dirt/sandy walkway for quite awhile.  My shoes and pants were very dusty. Notice how all of the trees are trimmed at the same height at the bottom.  It was interesting.

We saw this fountain and its twin on the way down to the Champs Elysse.

The is one of the windows at Laduree a famous Patisserie in Paris.  We were told by Stacy last year when she visited that it was a must see.  We stopped by and got some of the macaroons that they sell there.  They are not coconut macaroons but little cookies put together with filling in the middle.  I brought home a box that I packed in my suitcase.  They did not survive so well.  I opened up a box of crumbs with a few of the cookies intact.  The crumbs are just as good in my book. 

I snapped this picture before I got scolded by a Frenchman.  "No photos" he said.

Then we finally made it to the Arc de Triomphe.  Since I was a little girl I have wanted to see this monument.  I was taught how to say the name properly when I was young and I have been saying it ever since in the hopes of seeing it some day.   It was huge for me to see it and it was huge in real life.

I had to snap this picture very quickly as I was crossing the road.  I was trying not to get hit.

Just to prove we actually saw it.   This was an amazing view of the Eiffel Tower.  It was a very busy place but still very amazing.  We were not right down by it because we had already walked  and walked and walked so we were fine with this view.  We were told by Stacy that we needed to see it at night with the lights on and so we decided to get a bite to eat at a sidewalk cafe an then come come back for the night pictures. 

Just playing with the new camera a bit.  Morgan would be proud of my skills.

Can you guess what I had for dinner?  No these are not instruments of torture. 

Yes, I had escargot.  I really liked it.  I had to work to get them out though.  It was fun to eat snails in Paris.

We ate at the Cafe Kleber.  We sat beside a French speaking couple who were really Chinese.  There is a surprisingly large Chinese population in both London and Paris.  Who knew?   I had the best salmon I have ever eaten.  The French do amazing sauces from what I hear and this had an amazing sauce.  Yummy.  Shelley had steak and frites.  Then she had amazing chocolate mousse for desert and I had crepes with chocolate sauce. 

I love this picture

Then we took The Metro home and collapsed in our little beds.  We were very grateful to have made it home safe and sound today.  We are none the worse for wear other than our cankles from sitting for 11 hours straight.  It was a most amazing time.  I am so glad that Shelley and I were able to do this.  I am however glad to be home and sleep in my own bed and get some yardwork, housework etc. done.  Oh ya, and get over my jet lag.