Wednesday evening

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It's been a very long day. We're back in the hotel, exhausted, excited to get to sleep, but happy. This was a fantastic first day in Paris. We went on the Metro to the Opera Garnier. What a magnificent building. We had time to have some lunch, look around and inside the Opera House. They were practicing for tonight's opera in the auditorium, but some lucky folks got to see them before the doors closed.

We took a walking tour, from Opera Garnier to Place Vendome. We passed the Colonne de Juillet, the Ritz hotel, continued on to the Tuilleries gardens. We saw the Louvre to our left and the Place de la Concorde and Arc de Triomphe to our right, in the distance. We then walked along the Avenue de Rivoli, past some of the really expensive boutiques, and got into a more reasonably-priced part of town. We passed gardens, cathedrals, souvenir shops, bistros and lots of Parisians. We are already getting to know the lay-out of this beautiful city. We had some time to explore Rue de Rivoli, using the buddy system. Quite a few are trying out their French. It is always appreciated by the natives.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called L'Arlequin Cafe, where we had a salad, some chicken, potatoes and chocolate mousse. It was good, especially the mousse. Everyone is getting ready to settle down for the first regular night of sleep in 2 days. Tomorrow will be another great day. Bonne nuit.

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Comments

[Beth Goellner]

Hello
Sounds like you all are having a ball! Happy birthday Kaitlin! Love, Aunt Beth

[Cathy]

Jealous! :)
Just thought I would let all of you know, it is 2 pm Thursday here, which I believe would make it 8 p.m. there...anyway, it's getting ready to storm here. The shuttle didn't get to go up yesterday. Hope everyone's having a great time! Take lots of pictures!! See ya in a week!

[Dan Mongosa]

Glad to hear the updates...
Glad to hear the updates... since our daughter, Naomi is having way too much fun to call us...lol. Hope you get to see many marvelous examples of century old architecture.... and since I'm going to school for Architectural design, I'm extremely jelaous of my daughter seeing it up close and I hope to see plenty of pictures of those buildings while in Paris, Madrid and Barcelona. Everyone stay safe, together and most of all have a great time for us. Sincerly, Naomi's Dad and sometimes Amanda's too. Dan Mongosa

[Madame Kellermeier]

Happy Birthday!
Awww...thanks, Aunt Beth. Hope y'all are doing OK. We're having a really good time and love you.