Paris, France: Part 1

Our first full day in Paris, we set out on foot to the Ile-de la cite (an island in the Seine river) from our apartment near the Latin Quarter on the left bank. We were en route to catch a Batobus water taxi to the Louvre, but first we fueled up with a nutella and banana crepe from a restaurant vendor. Yum!

Eating a crepe for breakfast

Descending down to the Louvre Museum

 After a brief set back when we had to take Sophia out of her frame backpack and put her in a borrowed Louvre stroller, we made a bee-line to the Mona Lisa. You can't tell from this picture, but there were at least 100 people swarmed in front of the painting at any given time. So, we had to wait very patiently as we were jostled to the front of the line. The girls were so excited to see the Mona Lisa, having read about her in a couple of books they have. Their favorite is a children's story book (one in a series of art-related books) called Katie and the Mona Lisa.

The girls loved visiting the Mona Lisa!

 After seeing the Mona Lisa, we followed the crowds to a few other key pieces of artwork, including this statue, the Venus de Milo.

Venus de Milo

After the Louvre, we set out to walk through the Tuileries Garden and then along the Champs Elysees to reach the Arc de Triomphe, which was a lot further than it looks! But we made it...here are a few things we saw along the way.

Oh, and my friend Kathleen was kind enough to inform us that the Tour de France would be culminating on the Champs Elysees on Sunday during our trip! That might explain why we couldn't find accommodations easily. And so we avoided the Champs Elysees on Sunday, until late in the day we doubled back to make it to the l'Orangerie Museum...only to wonder why one of the metro exits had security and was blocked. Duh. We emerged to a sea of people and saw the last of the support cars with bikes on top drive by. But we did make it to the museum the next day.

And we did make it to the Arc de Triomphe, despite the 3 mile walk uphill.

View of the Champs Elysees from the Arc de Triumphe

We're taking the Batobus to the Eiffel Tower to get in line.

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We waited for 2 and half long hours to go up into the Eiffel Tower. It was touch and go there for the last 30 minutes, as Sydney and Brian both had to use the bathroom (which had closed). But they were able to hold out and make it to the top. Sydney and Miranda were rewarded promptly with Ben and Jerry's ice cream AND souvenir Eiffel Towers. They don't get too many souvenirs because Brian is a minimalist who doesn't want crap piling up. But especially after perseverance to transcend this world in the most visited paid monument in the world, Brian felt they were deserving. But isn't it also appropriate to get a souvenir (a French word that means "to remember") in France?

Brian "accidentally" ordered us two LARGE beers at a Paris cafe at dinner that night.  We considered it our crash course in the metric volume system! Oui, oui, it was a good way to end our first day in Paris!