We're here safely and thank God for Dramamine! Not because of motion sickness but because I knew I'd struggle our first day if I didn't get a few hours of sleep on the plane. I took one pill an hour before take off and I was nodding off by the time we pulled away from the gate. Mir slept (au naturale - she has NO problem sleeping) straight through the first meal on the plane and woke up as they were serving breakfast, which was about an hour prior to landing.
Then, we hit the ground running....or so I thought. We got our bags within minutes, met up with our cab ride to the hotel and were on the road in short order.....Then, we got snarled in rush hour traffic so our cabbie took us the round-about way, through the cobble stone streets and narrow back roads of urban Paris to get us to our hotel. Along the way, I couldn't help but notice the architecture and how much it reminded me of the Carribbean with its ornate buildings, wrought iron balconies, colors, tiny streets and massive wooden doors that lead into large courtyards. It made me miss my viejo San Juan. If only I could get some empanadillas de chapin and sorullos around here....hmmm.
At least we had an opportunity to see most of the non-touristy Paris or rather, I got to see most of Paris while Mir slept the entire ride. I watched Paris wake up as shop owners opened their stores, people walked to the trains and the day began for every day Parisians. I'm used to watching the sun come up over the Brooklyn bridge in the mornings on my way to work, this was a nice change.
We arrived at the hotel and the second we got out of the cab and the stiff cold morning air hit Mir, she was wide awake and ready to go. Mir is the ultimate trooper and travel companion..... down for whatever, whenever.....
Check in at the hotel wasn't until 2:30pm and we arrived shortly after 10am so, we walked around and found a small cafe a block or two from the hotel and enjoyed a Parisian breakfast. I LOVE FRENCH BREAD! Served warm with a little bit of butter, NYC bagels don't even compare to this!
After breakfast we walked down to the Louvre....or Le Louvre (I speak French now, oui), which is only 3 or 4 blocks from our hotel. As we were crossing the bridge some gypsy lady stopped us from behind us asking if we dropped a gold ring......alarms going off in my head...telling us she doesn't wear jewelry, offered it to us. We told her we didn't want it but she tried to get us to take it....yea..in my mind I'm thinking...wait for it....wait for it....bam! Asks for money.....Son, I'm a New Yorker, you gotta come at me better than this! And I'm in Paris all of about 2 hours and you come at me like this already?? As I was going to put the ring on the ledge of the bridge I said to her, "Maybe the owner will come back and find it because we don't want it and have no money." After some more begging, she took the ring back and went on her merry way. She gets a C+ for orginality. What in the hell am I going to do with a fake gold ring? After a quick check of the pockets to make sure she didn't try to swipe anything, we were good to go and back on the yellow brick road. That chick has no idea how close she came to ending up in the river. You can just see Notre Dame in the background:
Now, I've seen the Louvre in pictures...I've seen it in text books but this place is FRIGGIN HUGE! I had a Da Vinci code moment for a split sec. Behind the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel below, you can see the glass Pyramid entrance. I'll spare everyone a history lesson by not going into detail as to when things were built, who built them, etc. But I have to say...the glass pyramid...I get it. It's a juxtaposition (big word, I know) of the contrasting ultra-modern and classical architectural styles. The pyramid definitely sits in stark contrast against the backdrop of the Louvre. They did the same with the Brooklyn Museum of Art but the jury is still out with me. Although, I do appreciate the artistic interpretation....maybe that's just the point, not to like or dislike but to appreciate it as art. I guess it takes a New Yorker to understand a New York architect. You can just see the pyramid behind the arc below:
We walked in, hoping to buy tickets for tomorrow but couldn't. So, I guess we'll be on the line with 8 million other friggin tourists at 9am tomorrow morning. Arg! We grabbed a map and formulated a plan of attack; Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Roman, Italian and then French works. Lastly, we'll hit the big attractions like the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Not because I think they're great works of art (somewhat over-rated in my opinion), but just to say that I've done it.
Mir's been here before. She spent 2 days with Nic in the Louvre, so I felt kinda bad for wanting to drag her through the museum a third time....but she put me at ease when she told me that travelling with me is like walking around with a human encyclopedia.....see, what I say about my travel buddy, the best! Appeases the ego and puts me at ease with no problem.
We decided to leave Notre Dame for another day and began to walk down the Jardin de Tuileries, down the Champs-Elysses and to the Arc de Triomphe. I might note that although we dropped the bags off at the hotel, I still had on my backpack with my laptop (weighs a friggin ton) and other personal items.....weighing in at a good 10-20 lbs in total and it was NOT a short walk to the arc. Warning: things on the map may appear closer than they really are. By the time I realized exactly how far it was, it was already too late to walk back to the hotel so I decided to huff it which was a BIG mistake. More on that shortly....
The day turned out to be amazing....it warmed up into the mid-low 50's and there was not a cloud in the sky. We walked in the sun and worked our way past the throngs of tourists, expensive restaurants and high end stores to get to the arc. I stopped in the middle of the street to get this shot:
We paid our 18 euros.....what?? 18 euros! It seems that everything in Paris is 9 euros per person. There is some serious price fixing going on over here.....I gotta call someone about this. So, we climbed the narrow steps to the top of the arc (again, with the 2o lb bag) and took some amazing pictures of Paris. I got a great shot of the Eiffel tower from the top and could see the Louvre and Notre Dame far off in the other direction.....
By the time we climbed down, our legs, backs and feet were KILLING US. My legs were shaking half way down. So we gingerly walked back down the Champs-Elysees, grabbed a couple of sandwiches along the way and had a leisurely lunch in the Jarden de Tuileries, feeding the pigeons and people watching before heading back to the hotel.
After a nice hot shower, we completely collapsed. I woke up after about 2 hours and Mir is still KO'd. Knowing her, she'll wake up when the sun hits her in the morning. The girl is due for 14 hours of sleep anyway.....so I'll let her rest while I post this blog and watch some CNN (the only english channel we get in the room).
Day 1, a huge success.....tomorrow, the Louvre and Notre Dame. Saturday we're off to Versailles and Sunday, a boat tour of Paris and the Eiffel tower. Monday, we leave mid day for Zurich where we'll spend another 4 days.
See our photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25532967@N04/sets/
