We are in Pari!!! It's about midnight. We got in and made a stop for late night McDonalds. This was actually a fun experience. I'm not kidding when I say that the "McBaguette" was on the menu. I tried to order an ice cream cone and get a refill and was unsuccessful both times. Tom had not problem with the Big Mac.
For the few hours we've been here, we were in a ghetto area, but then got to the hotel and the man was so friendly and helpful (against all French stereotypes). Merci!
6/16
The blog went down yesterday, but thanks to free wifi at McDonalds we are back and running. We had such a fun day yesterday. We were out on the town for about 16 hours, which is pretty impressive for a couple who usually crashes early. Paris really is beautiful and huge. We went on a 3 hour walking tour to get some history and our bearings. The louvre is intricate and massive. I felt like I was in the garden from The Wedding Planner full of huge statues and beautiful trees (excuse the chic flick reference). We also saw the lock key bridge where we bought a lock and threw the key into the water to lock our love forever. Needless to say, I like this romantic city.
My two favorite parts of the day were getting off the tourist trail to an old neighborhood and eating lunch at a local place. The manager was so incredibly nice and we sat there for a while just talking and eating the unique food in the narrow winding streets. I didn't know what I was ordering,but it was a salad with big pieces of mozzarella, olive oil grilled veggies, and bread. More Italian than Parisian, but the owner was from Italy which is neat.
I can't even try to capture our night at the Eiffel Tower, but I will try to create a post with pictures.
6/17
We just got in from our last night in Paris and will leave on a Taxi to catch our plane in Barcelona at 4:30 AM (no wonder that flight was so cheap haha). Paris was great though. Today we walked the streets, a beautiful park, and went into the Notre Dame Chapel and The Louvre. Most memorable moments:
#1. Sebri, who is a desk worker at our hotel. He is so friendly and went out of his way to help Mr. Tom Horn (in French accent). He thought "it is cool that you come Texas to here." Once again, those who go out of their way to help others are truly contagious! Sebri helped us even when off hours and he used the English he knew very well to relate to us.
#2. Ice Cream! "Creme Glaces" is a lifestyle for those in Paris. Anytime after breakfast until dark people fill the ice cream shops with a smile on their face. It's time to step it up and realize how great an ice cream break is America. I have not seen a sad person with a cone of ice cream in their hands. Crepes with Nutella are also found around every corner (Dina, I felt like I was at the Pavlin's residence all day :)
#3 . History of the French Revolution. Very very interesting and neat that the people stood up against the egotistical and greedy nobility in rule. We want to watch Les Mis again. We tried to make the Les Mis connection with our walking tour guide, but he had not seen the movie.
#4. The intricacy and reverence in Notre Dame. We sat and just took it in for a while. I respect the reverence the chapel had. While I was a little confused and turned off by the tourism in the chapel, the coin giving machines, and all of the memorials for the Saints, it was refreshing to know The Lord and dwell in His promises while in the chapel. I would hope that the millions of people that flood the chapel each day would understand more of who God is and the saving grace of Jesus, but all of the other memorials seemed to get a little too much attention.
#5. WOW after walking around the city I better sum it up, I could go on for a while. But we saw a big scam on the streets. We learned how to spot pick pockets and also saw a poor man give 100 euro on a cup and ball trick that included 3 plants. This team of sneaky people took others money as they used their manipulation of the trick. The three plants who stay around and cheer. Some of them would win and give hope to poor people walking up. Then, they took their money.
#6. Eiffel Tower!! We saw the tower from the most perfect place on the grass with a convenient store picnic and wine. We got to sit and watch the tower light up slowly from dusk to 11:00 when the whole tower started to sparkle with lots of fast white lights. People cheered and it was great to sit and take in the beauty of the city after walking all day. The weather has been perfect here and the night out was just great.
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