Sleepless in Paris, Day 1

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Despite being sleep deprived zombies, Brandi and I managed to cover some respectable ground today during our first day in Paris. Each of us manage to rack up a combined 5 hours of sleep, she getting the majority of that sum. Since we landed so early (7:45 am) and strolled into the hotel around 10:00 am, our room was nowhere near ready, so the hotel (Hotel Lyon Mulhouse in Bastille) graciously let us lock up our luggage in a closet and we metro'd ourselves on over to the Louvre.

I am the first to admit I under estimated the pure size and magnitude of this place. We came along the back site of the magnificant building and took some effort to make our way around it to an entrance. Absolutely stunning...and we couldn't wait to find the entrance and head inside. FYI...we got a Paris Pass which allowed us to skip any lines and go through security within seconds, worth every penny.

4+ hours later we surface from the Louvre, having seen as much museum as you could (Italian, Dutch, Flemish, French Sculptures...and of course the greats, Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Coronation of Napoleon, etc) coupled with a brief stop at one of the Louvre's internal cafe's. The food is adequate for museum fare and provided the energy we needed to keep pressing on.

We then headed east along the Seine River and checked out Ile de Cite and further on to Notre Dame. Brandi got her hands son the first of many crepes...this one being a banana and Nutella crepe (she banned me from posting the pics of her eating it...it's messy so I don't think you want to see them anyway), and in case you aren't familiar with Nutella, it's a spread made of hazelnut and chocolate, similar to peanut butter.

Now I wanted to walk all the way to Champs Elysees and on to the Arc de Triomphe and then south to the Eiffel Tower. As I was afraid of, I bit off more than we could chew....jumping on the metro back to the hotel after reaching Champs Elysees. Our backs, legs, feet, and sleepless minds are significantly deteriorated at this point (around 6:00PM), so we caved in and decided to recover....plus the camer abattery died after 200 photos were taken. We will hopefully restart bright and early and start round 2.

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Photos

Winged Victory
Lucky to get a somewhat clear shot at her...this area was packed full of people.

Ain
Brandi was on her tippy toes and got this pic over 100 people's heads...another very busy room at the Louvre.

Coffee time at the Louvre
"Where am I?" This is what I would look like after my sixth-seventh beer, but not in this case. Aaron + 2 hours sleep = this bloodshot wreckage.

Liked the frame
Wouldn't ya' know it, the Louvre wouldn't sell me that frame.

Comments

[Mom]

Rembrandt?
Nice.... Did the frame you desired belong to a Rembrandt? Get some sleep.

[Duaner]

Come on. Enough pics of you A-Man. Where's the babe you're traveling with?