First of all, let me apologize for the delay in my blogs. Between the intial rush, and trying to do everything we wanted to in Paris, then the train trip to Saint Jean Pied de Port, and the fact that our first night on the Camino was at Refuge Orisson which does not have WiFi....
Since Id fallen asleep so early, at 2am I couldnt keep my eyes closed I got up and went downstairs to the patio to work on the blog and photos for a while. After about an hour, I was bored, so I returned to bed thinking just to lay there, but I fell back to sleep. At around 6:30, Manoli got up, so so did I. We took showers, changed clothes, transferred the stuff from the suitcases into the two cardboard boxers and headed out. After that, we headed to the metro station to go downtown to the Eiffel Tower and Arc dTriomph, etc. We arrived at the Eiffel Tower and were properly amazed. Id seen it in movies and photos, but it was so much different, and bigger in person. Manoli remarked that it wasnt the color she had thought it would be. We
took some pictures from just about all sides and then located a cafe to get some lunch. Wed wanted to eat while looking at the Eiffel Tower, but there was so much construction around the base, and so little businesses, we couldnt locate one with a view. We sat down at the Cafe Gustave, which was only a block or two from the Eiffel Tower, but you could only see the top of it. Manoli just had to try escargots and decided to try something unusual too. Manoli said the snails were delicious and I guess I like my eggs with truffles and toast, although I was expecting the eggs to be cooked somewhat solid, not runny.
After lunch, we took a couple more photos of the Eiffel Tower and around, then grabbed the Tootbus to visit the rest of Paris. Beside the many other smaller sights we saw, we saw the Grand Palais, the Arc de Triomph, the Musee dOrsays, Musee Le Louvre, etc. We made almost loop, from the Eiffel Tower to the Arc de Triomph. We got off at the Arc de Triomph to look around, use the restroom and had a coffee au
lait (coffee with milk) at the Cafe Joyeux. After a while, we decided to get back on the bus and continue around to a park Manoli wanted to see. The problem was, we werent sure where the bus stopped. After going along the main avenue for quite a ways, Manoli asked a guy, but he couldnt find it, then she looked at the brochure and discovered it showed the address of the stop, which was back the way Oh well, lesson learned, read the brochure. We got back on the bus, road it past the most of the stops, until we came to the Musee Louvre.
We strolled through the gardens, looking at the neat displays. It was getting late and they were going to close soon. As we neared the square, we saw the Tootbus go by. We ate dinner at the Cafe Brasserie Solferino. Manoli ordered a Foie Gras dish and I had a vegetable lasagna. Manoli said her Foie Gras was very tasty. My lasagna was delicious! We also had a cafe au lait. The we wandered back to the Musee Louvre to see if it was open. It wasnt so we went back
to the Tootbus stop, and waited a while. Well, apparently the bus we saw earlier was the last for the day. We wanted to catch the famous twinkling display of the Eiffel Tower, so we ended up walking back. It really wasnt that far. We got there about 9pm, hoping the nighttime display was at 9, although Manoli read the sunset was 10pm. Well, she was right. We sat around and waited until 10pm. Finally, the Eiffel Tower started twinkling, so we got photos and a video or two, then walked back to the metro to go back to the hostel.
