Paris Sightseeing - Day 7

This morning we rose a little bit earlier than we had before to set off through the terrible traffic that is Paris. We went first to the Eiffel Tower, where we got to walk under it, and choose if we wanted to walk up it or if we wanted to take a lift. However, just before we arrived at the tower disaster struck - my camera battery died unexpectedly, leaving me with no picture taking abilities for our entire sightseeing day. I couldn’t do anything about it though, so I decided to look at it as a chance to observe Paris as a citizen - without worrying about taking pictures all of the time but simply experiencing the city.

First we climbed to the second level of the Eiffel tower, a staggering 689 stairs to climb. It offered breathtaking views of the city, which I could only look at, but it was incredible to see all of the buildings in this wonderful city from one perspective - above. However, we wanted some time to look at the tower itself for a while in addition to get some lunch at a café, so we only ascended to the second floor and no further, going back down at that point.

We walked from there down some streets, checking out local brasseries and cafes to choose a spot for lunch. There were none that spoke to us, and just at that time we happened upon a local street market. It had fruits, patisseries, and many other small shops. We decided to try out a patisserie and try a fresh croissant, baguette, an quiche lorraine (trés bien!). After indulging in these delicious baked items, we headed back to find our bus, which would take us on a sightseeing tour around Paris to see the Notre Dame, obelisk, and finally end at the Louvre (of course we saw many other amazing French sights as well!). Our first stop was the Notre Dame, and although we only had a couple minutes when we stopped there, it was truly breathtaking and gorgeous. First the extremely ornate entrance, to the stained glass windows which are only lit and beautiful while inside the building, to the gargoyles and flying buttresses. From very cool architecture to truly beautiful symbolism and art, it was a breathtaking experience.

We all loaded back into the coach from here and headed to the Louvre, taking a couple of detours on the way to see different sights. Once at the Louvre, we had only a couple of hours to look at the vast amounts of art that is housed there. We decided to, of course, hit all the “big ones” very quickly. First we went to see the famous Aphrodite sculpture, which was amazing to see with my own eyes. After that, we went to view the Mona Lisa, which was again incredible to see right in front of me. She follows you with her eyes even more when it is in person. From here we dashed around to see things like the statue of Ramses II, sarcophagi, and many endless other things. 

After our time in the Louvre was up, we headed to the restaurant for dinner. It is amazing how the time flies in each day! At our dinner we enjoyed a cheese pastry, pot roast and pasta, finished off with a creme puff pastry and creme sauce. An all in all delicious last French meal. Now we are back at the hotel packing everything to head off to Switzerland tomorrow! A very early morning again...

More tomorrow...