Paris- Day 2 (Sat)

We used the Rick Steve's book a lot to help in our decision making for this trip, and for any of our trips through Europe so far. I highly recommend his books/shows!

The first Sunday of every month is free day for most museums, main attractions (exluding the E. Tower, and a few others). However that also means it's totally packed and the lines are long. Since we only had two full days we wanted to make the most of them and chose not to stand in those lines. We bought the Paris Museum pass, which I believe for 2 days was something like 32 euro per person. This gives you free admission to a long list of places, and you also walk straight in without waiting in line. Just to not wait in line, was worth it if you're short on time! We bought our pass when we arrived the first night at the TI booth at the airport also. Apparently you can buy it at some of the monuments but will wait in line.

Saturday morning we started off walking to a cafe near our hotel for breakfast. We had OJ, a delicious crossaint, and a cappucino. The cappo's in France are more like an espresso, not what I'm used to in Italy. I had to add about 4 sugars but it was still very nice. :) Derrick wanted to die because people were staring at me taking his photo but you'd think he'd be used to it by now!

From there we took a metro ride over to the Louvre and went in the basement entrance, underneath the pyramid. It's much less crowded underneath and there are several shops, including a Starbucks! This is me standing underneath the famous glass pyramid above.

Winged Victory of Samothrace:Venus de Milo:

Obviously, the Mona Lisa. She's behind glass, and much smaller than everyone expects

After we had our fill (you can only handle about 2-3 hours max.. so make sure you plan what you want to see) we ate at the Louvre cafeteria. We had fresh salads, baguettes, and they have some other options also. I had some kind of baguette with melted veggies, cheese, and chicken on top! We spent 31 euro, which is about as cheap as you're going to get a meal in Paris- super expensive!

On the way out we grabbed some Starbucks and sat in the Tuileries Garden (just outside). It's very relaxing. There are benches everywhere, and small ponds. I saw children running around and pushing boats on the water, seemingly the place to be on a rare gorgeous day in March! Outside the Louvre:

Arc du Carosel

You too, can be Mona Lisa.. for only a few euro ;) As you can see, the E. Tower is visible from here, although it's a couple miles away.

The above sidewalk starts at the Louvre's pyramid. It goes straight through the Tuileries, pass the Plaza de la Concorde, down the famous Champs Elysees, and ends at the Arc de Triomphe. It's a great walk, but very long, so stop along the way.

The Champs has the ritzy stores like Louis Vuitton and Cartier. There's fancy car dealerships, and cafes charging 15 euro for a drink. It's an interesting walk to people watch, although I can't imagine buying anything on that strip!

After this we went up the Arc de Triomphe and headed over the Eiffel Tower. It was an extremely long day so I will post some more tomorrow. Sunday we were so exhausted, we walked through a market, saw a few paintings at the Orsay and crashed for several hours at our hotel to get some rest. Ciao for now!