Midnight In Paris

Even though we had a late start to a day (waking up at 11 rather than 9) we were able to see most of what we wanted to.  After waking up we met up with our friend Matt, who is studying in Paris, and headed to the city centre for a day of sight seeing.  First, we ate lunch at a cafe on the street.  I can tell this is a romantic city because all the tables only fit 2 people.  We squeezed all three of us but there was hardly any room for the food.  I ordered Onion Soup aka French Onion Soup.  It was soo yummy. 

 After lunch we went straight to the Notre Dame.  It was the first tourist attraction I had seen in Paris and it was so big and cool.  We were able to walk inside and took some pictures of inside the church.  Then we were able to climb to the top (of course for some extra euros).  There were too many stairs.  I had no idea when it was going to end.  At the top I was able to see a little bit of the Eiffel Tower.  I was also amazed at all the gargoyles sculpted at the top.  They were so intricate and a little bit weird.  Also at the top you are able to go inside the tower and see the bell.  It was huge.  Good thing it did not ring while we were up there.  I think we would have gone deaf.

Boys being boys.  They aren't supposed to cross the red tape

After the Notre Dame we headed to the Musee D'Orsay.  As we walked we passed the Louvre which is such a big building.  That museum would have been too big and overwhelming if we were to visit.  I really liked the D'Orsay.  It had three floors of art mainly impressionist, post-impressionist, and lots of sculptures.  My favorite art was Seurat and Signac.  The paint many different colorful dots that together make the picture.  As you walk closer to the painting you see more detail and more individual dots.  It was very pretty and cool.  The museum doesn't allow pictures so I have none to share.  We were pretty pooped from all the walking at the same time the museum was closing so that worked out perfectly.

Finally, we were on our way to the Eiffel Tower.  It was starting to get dark and soon the tower would be lit up.  We kept walking to what we thought was the right direction and finally in the distance we could see the tower!! At 6:00 the tower started blinking.  We were so surprised but I guess for the first 5 mins of every hour the tower goes blinky blinky.  We spent about 30 minutes at the tower taking pictures and just sitting underneath it (since our feet needed a big break).  At the tower we were approached by two jamaicans making friendship braceletes.  The asked us to hold the string as they finished the bracelet.  Then they tied it on our wrists and asked for 10 Euros! We were not going to pay that much.  I gave them 3 for mine.  It was a good scam but we ended up liking the bracelets. 

The blinky show

Tomorrow we are going to Versailles.  I don't plan on it taking the whole day so I'd also like to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower, Walk Champs Elysees, and see the Arc d'Triomphe and if time shop a little.  There's a lot on tomorrows agenda hopefully I can make it happen.