The Rhythm of My Story: Paris --Day 1

We arrived in Paris last night 3 1/2 hours late. Before we left LAX our plane had mechanical difficulties and so the pilot pulled back from the gate and kept us on the Tarmac as the powers that be decided if our plane could be repaired or we would need to be moved to a different plane. During that time we were told to remain in our seats. A direct flight that was supposed to take 11 hours took 14 1/2 hours. It was not a great beginning to our trip. Somewhere over Greenland, Bryan was debating whether he ever wanted to fly again.

We were supposed to land in Paris with plenty of time to get to our hotel in the daylight. But with the delay we got to our hotel about 11 p.m. Being the neurotic traveller that I am I had written on a 3 x 5 card the exact trains we were to take and the directions from our final Metro station to the hotel. My directions came in handy!

We are staying in a little boutique hotel near Luxembourg Gardens. It has everything we need: a king size bed, a safe, a window overlooking the street and a huge picture of just Mona Lisa's smile that is as large as the bed is wide!

We fell exhausted into bed, so glad to be lying down. This morning we jumped out of bed, ate some energy bars in the room and headed for the Eiffel Tower. After reading too many travel sites, I had decided that we were not going to wait in line to get tickets. Through AAA we purchased Skip-the-Line tickets and it was worth every penny! 30,000 people visit the Eiffel Tower everyday. We passed right by those 30,000 people and entered the first elevator.

The weather was gorgeous and the views were stunning.

When we finally made our descent we walked across the Seine River and sat on a park bench to people watch and enjoy the view. Then we walked up to the Arc de Triomphe.

Once we figured out how to get across the street we spent time walking around under this impressive structure. Bryan located the Boyer name on the wall.

Then we walked up the 284 steps to the top. The spiral staircase left us dizzy and a bit weak.

Since we had been up the Eiffel Tower and familiarized ourselves with the city we were able to get just a bit different perspective from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

Back down 284 steps we checked out the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

We headed down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. We didn't stop in Tiffany's or Cartier. By this time it was nearing 4 p.m. and we had not eaten lunch. So we sat down in a little cafe on the sidewalk and had the most expensive salad and pizza of my life! While we were sitting the weather changed from a gorgeous Spring day to a rainy April day. We got out our umbrella and headed towards the Place de la Concorde assuming that the rain would be light or would end soon. Bad prediction.

We hustled over to the Musee de L'Orangerie thinking we would spend a couple lovely hours with some impressionist paintings while the weather settled down. It had just closed. We got out our guidebook only to discover that the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. Sopping wet we made it to a Metro station and headed for our hotel.

After drying out and taking naps we woke up to find that the weather had changed and it was a beautiful night. We rushed out the door, headed for Pont Neuf and a boat ride down the Seine at night. By the time we got to Pont Neuf it was 10 p.m. We floated past the Eiffel Tower....