June 28, 2004: Paris

We got up pretty early today as we had a full day tour of Paris plus we had alot of other things that we wanted to see.    We took the subway from Bercy Village and got off at the Louvre stop.   We got one day passes and that made it so much easier.  We didn't have a problem with the subway system.   It is the best subway system I have been on.  It is so smooth and not loud, like the ones in Chicago or New York.   We walked to Paris Vision Tours on Rue de Rivoli.   Our tour left from there and we walked to the Louvre which was right across the street.  Boy, that place is huge.   I have never been in a museum that large in my life.   There are restaurants and shops inside there, in addition to the many rooms.
We went to the 4 main rooms.  Got to see some Leonardo di Vince paintings and saw the Mona Lisa.  The Mona Lisa painting is in this protected glass case.  We were able to take pictures of it, though.  It was actually a small painting.   I guess the glass protects it from camera flashes and such.   People were nuts taking pictures of it.   I had to push my way out of the crowd.   They don't speak English, either.
After the Louvre, our tour took us on a river bus over to the Eiffel Tower where we had lunch on the first floor of the tower.   The meal was wonderful and very upscale.  We overlooked the city.   My mom and I were going to go back later to the very top of the Eiffel Tower as the waits can be up to 3 hours for that part.  Then, we took the river bus down the Seine River to Notre Dame and the tour guide told us about that.   I guess the original Paris was on that island where Notre Dame is and then it grew from there.    Our tour concluded there at 4 p.m. so my mom and I went inside Notre Dame and looked around.
Then, we walked over to this department store called Semaritaine and browsed around there. I wanted to get an outfit but they either were too expensive or the ones I could afford didn't have good quality fabric.  I did get some scarves, though, that I can wear with my blouses.
We went up to the 5th floor as they had a pet store.   They had the cutest things in there. I wanted to get Maggie a rhinestone collar but they wanted $100 for them, so of course, I didn't. I did get her this little shirt that had some french written on it.  It is quite cute. Then, I got her a dog toy, too.  There were some French women in there with their dogs.  One of them had a small dog in her purse. It was so cute.   It also had the cutest outfit on it.   You can bring in your pets to just about anywhere in Paris...many restaurants, airports, and department stores.
Then, we walked from that store to the subway and took it over to Champs Elysees and walked down that road. It is famous for its shops and cafes.   By then, my feet were getting pretty tired.   We walked down to the Arch de Triumphe and walked up the 245 steps to the top.  What a gorgeous view!  You could see down all of the streets that branch off from the circular road down below. I took some pictures so hopefully they turn out.
After the arch, we took the subway back near the Louvre as we wanted hot cocoa at Angelinas, but it was closed by then. It was around 8:30 by now.  We ran into Beulah and Caramia down at the Vision Paris office. They were going on a night tour of Paris.  
My mom and I were so tired so we stopped at  McDonalds for a coke.   The bathrooms there were disgusting, but we didn't care by then, as we had to go.
We walked from the Louvre to the Eiffel Tower which took about 45 minutes.  The Eiffel Tower lights up around 10 p.m.  At 10 and at the hour of every hour, the lights blink on the tower for 10 minutes and then it changes to just being lit up.   We got in line around 10:15 to go up to the very top.    There were tons of people there. We had to stand in line on the 2nd floor of the tour for over an hour to take the elevator up to the very top.   When we got to the top, it was great.   I got to see all over the city at night.   Now, I can say I have been to the very top of the Eiffel Tower.
Today was one of my best days of my life.  Paris is so much fun to explore and it has been a dream of mine to go to the sites I went to today.  
We got back to the hotel around 12:30 am and were exhausted.  We had been on the go non stop since 8 a.m. that morning (16 hours).   We ordered some hot cocoa from room service and then went to bed.