Paris by (Speeding) Bus

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We had breakfast at the hotel this morning and then boarded our busses for the Paris tour. I got lots of pictures through the windows of the speeding bus. If I survive Paris traffic it will be a miracle! I thought places like San Francisco were crazy, but Paris has them beat. More about that later.

We drove up the Champs Eleysee. I didn't realize it was the Rodeo Drive of Paris. Every high end store you could think of is along this boulevard. It is so iconic Paris with the buildings, wrought iron balconies. The guide said that it was intentional. When Napoleon came into power he wanted everything to look the same so there was a set architecture that everyone was required to maintain and so the buildings don't exceed a certain height are basically built of the same stone of the same color so everything looks the same..only different.

We went on to the Louvre. I love the Pyramid that IM Pei designed for the centennial. It looks so different from the old buildings but at the same time, sort of fits right in. Maybe because we're used to it. I do remember the hue and cry back in the 80s when it was built.

Notre Dam was next and this is a place where we actually were able to get out and walk around. I am really glad I read "Pillars of the Earth" several years ago because I am able to understand a little better how monumental a task it was to build one of these cathedrals and this one is probably the best example of gothic architecture.

Our guide was telling us about the fact that owning a car in Paris is so expensive that she and her husband pay an annual fee for the use of an electric car when they need one, sort of a pay as you go and it saves them a lot of money. We saw cars plugged in along the city streets. She also said that to get a drivers' license is about $3,000. We also saw lots of kiosks that rented bicyces. Motorcycles are all over the place and they have 3-wheeled ones.

Of course the piece de resistance was the Eiffel Tower. We were able to stop get out of the bus and look around. I had originally planned on getting tickets to go up in the tower but decided not to when I found out that you have to have tickets for a specific day and time. I just wasn't sure about our schedule and the tickets, like everything in Paris was expensive so and Cal wasn't that excited about doing it so I decided against it. It was enough to see it fro the ground. It is truly beautiful!

After we got back to the hotel we both slept. It has been a very intense couple of days and will only get more so. It felt good to sleeep.

We again went out to explore a little. There is lots to see. We walked around our hotel. It is actually one of those wedge shaped buildings, called a "flat iron" I believe. Lots of little shops, cafe's and restaurants in the area. We are just beyond walking distance to some of the landmarks of Paris. Someone younger and less tired could have done it but both of us are pretty much still zombie-like. We had coffee at "our" brasserie and then went back to the hotel for dinner.

I realized after we left Paris that my little Olympus point and shoot camera was a casualty to our...well my inability to concentrate and I think I left it at the brasserie. Bummer! Fortunately I have the larger bulkier one and I hadn't taken but a few pictures on the Olympus. It just annoys the hell out of me that I would do something so stupid.

After we finished dinner, we were pretty much done for the night. Tomorrow we leave Paris for Luxemberg, Trier and to board our ship.

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Photos

Louvre
I would not want to clean that glass!

This was an interesting double-decker

Electric car rental Paris
Just unplug it and go.