I Have Found

I had a hell of a time selecting pictures to post in here, only because I very honestly believe Paris to be the most beautiful place I've ever been. There is really nothing like walking the streets of Paris, no matter what section. Even the roads of the Red Light District are gorgeous in all their smutty glory.

So, as usual, I'll urge you to visit the Facebook album - HERE - for all of my pictures.

Our day started at 4:00am, reluctantly waking up to both of our alarms. This was after getting to bed at midnight, so it was especially unpleasant. I perked up pretty quickly after a minor OMGI'MGOINGTOTHROWUPI'MSOTIRED on the train. Luckily that passed.

Mike looking pensive on the Eurostar train into Paris:

The train got in around 9:30 or so, and we did our best to figure out the Metro quickly. In this case, quickly equaled about a half hour, due to the billets (tickets) machines not taking kindly to our debit cards. After standing in queue for the information window, however, we obtained day passes for the metro and were on our way!

It must come with living in NYC with the subway, but I'm finding metro maps easier to figure out. It's really all about color coding and... you know... reading. Much different from the last time I was in Paris when I was all like "DUHHRRR WHAT'S A METRO DUUHHRR I'M 16."

Waiting on the track for the train:

We made it to our first destination safely - Place Saint-Michel in the Laitn Quarter. Here we waited for another FREE walking tour, courtesy of the same company who ran the London tour we took yesterday - SANDEMANs (look 'em up if you're ever abroad, they have tours all over Europe).

Pictures while waiting in the Latin Quarter:

The tour started just around 11:10am. It was 4 HOURS long, which is A LOT of walking. But I think it's safe to say we covered probably a week of sight seeing in a day. We saw every big site there is to see in Paris.

SELECTED PHOTOS OF THE WALKING TOUR:

I'm assuming we all know what this is, but for the Disney movie challenged, it's Notre Dame!

The River Scene - one of my many pictures. Very pretty. Splits Paris into two sections - one is where the rich live, the other is where you can find the Bohemian starving artist types.

Our VERY enthusiastic tour guide. She had a lot of energy.

Just some little place some people call The Louvre.

A piece of modern art put up in 2000 to celebrate the anniversary of the Metro station it covers. It is supposed to represent night and day. Obviously.

Where the French Revolution ACTUALLY started.

The cafe/sandwich shop where we had lunch. Obvious, but it was the most amazing bread ever. And boy do they love to put random shit on their sandwiches... I ate one with mozzerella, lettuce, tomato, tuna, egg, and onion. Was delicious, though.

Apparently the 2nd most expensive street in the world.

Some of the statues in the Tuileries Gardens.

Some tower... Eiffel I think?

You guys... this is the fountain that Anne Hathaway throws her phone in at the end of The Devil Wears Prada!

Arc de Triomphe!

After the tour ended we were exhausted, our feet hurt, and we'd been walking for 4 hours. So we took a short half hour stroll to the Eiffel Tower so we could actually go up. The tour guide made it sound like it was a lot closer to where we ended than it really was. But no harm. Mostly.

The line to get tickets was slightly obscene as hell. Though we didn't wait nearly as long as I thought we would, probably only just under an hour. And then up we went!

Waiting:

From the top:

Oh, and also this:

Yeah... we didn't know either.

After the wonder that is the top of the Eiffel Tower - and I say that in complete and utter seriousness, it really is fantastic - we took the elevator down to the first floor, and I said - "Why don't we take the stairs the rest of the way down? I can do down, that's no problem." Well, 124232435232 stairs later, my legs were very unhappy with me.

So we kept walking. ;)

Found the nearest metro station and headed out to Monmartre, home of the Sacre Couer, the Red Light District, and a certain red windmill. :)

In front of the Sacre Couer. Sad to say, we did not make the trek up a hundred more stairs to the top. We were insanely crunched for time if we wanted to make it back to the train station on time, and we also just could not have possibly walked up anymore stairs. But, we WERE accosted by men who made lovely (but unwanted) friendship bracelets on our arms and were pretty much forced to pay for them... one of these men can be seen next to me in this picture. So that was pretty weird. But I have a new bracelet now...!...?

Streets of Monmartre.

GETTING CREPES. (So so so delicious).

The HEAVENS shine on the Moulin Rouge. (But not really because the Heavens probably don't appreciate topless women or the streets of the Red Light District...)

Everyone knows how beyond ecastic this make me. :-D

And that, my friends, is the end of my pictures. After our visit to the Moulin Rouge, we got right on the Metro, to the train station, on the train, and to sleep until we got back to London.

Tomorrow we have no solid plans. I know we are NOT setting an alarm so that we can catch up on some sleep, and I know that we WILL be going to the London TKTS booth and seeing something. So... I can't wait!

Until tomorrow!

*K