Paris

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Paris Paris Paris.... I had always resisted visiting Paris and it was never on my list of places to do as it seemed to be too overdone and overhyped and seemed like any other metropolitan city, just in another country. I´m glad to say that I was wrong and it ended up being a nice lil surprise for me.

We arrived in Paris in typical Redmond style..... looking like deer in the headlights trying to figure out which was is up and which direction leads where with no hotel reservations, no map and an inkling of the French language (After a few countries you realise the futility of trying to learn another language in a week and a half and learn the basics and throw yourself at the mercy of pigeon language, body language and multi-lingual service industry staff). We took the train over from Amsterdam and hopped from that train, to another which left us in central Paris (thanks to my sis for telling us which area we should stay in). After finally finding our way out of the station to the street, we thankfully only had to wander a block or four until finding a nicely situated inexpensive hotel. Tired from the train ride we unwound and then hit the streets to see a little of the town and get some eats.... that was when Paris hit me.

I hate to sound cliche but Paris as a city kinda has a life of its own and it truly had a different feel than any other city I have been in.... things were just kinda different (Maybe we´re just newlyweds), there were literally couples falling out of the trees and everyone was hugged up with someone esle and the town just emitted an amorous feeling. I had to laugh and tell Venny that I have never seen so many couples borderline groping each other in public in my life...... maybe its in the water or maybe the city is just frequented by alot of couples..... chicken or the egg you tell me.

We arrived toward the end of the day and got to walk around at night (you end up walking everywhere in Europe, probably a few miles a day easy) and take in the town, we could see the Eiffel tower at a distance and walked over the cities river to Notre Dame and did some late night strolling......... its just that kind of place, once again I´m glad I was wrong about the spot.

Of note in the city were:
Notre Dame - Huge Cathedral without a hunchbacked oggle eyed short guy (surprisingly). It was impressive and only about 5-10 minutes walk from the hotel... as a side note, if your ever in Paris (or anywhere in Europe) and someone approaches you and asks if you speak english, say "no I dont speak english why would you think that?" because they´re gypsies and its a scam to get money out of you. Lololol gypsies, they were all over the place hustling like they invented 3 card monty, but I digress.

Eiffel Tower - Huge, you can see it from far away in the city and it is an obvious landmark, and of course everyone that visits Paris goes I guess, you kinda have to see it to appreciate the size of the thing..... and it didnt take much effort to get my scary-cat wife up the thing (maybe her fear of heights is working its way out of her). The lines for the thing are HUGE so we ended up taking the stairs (which still cost) halfway up before coming back down to be victimized by a torrential downpour that had everyone bunched up under the tower in what dry patches could be found, at least it only rained for about 15-20 minutes before it let up.

Louvre - Massive museum made instantly recognizable by "The DiVinci Code". We visited it for a day but it is so big you could easily spend more than one day if your a museum enthusiast. Of course you have to see the Mona Lisa and all that jazz if you go, it is the most famous piece there but there were much more impressive works of art inside..... I am always confounded by what art/artists become famous and why?!?!?!? Just outside the Louvre is a big park and path leading to the Arc De Triumph which was worth the walk.

Those were the main sights we saw, other than that we strolled the city streets and just hung out, all and all it gets a plus in my book, I would recommend it....... but bring a significant other 😉

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Photos

Me likey...
Art piece from the Louvre.

Outside of the Louvre.
Can you say DiVinci code?

Monument in the park outside the Louvre
Had Egyptian Heiroglyphics on it, I had some questions on this one but no tour guide to answer..... oh well.

Mi amor!
Egyptian section of the Louvre.

Inside Notre Dame.
They were conducting mass but tourists were still allowed inside, just had to stay out of the middle..... Jesus stops for no man!

She´s smiling to hide that she´s nervous
about how high up we are.

Optical Illusion.
They were doing construction on the house and put this fascade up on the outside, it was trippy, had to take a pic.