The PARIS Pair

Around 9 a.m. Saturday morning, after struggling to get up for the day, we began our trek to the city center. We decided to start our day at the Eiffel Tower. The night before, we never made it too close, so walking in its shadow was pretty surreal. Looking at it every time, just reminded me how cool this whole experience has been. We bought our tickets for the stairs to the 1st and 2nd levels, but learned to our disappointment that the top was closed due to the strong winds. The views from the 2 floors, however, were still stunning. You could see every direction for miles. The reason for this is because there is a law in Paris that no building can exceed 8 stories (this was put in place after the building of a skyscraper, so there is only 1 in the center of Paris). Also, this may be dumb of me, but I always thought the Eiffel Tower was black. It's in fact, however, painted brown. Other facts: Gustave Eiffel (hence the name) designed it for the entrance arch of the 1889 World's Fair. Also, it was the world's tallest building until 1930 when it was overtaken by the Chrysler Building.

After the Tower, we walked through Trocadero where the Palais de Chaillot is located. From here, we walked down the street towards THE Arc de Triomphe. There are many imitations (such as Barcelona's), but this is the Arc built by Napoleon to honor those who fought in his wars. From here, we continued down Champs-Elysees where all of the high-end shops are located (including 3 McDonald's, haha). We grabbed a quick lunch off Champs-Elysees before continuing to Concord Place. This circle contains the oldest monument in Paris--the 3300 year old Egyptian obelisk. France received the obelisk as a gift because it was Frenchman who first deciphered the heiroglyphics on its side. Concord Place sits at the end of the Tuileries Gardens outside the Louvre. We walked through these gardens (which used to be the location of a palace) to the entrance of the Louvre.

Being a huge Dan Brown fan, seeing the Louvre and the entrance pyramid in person was so cool. Since The Da Vinci Code centers around this museum, Dan Brown provides cool facts about the paintings and building. For example, did you know walking around the whole museum would cover over 3 miles? Or that the Louvre contains over 35,000 pieces of art? Tori and I, however, visited for one specific reason (just like nearly everyone else). After getting our tickets, we went straight to the Mona Lisa. I've got to say, not that impressed. We also saw other works, like Madonna on the Rocks and the statue Venus de Milo. Since we aren't the biggest art aficionados, we spent about an hour here and moved on. From the Louvre, we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral. The inside was beautiful, but due to the bleak weather, we were never able to appreciate the stained-glass windows. We did, however, get to see the giant Christmas tree out front that offered plenty of photo-ops. After Notre Dame, we were sufficiently tired. We rejuvenated with a couple beers at a nearby bar and grabbed dinner at a local crepery. After dinner, we were satisfied with the amount of sites we covered, but had another full day on our itinerary for Sunday....