Paris - Day 2

What a great day! Without the dogs waking us up at 6am we actually had a sleep in until 8am which was heaven. We got ready and were out the door by 9 and only returned to the apartment by 7pm for a quick relaxing 30 min and then we went out again to look at more of our neighbourhood.

We started our day off with some amazing pastries (I had the pain du chocolat for you Tiff ;)) while we made our way back towards the Eiffel Tower.

Our breakfast bakery and where we also picked up some Mille Feuille that Ian told me we HAD to try...will be having that later tonight.

Another cool building

Just couldn't resist taking this picture - we love watching these crazy motorcyclists :)

We got a better view of the Eiffel Tower this morning. The gardens on the way to the tower are just amazing where lots of people take their dogs to run. I actually can't believe how dog-friendly everyone is, we see them in restaurants and stores.

We had some fun bartering with a souvenir guy that was selling mini Eiffel Tower keychains and statues. He was the first guy we saw but I just couldn't believe how many actually sell this stuff all around the tower - almost annoying. We were planning to go up the tower but decided against it when we arrived at 9:30 only to find that it was at least a 2hr lineup for the elevator and quite the lineup to even walk up all those stairs. We decided against it as we had lots planned for the day but may do it later this week.

We walked across the Seine River as we headed towards our next stop, the Arc de Triomphe. This was one of the beautiful tree lined streets on our walk. We decided to take the Metro the rest of the way and met this really nice New Yorker who explained how the Metro worked and put us in the right direction, was great to have met her.

The Arc de Triomphe was just incredible. The construction started in 1806 on the orders of Napoleon I to honour the victories of his Grande Armee. It is at the centre where 12 streets connect to form the biggest traffic circle I have ever seen.

The views from the terrace level are some of the best in Paris they say. Here is a picture of the 193 stairs that led to just the first level, the terrace being on the third level. Don't worry though, at the top of those 193 stairs was a huge couch for people to collapse on, lol.

Here is a pic of one of the views from the terrace level. I just love the way the buildings are perfectly symmetrical.

We had fun watching as this white car tried to make his way from the inside of the circle to get across all those lanes. There was lots of honking and swerving but no accidents and eventually the white car got where he wanted to go.

While we were up on the terrace we saw in the distance the Grande Arche which Rick really wanted to visit. We headed down all those stairs and found our way onto the right off-shute street to head towards the Grande Arche.

La Grande Arche is the first contemporary building created on Paris' historical axis located right in the business district. It is a cube of concrete, glass and white marble standing 360' feet high supported by 12 pillars. There is a glass elevator that you ride outside to the roof of the building but sadly (ok, I think thankfully, but Rick thinks sadly) was unavailable until further notice.

Rather than going on that scary elevator ride, we walked around the grounds and checked out some of the gardens and the interesting art?! I thought these were cute....

but a thumb? Not really sure why anyone would want a thumb for a sculpture :)

We did a bit of shopping in the business district and then decided to head back to the Seine River for a bit of lunch and take in the boat cruise.

Rick made me take this picture of the 'Glad' man who was taking the Metro that we got off.

We stopped at a nice cafe for lunch. I chose the cafe because it had english writing under each item on the menu. I was reading through the menu when our waiter came up to us, took the menu from my hands, turned to the last page and said that we wanted the special. He went on to say what it was but all I understood was cheese, bacon and salad so I said sure. Rick was looking at me like I was crazy and so I said to the waiter "we'll take 2" lol. I couldn't tell him what was in it but when it arrived it was a potato, cheese, bacon type casserole with salad on the side, it was great. I think I might have to stick with specials going forward.

After lunch we boarded the Bateaux Parisiens boat cruise on the Seine River. It was a 1 hour cruise that passed by many of the main attractions. I thought I would spare you many of the pictures I took but liked the following ones best:

Rick has now decided he likes this car even better than yesterday's pick...drives on both water and land, how cool would that be?

There were so many bridges that we went under, all with great stories. This one was very cool as it had over 200 different faces carved into it.

This little house in between the two taller ones is the smallest house on the Seine, I think it is pretty nice all the same.

I couldn't resist taking this picture...It made me feel at home and think of my Orleans buddies.

This was the end of the cruise showing off the amazing statues on the bridge and the Eiffel Tower.

On our way home we stopped at a horse tack store (I know, I don't have a horse anymore but I couldn't resist when it said it was the supplier of the France Equestrian Team) We had a laugh when we saw a wire fox terrier in the window. Rick is missing Owen so much that he decided to take the window one for a walk?! LOL

ahhh, and a little cuddle too (loser!)

But talking of wire fox terriers, the very first dog we saw when we arrived in France was a WFT!

Well that is it for today....till tomorrow night.