THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2012

PARIS, FRANCE

We got up early today because we wanted to have breakfast before we headed out for the day. We had our hearts set on omelets at the corner cafe, Cafe St. Regis, and when we got there we were told they had problems in the kitchen and could not make eggs. We decided to just have coffee/tea and croissants.

I had made arrangements to meet a woman named Donna Morris for a 1/2 day tour of Paris. There was an article about her in the Charlotte newspaper last December and we cut it out because it intrigued us. She is from Blowing Rock, NC, and has lived in Paris since 2006. She has a business called "Best Friend in Paris" and she does personal tours with people. You can book 1/2 day or 2 days or whatever. We decided on the 1/2 day tour just so she could help us get our bearings and get the most out of our short time in Paris.

She met us at our hotel and we instantly hit it off. We didn't want her to take us to the Eiffel Tower or The Lovre or anything like that because we knew we could do those things on our own. Instead she first took us to the Montmartre area of Paris. I had really hoped to see it so that was great. Montmartre is a butte on the North side of Paris and that is why that area has it's name. It's a trendy area with fabulous restaurants, nightclubs, etc. It is called the "San Francisco of Paris." We walked through the entire area and saw great shops and gorgeous buildings, apartments, and churches. Many famous artists had studios or worked in this area -- Salvador Dalí, Amedeo Modigliani, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Coeur on its summit. It is beautiful! The other, older, church on the hill is Saint Pierre de Montmartre, which claims to be the location at which the Jesuit order of priests was founded. It is from the third century!!! This church is less famous but to us it was much more interesting. Jill, we lit a candle for you there so your back would heal quickly. I'm sure you are doing backflips tonight!

When we walked out of the second church and started heading down the hill, we saw our first great view of the Eiffel Tower. It is an incredible structure and it really lets you know you are in Paris! We took so many pictures of the Eiffel Tower from so many different locations it is laughable! I should make a photo album just of those.

After we left the churches we walked down the hill through an outdoor market. I thought it would be a fruit/vegetable market but instead it was an art market. Artists painting Paris scenes and also lots of artists painting portraits of tourists and caricatures -- some of them were fabulous!

Continuing down the hill we saw incredible wine and cheese stores, cupcake bakeries, great-smelling patisseries, shops with complete cooked meals ready to pick up, etc. If I lived in Paris, this is the area where I would live. It is in the 18th arrondissement.

From Montmartre we took a bus to the Eiffel Tower area. We had lunch at a cafeteria where we had a great view of the Tower. The food, however, was terrible but at least it was very expensive. Ha! We spent a long time at the cafe talking about her life in Paris and she gave us many tips on how to get around. We bought a book she suggested, Essential Paris, which breaks down Paris by arrondissements and then shows the streets, bus routes and metro routes. I would strongly recommend this book for anyone traveling to Paris.

After lunch we parted ways with Donna and David and I walked down to see the Eiffel Tower close up and walk underneath it and, of course, to take more pictures! It was on our way to the street where we would catch the bus back to our hotel. Donna prefers buses to the Metro and I think she has a good reason -- as you travel by bus you can see more of what's around you and get on and off if you see something you would like to check out.

Based on Noel's recommendation, we planned to get off the bus to see Les Invalides. It contains Napoleon's tomb and is a military museum. But it was blazing hot (buses are not air conditioned) so we decided to save that for our next trip to Paris and we went straight to the hotel to cool off in our air conditioned room.

After a rest we headed back out to tour Notre Dame. No lines and we walked right in. They were holding a Mass but the tourists still wandered through. There really is no way to describe how beautiful Notre Dame is . . . or how huge! We spent a lot of time there and it was nice to hear Mass. Jill, we lit a candle for you again so you have to be all healed by now!

By now it was about 6:30 p.m. and a beautiful evening. Donna had suggested we take a Seine River tour out of Pont Neuf so we decided to do so. We walked to the end of the island and took a Vedettes tour. It was an hour long and really enjoyable! I liked that the guide told us about all of the bridges -- 13 in all. The New Bridge is actually the oldest bridge in Paris and it's lined with faces. All of them are strange and some are sticking out their tongues, etc. There are many theories about why the faces are there -- some say they are there to ward off evil spirits. Our tour guide said Henry IV had them put on the bridge because he was mocking the bridge builders and he didn't think the bridge would stand. Great bridges, great stories.

We got off the boat around 8:00 and we were starving. We wanted plain, old regular food -- nothing fancy and not a 3-hr. dinner like usual. Our hotel desk clerk suggested we go to Cafe Lutetia. We had been there once for tea and coffee so we decided to give it a try. It was perfect! I had a bacon cheeseburger with french fries (delicious) and David had a caesar salad with french fries. Yes, we had to eat french fries with every meal so we could let Sheryl know which restaurant had the best fries!

After dinner we slowly strolled back to our hotel and after watching some TV -- European track meet -- we went to sleep. Our time in Paris is running out too quickly!