Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, cruising on the Seine, Louvre - Jan 1-2, 2015


Trip Index

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To start the first day of 2015, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower.  The weather was clear and crisp.

Eiffel Tower made of macarons in the hotel lobby
the actual Eiffel Tower

We contemplated going up to the top since Kaleb had never been, but the line was so long that it wrapped several times under the base of the tower.  Even the line for the stairs (instead of the escalator) was long.  And this was during winter!  I wasn't sure which day would be good to visit the Eiffel Tower due to weather so I did not purchase tickets ahead of time.  If you can commit to a day and time, I would recommend getting pre-paid reserved time tickets so you can skip the ticket queue.  Unfortunately you can't prepay for stair tickets; the pre-paid tickets are for the elevator ride.

After taking a few pictures, we walked over to Trocadero.  The Eiffel Tower looked so grand from this vantage point...I don't know why I don't have a picture of this!

For lunch, yes, we stopped at McDonald's.  Sometimes you just want comfort food (and free wifi).  We did this on our visit to Auckland too!  The food mostly tastes the same.  You order through a machine; you can choose from a few common languages so this helps take the stress off of ordering in French.  This machine would have been helpful many years ago when I was at the most beautiful McDonald's at a rest area in Austria.  Not being able to speak German and the order taker not being able to understand English well, I ended up ordering 4 McChicken extra value meals when I meant to say two #2 meals... :(

automated ordering
a burger with fresh lettuce and tomato!

We spent the day wandering around the streets of Paris and down the Champs-Elysses until supper time.  We stopped at Le Grand Cafe Capucines.  I was drawn in by the platters of seafood on diners' tables.  When we walked in, it was fancier than I expected, but I think the restaurant was used to tourists so we were let in despite our casual clothing.  They had a free coat check, which made sense since all the tables were crammed together closely and there was hardly any room to place your coat or even for the servers to get around.  The waiter gave me a Japanese menu since we came in at the same time as a group of Japanese tourists but I requested English instead. :)
fresh raw oysters and clams...mmm!
gotta have my foie gras fix
my kidney entree being sauteed nearby
kidney and mushrooms...tres delicieux!
Scottish salmon
profiterole dessert

The next morning, I stood in line outside the nearby Paul bakery (I see they've spread to the East Coast!) to purchase baguette sandwiches and sweets.  I got to practice a little bit of French though the cashier eventually switched to English at the end of the transaction...I must have been pretty bad.

so tempting to buy it all
mini filled baked beignets, oh so good

We walked over to Notre Dame; there was a line to get in but it moved quickly.  We paid 5 euro each to enter the Treasury where we saw many icons and statues made of precious stones and metals.

waiting in line
grand interior
captivating stained glass
stained glass everywhere
The Nativity
Joan of Arc
inside the Treasury
silver Virgin Mary
current and past Popes
gold relic
bejeweled vessel
gold and diamonds

Afterwards, we walked over to Pont Neuf near Notre Dame to board a ship to sail down the Seine.  I bought tickets ahead of time from Bateaux Vedettes du Pont Neuf.  They were less expensive than the more prominent Bateaux Parisiens, just their dock was a bit hidden and not widely advertised.  It wasn't too hard to find them as their dock was right at the northwest tip of the island (Ile de la Cite) in the middle of the Seine river.

walking along the edge of the island
small signage for the Vedettes

Our tickets could be used any day of the year and anytime in the afternoon so it was nice to be able to show up at the dock whenever.  Within ten minutes or so, we boarded.  There were restrooms available at the dock; there weren't any on the boat.  The boat wasn't very crowded.

on the no-frills boat
Eiffel Tower, we meet again...

After the roundtrip boat ride, we walked over to the Louvre and surrounding area.

passed by many rails with locks of love
inside the Louvre Palace courtyard
approaching the Pyramide du Louvre
fountain in front
Arc du Triomphe du Carrousel (not *the*Arc)
Jardin des Tuileries entrance

I had read about a tip to buy the Paris Museum Pass at the Arts Decoratifs museum to avoid lines.  Since it was so late in the day, the ticket seller at the museum was nice:  she did not stamp our Museum Pass for today and gave us an admission ticket for the Arts museum.  The exhibits inside were okay, mostly furniture and decorative objects, which I didn't take any pictures of.

Arts Decoratifs museum
the building inside was cool

Kaleb and I didn't have any other plans for today so we decided to enter the Louvre anyway, even though the day was almost over.  The museum was open late on Friday nights so why not?

inside the Pyramide
Venus de Milo
Winged Victory
grand rooms
Mona Lisa room
hard to get close!

After a short taste of the Louvre, we headed back towards our hotel in search for dinner.  We found a brasserie called Madeleine 7 and enjoyed a reasonably priced 3-course set menu as well as a half-dozen oysters.

we were given two extra oysters!
smoked salmon
fois gras terrine
duck breast...yummy!
salmon
ice cream
chocolate mousse
cappuccino
speculoos cookie

A great end to the day!  What's next?  More sightseeing ahead...or so we thought...

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