Paris Day 1

I never imagined that the city of Paris was this big! Big does not even describe Paris precisely!  Today, we had an early start and had a tour of Paris!  It was a tour by van from this private tour company and it was just our family and one other family on the tour.  Our tour guide, Pablo, drove us around to all the top sites within Paris.  We got to stop at the Cathedral of Notre Dame first.  It was such amazing architecture! To see this site in person was just so inspiring! It was just so neat to see in person and not on tv! We then drove around some of the Roman ruins and Roman baths.  From there, we saw so many things, and to be honest, all the French names run together for me.  I am so used to being able to understand at least a word or two here or there and now I just feel completely lost! French words just all sound the same to me.  Our next stop was part of the city at the very top the hill at the top of town.  It was a wonderful site to get a glimpse at just how big the city is.  It had a wonderful artist square in which you could purchase paintings or have a painting done of yourself.  If you think American hagglers are bad though, come to Paris.  I got asked 10 times within 2 minutes if I wanted my picture drawn, all by different artists, and if you don't walk away quick enough then they will start drawing and then charge you.  

Then we headed to see the Louvre from the outside.  We then drove around the Arc de Triumph and got great pictures!   Our last stop was the Eiffel Tower! We had express passes to get to the first floor that included lunch.  We ate at the restaurant on the first level and had formal "picnic lunch".  After the first level, we moved on to the second and then eventually the third level, the very top! The top was well worth the wait! I felt on top of the world looking out at this monstrous city sprawled out in front of me! It was so breathtaking! The photo opportunities were amazing! 

We then took an hour tour by boat on the river! We saw the sites from a different angle from the water.  We rode under 22 bridges and each one was beautiful! The views of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame were amazing from the water.  After this tour, Pablo picked us back up and drove us back to our hotel.  This tour was a great overview of Paris and very time efficient. 

We got back to the hotel around 5:40pm and decided we would rest a little bit before heading out for dinner.  After browsing the local cafes, we finally decided on a restaurant and had a fantastic dinner.  I had a French cheeseburger with local French cheese melted on it and it was amazing! After dinner, we stopped at Haagen Daas and got ice cream that we took back to the hotel to eat! 

I am currently loading my photos from the past two days onto my computer and working on bought internet time so my time to write here is limited! Tomorrow, we start the day off with a private tour of the Louvre and then have the rest of the day to do whatever we saw yesterday that we want to see more in depth or go to more museums.  The day is up in the air and we will figure it out as we go.  We are expecting rain tomorrow so the museums are sounding pretty good! 

Till tomorrow!