Tim & Denise Tiner Travels: 2017 Paris, France - Day 3 - Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and back to Eiffel Tower.

April 10, 2017 - Paris, France - Louvre, Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe and back to Eiffel Tower!

Where do I start....now about midnight! That is when my body decided to are up and stare at the ceiling. We were asleep by 8 PM. So I ended up awake at midnight. Denise eventually woke up and wondered why I was awake. I had not reason. I think I saw 4 AM roll around before I finally dozed off again. Crazy.

While Denise was getting ready, I mapped our entire day out relative to using the metro. My plan worked well. We started off by going to the metro nearest us. And naturally, we made our first mistake right out of the gate. We entered on to the platform on the wrong side. And naturally, this was the only metro stop where you had to exit the metro to get to the other side. The turnstile there would not take our ticket. But...there was a lady in a booth there. We explained what happened and she graciously just let us in. So it worked out. Would have cost us 4 euros...whooh! :-).

Off we went to the Louvre. I had searched the best way to get tickets. And most folks said to use the Tabac in the mall area where the metro lets you off. We did that and getting the tickets, for a few extra euros was really fast. However, upon going topside where the famous triangle is to enter, the line for those with tickets was extremely long. I think it took about an hour to get inside. The fellow in front of us, well you know me, I struck up a conversation wit him. He told us that he and his wife were there at 9 AM and no one was there. Unfortunately, he had left his pass back at his hotel. By the time he got back, the line had formed. He was worried that his wife would think he had died or something. Anyway, I offered my phone so he could text her. He tried. But we got no response. She was waiting patiently when we go in.

The Louvre...crazy large museum. If you laid it all out in a single line, you would have to walk 8 MILES to see it all. We were there two hours seeing the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Sphynx, and lots of other paintings and statues of various undress. Those people must have never worn clothing...not even in battles! It was actually quite fun to see 2 hours worth of the exhibits.

After the Louvre, we headed off to go to Notre Dame (remember the Hunch Back of Notre Dame?....I did not see him.). Anyway, in trying to get there, naturally the subway line we needed to connect with was not running. They had lots of military police packing lots of heat there for some reason. They told us to go catch the RER B line to St. Michaels stop. That worked out great after a little walking.

Before heading into the Notre Dame cathedral, we searched out some lunch to eat. We went down a little alley way where I saw a sign saying 'Crepes'. We had to go in. It was a small place that was tended to buy a guy and his wife. We got in just in time before it filled up and they started turning people away...from sitting down and taking out. The crepes were yummy. I had one that had egg, Swiss cheese and ham in it. Denise had one with cooked apples, homemade chocolate sauce and powdered sugar. Naturally we split. I now have some new ideas when I make crepes at home.

Notre Dame cathedral was impressive. Beautiful stained glass and lots statues of Christ, Saints and Popes. Very dark, however. And lots of opportunities to light candles and donate 2 euros. That apparently will cause your prayer to hang around longer in case God is deaf or not listening at the time. At one point, they had a place where a priest was hearing confessionals. Only this was not behind 'closed' doors. They were glass doors. And from what I could tell, the fellow who was confessing as I walked by..and the priest...we're having a jolly good time! Smiling and laughing they were. His sins must of been transgressions only...nothing too deep.

After leaving the cathedral, we headed out to find the metro. We went back to where we came in...but you could not get in. So we started walking around the block. We asked people and some just looked at us with blank stares. We finally went into a post office and the lady there directed us to it. The map I had was not even close.

Off we went to the Arc de Triomphe. That was pretty cool. I think we counted 14 streets piling into the one round-a-bout. I swear I saw almost 3 wrecks where people who were on the inside were trying to get out and exit. It was crazy. The Arc was pretty neat. We thought it would be better to see at night and thought we might come back and pay to go up it. But, we did not come back because our time, later, at the Eiffel Tower took too much time.

After the Arch, we headed back to our hotel for a quick stop. But I have to tell you that Denise's bladder started to give way. So entering the metro, we asked a lady if they had any 'Toilets' nearby. She thought there was one open and pointed to the left. We headed over there. Sure enough..it was open. Denise pressed the open button and the door swung open. Oh my heck, a poop bomb had gone off in that place. Disgusting. But when one has to go, one has to go. When Denise came out, I told her that was how people die from crazy diseases. I have no idea how she did it.

After about an hour or so at our hotel, we headed back out again to get some dinner. I had quickly looked to see where some recommended eateries were nearby. There are lots. We went to an Italian place called Gusto Italia. It was really quite good. Denise went with the Carbonnara...I went with a 4 cheese pizza. My pizza was the soupiest pizza I've ever had. But....really, really good. Denise loved the Carbonnara too.

At this point, I have to go back to the beginning of our day. We were complaining on Sunday that it did not appear that there were any bakeries nearby. Well, this morning, upon coming out of our hotel, no less than 20 yards from our door was the BEST bakery! We loaded up on pastries for breakfast. They were the best. Pasteries in Puerto Vallarta were dog food compared to these. And we loved Puerto Vallarta's pastries!.

When dinner was ending, they asked if we wanted dessert. We shipishly said 'No' as we knew we had some pretty good stuff waiting for us!

Lastly, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to get in the 'queue' to purchase tickets to take the elevator all the way to the top. I think it took over an hour to get a ticket. The sun was starting to set. By the time we got to the top, it was dark and it was COLD! Denise only had a thin sweater. She was freezing. It was a beautiful site up there. I'm glad I went. Paris is a HUGE city...and very pretty at night. By the time we came down, it was after 9 PM and too late to take the metro to the Arc de Triomphe to see it at night. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

It was a really good day. Things worked out really well. More to do tomorrow and then Wednesday...long flight home. Yuk! Until then!

Pictures:

Beginning the day the right way!