We rose at 5am for the long journey into the city. Kurt had timed it so we would arrive just when all Parisians were sitting down, leisurely enjoying their two-hour dejuner' (lunch). We thought it would make for a smoother drive through Paris. Wrong. We'd never experienced anything like it. In Pairs, instead of stop signs, there are roundabouts at every turn. It was confusing enough when there was only one lane in a roundabout, dangerous when there were two, but it was sheer pandemonium in Paris. There were no marked lanes, and the road was wide enough for eight cars, so the Parisians crammed in about ten cars, six motorcycles, five taxis, four vespas, three cyclists, two pedestrians, and a city bus, all going in opposite directions. None of them considered the others while crossing, merging, turning, edging their cars right up to the other cars. Kurt, who is always calm, cool and collected said, "Once we get this car into the parking garage, it will not be moved until we leave Paris on Friday." Wonderful, I would be driving it then. Coming out of the parking garage, we realized that out hotel was right next to the Arc de Triomphe. Location, location, location.
Kathy had booked the hotel late one night and had mistakenly paid an outrageous amount for just one night, thinking it was for two. "Oh, well.", we thought, "It will be nice to stay in a swanky hotel in Paris.", so we booked it for another night, as well. YOLO, right?
Kurt and I checked into the hotel and were surprised how small our rooms were. They were nice enough, but certainly not what we were expecting. I guess, we really were paying for just the location, location, location. It was really nice to be right in the middle of things. Kurt, Chelsea and I had a couple of hours before Mom and Kathy arrived, so we enjoyed our French-style delicous two-hour lunch while sitting in a sidewalk restaurant, doing our own people watching.
After they arrived, we decided that the first place we wanted to see was Montmartre', a place where the artists set up their booths, paint and sell their works. Kathy and I love paintings and rain was forecasted for the next day. It was a long, and I mean long, walk, all uphill. Mom said we were trying to kill her. It almost killed all of us. Up hills and steps, we reached The Place du Tertre' and saw the little town square filled with artists. Worth every single solitary step! Kathy and I looked at every booth and made our selections.
With armloads of paintings, we toured Sacre Coeur, a beautiful church at the second highest point in Paris. There were no cameras or talking allowed in the church. The nuns were singing, and it was so beautiful, it gave me chills.
You'd think that the trek down would have been easier, but we were weighed down with our packages and were all tired from the day of traveling. It was threatening rain the entire way down and we worried about our paintings getting wet in the oncoming downpour, but we made it into the hotel just as it started. We unloaded our haul into the rooms and walked across the street to enjoy an Italian feast of pizza, spaghetti, ravioli with truffles and Kurt had a fishy pasta dish.
The next morning, we planned to get to the Eiffel tower an hour before it opened, because we had heard about the long lines. We took a taxi van since there were five of us. When we arrived, we were disappointed to see that our one hour early should have been two or three. The line already weaved back and forth, so we chose to walk around it and enjoy it from below. It is truly an beautiful piece of work.
Feeling brave, we chose to find the Louvre on foot. Another long walk worth every step. Inside, we enjoyed room after room of beautiful sculptures, culminating in viewing the Venus de Milo. Then, it was on to the paintings. In 2008, my favorite part of the Louvre had been the Histoire du Louvre, a room filled with paintings made hundreds of years ago, of art viewing visitors, in period clothing, doing just what we were doing, appreciating the creative works of artists before them.
We took our time walking the Champs Elysees, with our eyes on the Arc de Triomphe all the way back to our hotel. For dinner, it was Tex-Mex at a restaurant called Indiana, then to bed, dreading what was to come in the morning...
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