Day 11-13 :: Jet Plane to Paris

Our vacation was so long that I had to take a little vacation from my recaps but it's back on.  Let's finish this up then shall we.  So, where were we....oh yes Day 11 and on our way to Paris.

Mj got this shot :: Can you see the Eiffel tower there just under the wing?

Sunday morning we were on the move again.  We had a 1:50pm flight on Easy Jet from Barcelona to Charles De Gaul Airport in Paris and we didn't know exactly how long everything would take so we left pretty early.  We walked to Placa Catalunya and were on the Aerobus to the airport by 10am for only  5,65 € each.   We were checked into our flight at the airport and grabbing a bite to eat by 11am.  Way early, but I guess it's better safe then missing a plane to Paris.  It was a 2 hour flight and we were happy to find that it wasn't raining yet when we arrived but we knew it was coming.

our hotel room was so cute and tiny :: to the right there was a little desk and chair

View from our hotel window :: Eiffel Tower

It took us what felt like forever to get to our hotel.  I wasn't even sure what was going on.  We bought our tickets at 9,25 € each from the kiosk then looked around for the train entrance but both sides were blocked.  We were told they were working on the tracks and that we had to take the airport tram train thingy to a different area.  Once we got off everyone made a beeline for this bus that was parked there.  I was like, why are we getting onto this bus?  What's going on?  We literally got the last spot in the bus and were crammed next to the door for the whole ride.  The bus took us to a train station.  I got stuck in the turnstiles because my luggage made it through ahead of me after I put my train ticket in but I didn't.  A French guy was kind enough to motion me towards the gate at the end of the row of turnstiles that I could just walk through.  From there we took a train that would connect to a different line where we would take the metro to get to the Dupleix station which was closest to our hotel.  If we were rich we would have just hired a town car and called it a day but on a budget you have to tough it out.  We got off the Metro and hauled our baggage though the streets of Paris to Hotel #3; Hotel Eiffel Saint Charles.  The elevators in Europe are all so small and this had to be the smallest one yet.  We barely fit inside with our two suitcases.  By 6pm we were in our room and as expected it was pretty tiny but oh so cute and charming.   What is it with European bathrooms and their half shower doors?  We soaked the bathroom floor in Barcelona because of it and while that didn't happen here their resistance to fully enclosed showers just doesn't make sense!  We could see the Eiffel Tower from our window.  We had a real key; old fashioned with a cute little tassel on it.  They make you leave it at the front desk when you come and go which was fine because it's heavy.

More wine for me! :: This croquette was delicious

After we checked in we went out to find dinner.  We split a bottle of white wine.  I ordered a Croquette and it was so good.  It's a ham sandwich on this thick french bread with cheese on the inside AND melted on top.  The bread was perfectly toasted and cheesy.   They serve just about everything here with Fries.  Mj went with boring Chicken again.  I don't know what he was thinking; I'm usually the boring one.

We were pretty tired from all of our traveling but we couldn't wait to see the Eiffel Tower.  It's so beautiful and so massive.   It does a light show at night too.  We stood there gazing up at it for a while and then we got back to our hotel at about 9:15pm and went to bed.

Visit to the Louvre

The next morning we got up and headed straight for the Louvre.  We looked out our window and saw a gray day with light rain which we expected.  We tourists are a hardy bunch and won't be stopped.  We didn't travel 6,000 miles for nothing so we got our umbrellas, I put on a knit hat to complete my Parisian look and we went out to explore Paris.  We took the metro and as soon as we got off at the Palais Royal Musee De Louvre station we were literally right inside the Louvre in a mini shopping mall area that leads up to the entrance.  There were so many people that we could hardly figure out where the line was, it was backed up that far.  We waited for about 45 minutes and then once we actually made it into the lobby area we had to wait in another line at an automated machine to buy the actual tickets which were 11 € each.  

The Spinx :: Mona Lisa, see the reflection of all the faces in the glass?

The mummy was my favorite piece, So cool.  Look at all that intricate wrapping

Outside the Louvre :: It's huge!

We enjoyed the Louvre much more then the Vatican Museum.  Neither one of us has that much interest in paintings and that's pretty much all they had at the Vatican but in the Louvre there was a much more diverse collection.  They had Medieval and Egyptian art and tons of sculptures.  There was just so much more to look at.  My favorite was the the mummy.  A real live dead mummy!!  There was a huge crowd around the Mona Lisa.  We had to fight our way through it just to get close enough to see it and take a picture.  Unlike most of the other paintings it was behind glass.   It was smaller then I thought it would be and I still don't know what all the fuss is about.  I didn't realize how huge the Louvre was until we got outside.  It's massive!  And really beautiful from outside as well as the inside.  Apparently it used to be a castle.

We relied on the metro to get around for most of the day.  We witnessed an almost mugging this time while waiting for the metro.  Mj saw more of it then I did.  It was really weird.  I was watching this girl standing there reading her book.  All of a sudden I see her with her phone like instantly in her hand and a guy rushing by.  She had this really confused look on her face looking down at her phone and then at the guy walking away.  I guess he reached into her bag and grabbed her cell phone but she got her hands on it as he was trying to pull it out of her bag.  That was a close one.  She went right back to reading her book.

Getting down to business :: Clearly we can't get enough of Pizza

After that we took the metro to the Champs Elysee area of Paris and got something to eat.  We couldn't resist ordering Pizza just one more time.  France does Pizza pretty good too.  This time we split a bottle of Red wine.  Too bad Mj spilled some on his shirt just as I was taking a picture of him and no I didn't get the shot.  I was kind of bummed that the rain just wouldn't quit but half a bottle of wine seriously helped me not to care!

Arc Di Triumph

Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside Notre Dame Cathedral.  Beautiful!!

Just down the street was the Arc Di Triumph.  Then we took the metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral. People just go inside and sit and stare.  It's feels so amazing just to be inside.

Latin Quarter

Thrilled to be in Paris

We strolled through the Latin Quarter of Paris which was right down the street.  There were tons of fashionably dressed French women.  I got such a kick out of checking out everyone's outfits.  They wear scarves with anything and everything.  I didn't see too many high heels and yet they look casual and put together without looking like they are trying too hard.  Maybe some day I'll figure out how to do that.

Eiffel Tower by day

Kiss by the Eiffel tower at night

We took the metro back to Dupleix so we could see the Eiffel Tower during the day.  It's walking distance from our hotel so we went back again after dark just to see it one last time and try to get some better pictures.  There isn't a whole lot of light in the surrounding area at all.  It was a bit chilly but I loved standing there and looking up at it with Mj.  I've seen it in TV and movies so many times but now I was there seeing it with my own eyes.  By this time I think I was actually starting to acclimate to our grueling schedule.  We didn't hit our usual 6pm crash and burn so we didn't take a nap and I still felt energetic enough for us to stop and grab a drink on the way back to the hotel.  We sat at an outdoor table with our drinks cozied up next to each other.  I loved Paris and I really didn't want our last night there to end.

Day 14-15:  Amsterdam, Netherlands