Today the sun came out!! Yaaayy!!! It was a beautiful sunny day and I decided I wanted to get pictures of the Eiffel tower when there was blue sky, so we headed on over there. After a packed metro ride, we arrived to street hawkers about every 10 feet (and I'm really not exaggerating), hordes of people, and it was freezing cold. Now it really wasn't that big of a deal, just avoid the 10 million hawkers all trying to sell you 5 mini Eiffel Towers for a euro and you're fine. So I was super stoked about seeing the Eiffel Tower and going to the top to take pictures, but then we found out that the top two decks were closed because of the ice (it snowed all day yesterday), so we resorted to climbing the stairs (shorter line) to the first level. Holy moses that was a long hike...but we made it and the view was still awesome. I took tons of pictures and the bright blue sky was great!! Plus, I mean let's be serious. The Eiffel Tower isn't bad to look at either, regardless of how high they will let you go...
So we headed back down and decided to go to lunch, but here was the problem: We had yet to attain a good map of Paris (we have a couple crappy ones) and still even a map isn't going to tell you where the restaurants are. That's right, it's the freaking Eiffel Tower, tourist mecca, and there wasn't a restaurant is sight. I was sort of at a loss, so we started walking and decided that instead we wanted to go on a boat tour of the Seine. I know, logical progression right? (although we DID get a chocolate crepe before we got on the boat, we had to eat something or we were gonna get REALLY cranky...best crepe we've ever had. Oh yes, we discussed and came to a unanimous decision.)
So we wait forever for the boat to get there and it turns out that it's sort of like a water metro! Ok well not really, but basically it stopped at 8 major monuments/attractions and you could get on and off as many times as you wanted all day! It was awesome!! So once we got on the boat we decided we wanted to get off and find something to eat at Notre Dame. I had been really excited to see it, since I love churches of any sort. So we get off the boat and turn the corner and there it is. WOW. Seriously, one of the most beautiful churches/cathedrals/religious places I have ever seen. It was truly breathtaking. So we find a crepe stand, scarf down a couple of chicken crepes (DELICIOUS by the way!) and go inside. Man, it was SO beautiful. The stained glass was phenomenal, and everyone was pretty quiet and there was music of monks singing so it was a pretty moving experience. I love places of worship and this is such a significant one, it was just really, really cool. So then we made our way out, did a little shopping, got back on the boat, and headed back to the Eiffel tower. Then we waited for the light show that is on the tower itself, which was pretty cool too, just a bunch of sparkly lights. By this point, we were freezing. And I mean FREEZING. I was wearing long underwear, jeans, wool socks, a wool sweater, my winter coat, hat, scarf, and gloves, and I was frozen. I was definitely ready to go and get warm. So we finally got back to the metro, came back to our neighborhood, ate dinner, had more delicious chocolate mousse (currently standing at number one edible delight of this trip), stopped by our favorite grocer (seriously the cutest man alive, he always says "ariverderci!" or "astalavista" or some other cute goodbye, which is awesome because he hardly speaks any english but he's so nice!!! Tonight we bought some bottled water and milk and he pretended to unscrew the cap and pour them into our shopping bag and then pretended to throw our eggs in one at a time. It sounds weird but really it was hilarious and adorable. He's awesome) and now we are home and exhausted.
I'm starting to think I prefer Paris at night, I think it's just because I like the lights. Everything is prettier when it's all lit up.
An awesome day 2 my friends. And tomorrow, Versailles!!!
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