Advertisement
Published: September 9th 2010
We ate dinner last night at place called Indiana Café. We had nachos and tacos!! They were pretty good too! I ordered a coca-cola light (didn’t make the same mistake by asking for Diet Coke). I repeated it twice, “Coca-Cola LIGHT”. She brought it out and Chris asked her, is that a Coca-Cola Light? She then throws her hands up and says, “I don’t know, I don’t understand”. WHAT?!?! I then say “I ordered a Coca-Cola Light”. She then takes my drink over to the bartender, who then throws a lemon and straw in it, brings it back over, slams it on the table and says “Here’s your Coca-Cola Light” and then makes a B****Y face and sound at me and walks away lol. I know, I know, so it’s not “light”. Who cares, right? But come on, when you pay $7+ dollars for a drink, you should at least get what you asked for I think! When we were done with our meal, we asked her several times for the bill. She would just nod, but never came back over to us. After about 20-30 minutes of playing this game with her I finally went up to the bar and
Indiana Cafe 9-8-10, Paris
You can see our waitress in the back lolasked for the bill. I know, we are in Paris and should expect this.
We decided to take a late night Seine River cruise last night, which was so beautiful. It’s amazing at night. It was only $10 Euros - cheap for such a great experience. There were a ton of people on the boat (all Asian/senior citizen tour groups). It was cold, but we sat on the top of the boat for the best view. The bridges have amazing detail. One thing we noticed is how dirty the structures/buildings/bridges are. It looks like they have never been cleaned and the detail is starting erode away - SAD! We had to walk blocks to chase town a cab. We both have to say, one of the most fun and scariest car rides EVER. At one point we were sitting a red light (2nd car back) in the far right hand lane (there was 6 lanes of traffic). When the light turned green, the cabbie cut-off ALL 6 lanes of traffic, to make a sharp left. Amazing, not one car honked or anything. Two seconds later, we were in front of the Louvre, all lit up, which was so incredible!!
Seine River Cruise, Paris
Waiting for the boat - goofing around :) Got pack to our flat and called the girls before they headed off to school for the day.
We slept in a little this morning - got up around 9:30AM and headed off to the Louvre via the Metro. This was our first time using the Metro and had no problems with it. The line for the Louvre was fairly long and since the weather was beautiful out, we decided to visit the other sites and come back tomorrow. We deaded towards the Jardin Des Tuileries (Gardens) which were so pretty. Manicured lawns, trees, flowers and sculptures everywhere. Next, headed down Champ Elysees. I didn’t find this to be “incredible” - just very busy with people and cars, but still a great experience, nonetheless. Before we headed over to the Arc De Triomph, we stopped off at a café (buffet style) for lunch. Pretty good food, especially for the price!! I had chicken and rice with a gravy sauce, small feta salad with tomato and small dessert, which was like a pudding/crème brule (shared with Chris ) and a Coca-Cola Light for only $11.90 Euros! A coke alone has usually been $5.90 Euros. Drinks are VERY expensive here. Headed to
Seine River Cruise, Paris
Waiting for the boat - goofing around :) the Arc De Triomph. You have to take an underground walkway to get to it (so you don’t have to cross the crazy 12 lanes of traffic by foot). It was $9 Euros to go to the top, which we decided not to do. Just standing on the island it sits on and watching the traffic go by was entertaining in itself. The Arc also has amazing detail. In the middle of the Arc, there is a memorial with a fire burning for the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier”. Lily and Pad had their pictures taken here
On the way to the Eiffel Tower, we stopped by The American Cathedral (had no idea it was on the way). For a short period of time, we were the only ones in the Cathedral. Again, so beautiful, but everything here is! No price to enter, just a prayer (which is what the church lady told us). As we headed on to the Eiffel Tower, it started to rain. So glad we brought umbrellas, we have used them quite a bit on this trip so far. While the Eiffel Tower is so incredible, it is the BIGGEST tourist trap ever. Sudanese dudes
(that’s what Chris called them lol) EVERYWHERE trying to sell you cheap “Made in China” Eiffel Tower statues. I’m not kidding you - these guys are EVERYWHERE and selling the exact same thing. They have their spread (2’ x 2’ sheet) about 5 feet apart from the next Sudanese dude. And they don’t leave you alone. There are also soldiers walking all around with their machine guns. I took a few pics of them. We decided not to go to the top, but instead got a postcard for Taylor and Lexi and filled it out sitting under the Tower. The line was long and it was raining. You have to walk to the 2nd level and then you can take the elevator up to the next level. It was already 3PM so we decided to take the Metro over to the Sacre-Couer/Montmartre. This was a really cool area, VERY touristy, but neat. We immediately headed to the Spanish Steps/Sacre-Couer. Again, Sudanese dudes everywhere trying to sell you crap. Three men immediately bum-rushed Chris trying to get a bracelet on his wrist. He heard this is what they do - make a bracelet for you on your wrist and then you
can’t get it off, so you have to pay. When Chris said “No, no, no” one guy got upset and said “Don’t tell me no, no, no!” I just play the dumb American and ignore them. There are also women everywhere trying to get you to sign something, again, I just ignore them. Once you get near the top of the steps, there are guys (probably Sudanese lol) break dancing (begging for tips) and dudes everywhere trying to sell you cheap purses. These places are so beautiful to visit, but these people hanging around, take away a little of the beauty, if that makes sense? Who wants to hear rap music and watch Sudanese do the “Roger Rabbit” when you are standing at the top of the Sacre-Couer, looking out over Paris? Once we got to the top of the steps a huge rainstorm came through so we stood with about 100 others, huddled under the roof until the storm somewhat blew over (that was pretty cool to watch). We then paid $5 Euros each to climb about 400 steps to get to the top of the dome. The steps were wet (but were inside!) and the stairwells were SO
Seine River Cruise, Paris
It sparkles for about 2-minutes on the hour - so pretty! tiny and narrow!! Not for the claustrophobic! The views from the top were amazing! You could walk all the way around and see all of Paris. This might be the highest point in Paris??? Next we headed out to explore Montmartre, bought a few gifts, stopped by an old cemetery, it wasn’t open =( and then headed to a small café for a quick bite. Walked around a little more, bought a baguette and some sheep cheese for dinner(highly recommended by a local - which was absolutely delicious!!) and then headed back to the flat. We got back to the flat around 6:30-7PM. We relaxed for a little bit and tried looking up a place for some dessert (they are everywhere - and hey, we walked about 5-7 miles today - so we deserve it!! Lol). We tried a place called Chaz Jouvez (shown on Samantha Brown’s Paris Trip on the Travel Channel), which was really close to our flat, but it was packed and no room whatsoever at the tiny bar. Decided on small café instead, which was still pretty good.
We had a MUCH better day today than yesterday and can now see why Paris is the #1
visited city in the world. It is filled with so much history and it is so beautiful. I can't wait to bring the girls back someday.
We are back at the flat now, actually Chris just headed out the train station to see if we can switch our Sunday Switzerland tickets for Saturday. We are going to try and stay a night in Interlaken, Switzerland. We’ll see! It’s about midnight now. Waiting to talk to the girls and then headed for bed!
xoxo,
Kelly and Chris
will post pics soon
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 30; dbt: 0.0255s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jon McDonald
non-member comment
That wasn't a lemon she put in your drink
Careful who you argue with in Paris, you think your getting lemons but your really getting the Wee Wee!