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Paris
Our free breakfast of bread, croissant, orange juice and coffeeGeo: 48.8566, 2.35097
I woke after a night of glorious solid sleep, ready to start the day! We only have 3 days in Paris, so we decided to split it up with a tour of the local stuff, a trip to see Versailles and then Disneyland day.
Breakfast was included with our room- not AS good as globetrotters but still better than just toast and fake juice! We got a croissant, a french roll, cereal, real orange juice, real coffee. Mmmmm. =)
After that we set off on our journey for the day... and immediately got lost heading in the wrong direction. The Parisian streets are confusing.. theyre not square blocks. Theyre crazy diagonals and triangles! So we opted for the Metro, which was a brilliant idea. We zipped around Paris all day like pros!! WAY better than walking when you have alot of ground to cover!
Our first stop for the day were the Catacombs. It wasnt going to be open the next day and Chris made it clear he would die if he didnt see them, lol. The Catacombs started out as quarries under the city. They kept tunneling and then building on top of
Paris
Typical architecture them which was all bad when everything started caving in. So they set up teams to explore the tunnels and fortify them. At another point, the cemeteries were overflowing so they were running out of places to put bodies and the bodies were causing widespread disease. So, they started artfully piling the bones and bodies under the city in the tunnels, thus creating the Catacombs. This was the most awesome tour yet, and it was only 4euros per person!! Its a mile long section of the tunnels (there are actualy hundreds more tunnels all over the city where people sneak in and out for raves, parties, exploring, etc), half of which is lined with bones and skulls higher than our heads. It was crazy!
After that we zipped off to the Eiffel Tower. We were hungry so we got lunch at a bistro first. Everything has been an experience in France so far, even trying to order food. I asked in French if the waiter spoke English. No. Which lead us to the point method of picking out food. Some restaraunts have English on their menus- this one did not. I managed to get a quiche and Chris lasagna,
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Metro! both of which were very tasty!
We walked back to the Eiffel Tower and bought tickets. You can take stairs (cheaper) or the elevator to the second level (thats about halfway up). So we climbed all the way up! My heart was pounding- Im not in Half Dome shape anymore! Ive been sitting on a bus for a week and a half!! Anyway, we made it. We could have paid to take an elevator to the very top, but the line was a mob scene.. it looked like it could take a couple hours and we had other things we still wanted to do.
So next we stopped at Nortre Dame Cathedral- its immense. We walked through the inside- also immense but VERY beautiful! There was a service starting and they were playing music. The stained glass and candles just had an amazing effect. I really like that place.
After that we decided to stop at the train station (theres FIVE or so of them all in Paris all going to different places in Europe, so you have to pick the right one) to figure out how and when to get to Blois in a few days
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Entrance to the Catacombs! time. An employee helped us out and we are set to leave at 430pm on the 23rd. =)
It was starting to get dark and we were gettin pretty tired. I still wanted to see the Arc du Triomphe, which I might add is ALSO immense. The arch is smack in the middle of the largest roundabout in Europe. We sat on a bench and watched the crazy drivers and very very dumb tourists. Theres no lanes so the drivers were goin every which way barely missing accidents several times!! Even better were the idiot tourists that tried to dash across the roundabout madness to get to the arch!!! Dude- theres a stairwell and tunnel that goes under the roundabout to get there but i guess they didnt know? lol, idiots. It was still comical.
After that we made one last stop at the Eiffel Tower again to see it at night with the pretty lights and eat some very expensive nutella crepes (Paris is very expensive in general...).
That was our awesome first day in Paris. We were exhausted and crashed into bed again. =)
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Dianasair
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1) You should pay the like 2 euros (maybe its free?!) to climb to the top of notre dame. BEAUTIFUL. My sister counted the stairs... she was 100 shy of the 1700 the tour guide said there were!2) If you don't do that, at least head over to Mo
nteMarte. BEAUTIFUL church, and The Great Race (60s movie with Tony Curtis) was filmed on the steps, where he drove his car down them =]3) The arc di triomphe has a pretty epic museum at the top, and an epic view of the city center from the top. You can see all the main drags coming from the ARc, AND watch the crazy cars go around and around. And laugh when you see how close those tourists really WERE missed. haha and the cars are beautiful colors!4) I am JEALOUS you are in Paris. =] Bon Chance mes amies!! (I shoulda given you a basic french lesson before you went!)5) To order food in English, attempt in French "Parlez-vous Anglais?" That usualy gets them turned around. It is in the education curriculum in the country that all residents learn English... so its BS if they say no. their liars. =]I DO love Paris. Someday... we shall have an epic parisian adventure together, nicki. Chris and john can come if they want...MISS YOU GUYS!! Bon voyange et bon chance, vous etes amuser! (good trip and good luck, you are to have fun!)