paris in one day... it can be done (kinda)

24/3/2008

today was a great day! we got to do all my favorite things not including any art museums...

we started out with a stroll along rue cler. it was monday so you know what that means, but being paris there was still enough activity to make it worthwhile. after a little café and croissant we headed to notre-dame to start out rick steves' historic paris walk. this time i made sure we walked all of it and didn't miss the latin quarter like kathy and i did. we grabbed a gyro along the way and it was delicious! we continued passing sainte-chapelle, palais du justice, cité métro stop, la conciergerie, pont neuf, and lastly the louvre. dad couldn't believe how huge it is!

after that little tour we rode the métro to montmartre and sacré-coeur. the view of the city is great, but of course the afternoon rain was rolling in, covering the skyline in a gray haze. as the rain fell harder we decided to stop for a glass of wine before heading to the eiffel tower for the sightseeing cruise.

it's so incredible how the atmosphere of paris has changed in the last weeks. walking on the streets all i hear is english, lines have begun to form at popular sights, and even more con-artists are out in full force!

the cruise was wonderful even the second time. it was altered a little but to be longer and provide more information. towards the end this one boy kept going up to the guide and interrupting her as she sold booklets and dvds. she chewed him out hardcore. it was awesome!

for dinner we revisited the latin quarter and chose from two different "menus" which is actually like a set of choices for entrée, main dish, and dessert - la carte is everything they serve and you can order whatever you want but it's more expensive.

even though our "menus" came with dessert we had to stop at the famous gelato place, amoriano. we got a small cone but could choose as many flavors as we wanted! she made them into this beautiful flower design and it tasted even better than it looked!

tomorrow we're off to beaune for the real wine region of france!