March 1. Eiffel Tower and Travel Day.

We were out of the hotel at 8:20 to catch the Metro to get us over to the Eiffel Tower. We had a tour booked for right when they opened. It is very different from the last time I was here with the brothers about 12 years ago… The area under and around the Eiffel Tower is all enclosed now. You can’t just walk under it anymore. You have to pass through security to get into the area. It doesn’t cost anything for that part. 

We met our tour guide Frederick and the rest of our group, which ended up being 12 people total. It was quite the mix… the three of us, a single lady from Germany, a single guy from the Netherlands, and a group of two families from India with two young children. We were on the first elevator to the top of the tower which was awesome. We got lots of pics with no one else in our way and then it slowly got busier and busier as more elevators arrived. Frederick said there are two sides of the tower… “the windy side, and the good side”. We definitely found that to be true… Especially on a 50 degree day.

We spent time at the very top, 906 feet in the sky, but the best parts were the second and third third levels, 187 and 377 feet. From lower, all of Paris was in front of us. It was a great end to our time in Paris to see all the places we went from the Eiffel Tower view.

 

From the Eiffel Tower we took our last Metro ride back to the hotel We checked out and headed to the airport for our flight to Rome. They had a decent cold meal for the two hour flight. We got our shuttle to the airport hotel no problem and ended the day (as we often do) at the hotel bar looking forward to boarding the cruise ship and unpacking our suitcases tomorrow!

 

 

February 28. Paris Free Time Day.

We slept in a little after two late nights. We went and got Starbucks next door to our hotel while we looked over and discussed what we wanted to do for the day. I was disappointed there is no Strawberry Acai Refreshers on the menu here! I had to settle for Mixed Berry… not as good.

For our first adventure, we decided to go to the Orsay Museum. It has French Art from 1848 - 1914 (start of World War I). Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Van Gogh, and many other big names. The setting for the museum was very unique and awesome… an old train station that was built for the 1900 World’s Fair. It was a big, open, airy beautiful space. It was interesting to see what artists were painting over that period, and how they painted it, changed. First they were in kind of fantasyland… painting fanciful things and rich people despite the industrial revolution changing everything. Then the paintings became more realistic and, in some cases, brutal. Painting things as they are instead of the way they wanted them to be. The paintings of the water lilies and Van Gogh’s self portraits were the most memorable to me. They also had some paintings that were just massive and very impressive. I also liked the exhibit and models on the Opera house and its opulence in front of state as well as the hidden parts in the massive back and under stage areas. 

 

 

From the Orsay, we decided to head back to the Montmartre area. Kory said it was his favorite part of Paris. We started at a tiny café and had a cocktail and Croque Madame… Basically a fancy ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on it. Then we retraced our steps from the previous day. Penny wanted to look in some of the shops we passed, and we wanted to look at all the artists in the square. Most of them were doing variations of caricatures, but there was some art sprinkled in too. After walking around there for a bit we took the Metro back to our hotel.

 

 

There were so many options for places to eat around our hotel and the Republique Square area. We chose one that looked good, Mon Coco. We ate on a nice heated patio area and had good drinks and great food for our last dinner. Kory’s ordered one of the specialty drinks, and it was crazy… and had a ton of cream.

We headed back to the hotel and turned in “early” at about 10:30 since we had to pack and had a relatively early morning coming up.

 

February 27. Full Friday of touring Paris!

I probably could have slept another 10 hours or so, but we had a full day of touring at 10am. David took us EVERYWHERE in Paris over seven hours or so. We took the Metro (Subway) everywhere... a couple buses, and walked more than 10 miles over the course of the day. He left us at the Louvre museum where we had a 6pm tour with a hilarious and informative Italian lady to see all the biggest hits... Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and many more.

 

Basilique du Sacré-Cœur and Montmartre

 The Almond Croissants were delicious!

  

Touring the Right and Left Banks of the Seine River 

What I come to Paris for... THE CREPES ! ! ! So delicious!!!

Notre Dame 

La Lovre Museum 

Delciious dinner including a French Classic - Boeuf Bourguignon

After more than nine hours of guided tours we were ready for a late night cocktail at the hotel and bed. We have no structured tours or plans for Saturday, so we can do whatever we want!