A Busy, Busy Day

Wow, today was a whirlwind. After having a leisurely breakfast of croissants, omelettes, and hot chocolate* at a cafe down the street from our hotel, Sean and I boarded the L'Open Tour hop on/hop off bus to head to our first destination - the Louvre. At the Louvre, we immediately hunted down the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. We lucked out because it wasn't overly crowded - or maybe it just seemed empty after fighting crowds all day yesterday at Versailles. The Mona Lisa is really underwhelming, though it is neat to see the original - it's just so darn small! The Venus de Milo was much cooler. Most of the Greek statues in the Louvre are actually Roman copies, but the Venus de Milo is one of the true Greek originals.

After hunting down the two "must-sees," we spent some time exploring (ie getting lost) the Roman, Greek and Egyptian art, which consisted of quite a few statues and architectural remains (we also walked through the Napoleon III Apartments, which were quite intriguing). I found all of this really interesting after spending so much time studying ancient western civilization all through college. It was fun to see everything in person rather than just an image on a page. The Louvre is hugungeous (as Sean would say), and the interior is beautiful. I was more taken with the architecture of the rooms than the art on the walls.

While Sean and I enjoyed the Louvre and are happy to say that we've finally been to a museum in Europe, I wasn't overly impressed, though I can't peg exactly why. My primary frustration, and I realize this is going to sound incredibly egocentric, was that nothing was printed in English. I didn't expect the explanation of the art to be translated, but the titles would have been nice. Most of the art in the museum isn't French, so the original titles would have been helpful for understanding all that we saw. English is one of the most spoken languages in the world, so it seemed odd that the Louvre is one of the few places we've been that hasn't provided this service.

After leaving the Louvre, we once again boarded the hop on/hop off bus and headed for the Champs Elysées. We strolled down half of it, stopping in McDonald's for a quick snack (from what I've heard, the only affordable meal on the whole strip). A few blocks down, we came across a crew setting up a World War Z booth. We walked around it a bit to see if we could figure out what was going on (and to make sure Brad Pitt wasn’t hiding somewhere), but we had things to do and see, so we continued on our way. When we got back to the room tonight we Googled it, only to be met with the headline “Brad Pitt and Angelina Attend World War Z Premier in Paris.” Go figure – we were in the same city, on the same street as two of America’s biggest celebrities and we missed our chance of a sighting (not that we would have seen them necessarily, but it’s still one of those what-ifs that drive you crazy).

Having approached the Arc de Trimphe at this point, we stopped on the sidewalk trying to figure out how the heck to get across eight lanes of crazy traffic (and I do mean crazy – it looked like an accident just waiting to happen). A few others on the street near us were also wondering how to cross since there were no crosswalks, so the entire group of us just made a dash for it. We later found out that there are passageways under the road that come up near the Arc. Oops. We climbed the 284 stairs to the top and took in the amazing views. I seriously think that Sean and I have climbed more stairs this trip than in our entire lives – and tomorrow we climb Notre Dame!

This is what the stairs going down the Arc looked like...

...and this is how they made me feel.

Once we left the Arc, we stopped in the Trocadero neighborhood to take in the amazing hillside views of the Eiffel Tower. Seeing the Eiffel Tower has been like a celebrity sighting for me (though not on quite the same level as Brad Pitt). I think I have a small crush on the Eiffel Tower – every time I see it, I get as excited as I did hearing the ice-cream truck when I was younger. We took our time walking down the hill towards the tower, enjoying the water fountains in the park below and taking in the views of the Seine. Our reservations to go to the top of the tower were set for 7:30, so we had a bit of time to kill, which we spent people watching. At 7:30 we got in line and made our way to the top via two elevators. On a clear day, which today was, you can see up to 40 miles away from the top of the tower. We definitely had a great view and were spoiled with beautiful weather. Falling victim to the Eiffel Tower's tourist trap, Sean and I shared a glass of champagne just to say that we had. Visiting the top was an amazing experience and a lot of fun. Rather than take the elevators back down, Sean wanted to take the stairs, which provided us with even more views.

Tired and approaching 9 pm, we headed back to our hotel and popped into the neighborhood restaurant we dined at last night. After a very rich meal of foie gras, escargot, and a scallop puff pastry (and another complimentary glass of wine that the owner brought us), we came back to the room to finally crash - though clearly we still haven’t. Tomorrow is another long day with lots to see and do – we will definitely need our energy!

*A note about the hot chocolate: The hot chocolate in Europe is very rich and chocolatey, but not overly sweet, which I love. Every time I have ordered it, it is served with sugar packs or cubes (which I haven't found necessary). The first time I saw that I laughed because I can't imagine adding more sugar to something that is already relatively sweet!