We arrived at our Paris hotel around 6pm, settled in and then headed down the street to meet Daya Kaur, a friend of the Sada Sats who had helped us book our room. She was amazingly helpful in telling us what was most important to see in the short time we had, as well as how to get there, where to eat and lots of other good info. Thank you Daya!
So we were off! We took the metro to Town Hall. Wow. Walked across the river to Notre Dame. Wow. Notre Dame was closed for the day but we walked around the outside, which is pretty amazing. I don't know much about architecture, but this church was SO different than any others that we had seen...more Gothic. (I think) It almost looked creepy...but I still liked it. Then we found the little bistro Daya had recommended for dinner and had a really great meal. I ordered the veggie plate and it was packed with salad, gazpacho, tomatoes in pesto sauce, roasted veggies...whew. To top it off we had the ¨Complete¨crepe for dinner. They are serious about complete...whipped cream, hot chocolate sauce, nuts , ice cream....we made a mess, but thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
Being completely sated, we walked back towards Notre Dame to see if we could catch any of the famous street performers we had heard of. There wasn't much, a few guys playing guitar. But for some reason the church was open now...if I thought it was creepy from the outside, going into the church at night with only candle light was SUPER creepy. :)
No time to spare after a quick dash around the church we were off to wander the streets of the Latin Quarter. A very fun place to wander, lots of shops, restaurants, music, people...lots of life. But the clock was ticking so after just a taste of the area we were back on the metro and on our way to...The Eiffel Tower! (Ta-Da!)
I have found in my life that those places that have a reputation for being amazing tend to not live up to my expectations (The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty). But let me just say that coming around the corner at night and being suddenly in front of a fully lit Eiffel Tower...was more amazing than I can recount in words. It is absolutely beautiful. Wow.
They turn the twinkly lights on for the first 10 minutes of every hour so we walked around until we saw that and then we took the elevator up to the middle of the tower (all of the tickets for the top of the tower were sold out). So we were actually on the tower the next time they turned the twinkly lights on...pretty amazing. And except for all of the couples making out all over the place (I guess this is supposed to be a romantic spot) it was a really amazing night.
We considered staying up all night...but we were all starting to feel a bit under the weather so we went back to the hotel and slept. Not for long though, the next morning we were up early and on the metro heading to the Arc Du Triumf. This is a huge monument to the fallen soldiers and is really quite spectacular. After a look around we headed over to a little cafe and had a pastry and a coffee...wow. I don't think I have ever eaten anything quite as good as that pastry...I mean...wow. And even though I had heard bad things about french coffee, this one was very good.
Once we managed to force ourselves away from the cafe, we wandered through the gardens in front of the Louvre and saw just the outside of the famous museum. I'm not sure if I would really want to go into the Louver anyway...from what I've heard (and from looking at it from the outside) you could spend weeks in there. And I am starting to realize that I am not much of a museum person. As soon as I get into a museum I am cold, my back hurts and my eyelids start drooping...I am much more happy and alive when I am out wandering the streets and getting a real feel for the place where I am. But seeing the outside was impressive and I can say I've been there. (Which I am starting to realize is a lot of peoples motivation for travelling in the first place...which seems sad to me).
Our last stop in Paris was to the Shakespeare and Company Bookstore. I loved this place!! It was a bookstore with tiny little aisles and all these nooks and crannies, not much organization and the whole upstairs was books that were not for sale but you could sit and read them for as long as you'd like. There were beds, benches and type writers there as well for yor use ...it was great. If you're ever in Paris you should definitely check it out!
And then it was a mad dash back to the hotel to grab our stuff and check out, to the train station and off to Belgium.
I suppose that is enough for now. Still to come: Brugge, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Malaga. I can hardly believe we are just over half way through our trip...it seems like we've been travelling together forever and it also seems like we just started. Wow.
Hope all is well with you and yours,
Love and Blessings,
KNL
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