Fun on the Champs Élysées

After dinner Monday night, Sarah and I headed down to the Champs Élysées area and stopped in at Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe.

Sarah was game to schlep up the 284 stairs to the top of the Arc to get a cool view. After 14 hours today, I had enough and sat on a bench and waited for the photographic evidence.

As you can see - it was a pretty nice view last night.

Afterwards we strolled down the Champs Élysées eventually making our way to the Metro stop to ride home.

Across from our hotel are the Tuleries Gardens as part of the Louvre complex. In the summer, they have a carnival from mid-July to mid-August.

Anyway, we stopped in to ride the giant ferris wheel. Sarah also rode some wild ride that US lawyers would prevent on our shores - the ride goes 180 feet high, goes 90mph, upside down, and pulls 5.5 g's. That fact that it comes with a vomit shield should give an indication of likely outcomes of riding.

Anyway, below is a link of a brief interview with Sarah that I posted on my YouTube channel.

http://youtu.be/5r5BdxgQT40

The interview is on the Giant Ferris wheel and you can see the ride in question in the background.

Montmartre and Pig Alley

This afternoon, after we had a rest from a busy morning, we headed up to Montmartre and the Pigalle area.

 

Montmartre is the area where the Sacre Cour Church is.  Pigalle is home of Paris' old red light district.  It is pretty tame by today's standards - the American GI's after WW2 called it Pig Alley and it most famous club is the Moulin Rouge.

 

We sat on the stairs of the church and enjoyed great views of Paris.  There were a lot of street performers and guys selling Heineken's to tourists.  One street pefromer climbed up a street pole and did some Circ de Soleil type routines and got a standing ovation from the crowd.  People actually waited in line to give him money afterwards.

 

We had dinner in a small village area behind the Sacre Cour church and Sarah enjoyed time on Facebook telling her friends about her adventure.

 

After dinner, we are headed to Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Élysées.

Montmarte and Pig Alley

This afternoon, after we had a rest from a busy morning, we headed up to Montmarte and the Pigalle area.

 

Montmarte is the area where the Sacre Cour Church is.  Pigalle is home of Paris' old red light district.  It is pretty tame by today's standards - the American GI's after WW2 called it Pig Alley and it most famous club is the Moulin Rouge.

 

We sat on the stairs of the church and enjoyed great views of Paris.  There were a lot of street performers and guys selling Heineken's to tourists.  One street pefromer climbed up a street pole and did some Circ de Soleil type routines and got a standing ovation from the crowd.  People actually waited in line to give him money afterwards.

 

We had dinner in a small village area behind the Sacre Cour church and Sarah enjoyed time on Facebook telling her friends about her adventure.

 

After dinner, we are headed to Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees.

DaVinci Code Moment

If you saw the Tom Hanks movie DaVinci Code, you may remember the inverted pyramids in the Louvre museum in the entrance area at the beginning if the film.

 

We found this place, but it was not near the entrance in the way it was shown in the filmI

 

I have the DaVinci Code film on my iPad and we will do forensics when we get back to the room.

Monday Morning at the Louvre - Repost

We were up and out early Monday and headed to the Louvre Museum. Although Sarah speaks some French from taking it in school - she only speaks English to the Parisians.

That leaves the French to me. This morning I said to the doorman, "Hey Frenchy, oou est the Loover museum?". He smiled and said "American Pig!" and said I smelled like "merde". I had to look that up. So we had to rely on maps to get there.

At the Louvre, we made our way to the two main attractions for non-art lovers. The Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. Crowds were thick and the nuance of soaking in rich art treasures is lost as you push your way through scores of Asians taking a gajillion photos standing in front of the art. So we did it as well.

After the Louvre we headed over to the Eiffel Tower and saw people waiting in a 5 hour line to ride to the top. We will come back another time or try and get the hotel to make a reservation for us.

Monday Morning at the Louvre

First Day in Paris

Sarah and I arrived in Paris Sunday afternoon and check-in at the Westin Paris and crashed a bit before heading out.

 

To get over the jet lag, you need to avoid to much sleep and make it to about 10pm local time before sleeping - otherwise you wake up in the middle of the night.

 

When we ventured out, it was raining so we went to a restaurant near the hotel and Sarah ordered some Italian Wiener Schnitzel (Veal Milanese) and a half bottle of French Pouilly Fine white wine.

 

For dessert we headed over the Left Bank for some gelato and walked around Pont Neuf before retiring.

 

Tomorrow hopefully we will be on local time.

First Stop Belgium

Our first stop was Brussels, Belgium. We made our way to the Grand Market Square and Sarah ordered her first beer.

We tooled around Brussels until our train for Paris left in the afternoon - we were both exhausted as we only got 2-3 hours of sleep on the plane.

Test Blog - Having Tech Difficulties

E-mail Posts won't load

Test Blog

 

 

Sent via the LG Nitro™ HD, an AT&T 4G LTE smartphone

Test Blog

Posting from Plane

Off to Europe

Sarah and I are at the airport getting ready to fly to Europe.  Here is Sarah in the United Lounge with our plane in the background.

 

First stop is Brussels, Belgium.  We are going to checkout Europe's largest outdoor market in the morning and then take the high speed train into Paris.

 

We will be in Paris for 5 days and then we will jump over to London for the Olympics.  Our plan is to see the final swimming event and hopefully Michael Phelps last gold medal.

 

After London, we will head down to Venice and Rome before we fly home (via Germany).

 

So if all goes according to plan (and that is 50-50 at best) we will hit 5 countries on this trip.

 

More to follow.....

Off to Europe

Sarah and I are at the airport getting ready to fly to Europe.  Here is Sarah in the United Lounge with our plane in the background.

 

First stop is Brussels, Belgium.  We are going to checkout Europe's largest outdoor market in the morning and then take the high speed train into Paris.

 

We will be in Paris for 5 days and then we will jump over to London for the Olympics.  Our plan is to see the final swimming event and hopefully Michael Phelps last gold medal.

 

After London, we will head down to Venice and Rome before we fly home (via Germany).

 

So if all goes according to plan (and that is 50-50 at best) we will hit 5 countries on this trip.

 

More to follow.....

Off to Europe

Sarah and I are at the airport getting ready to fly to Europe.  Here is Sarah in the United Lounge with our plane in the background.

 

First stop is Brussels, Belgium.  We are going to checkout Europe's largest outdoor market in the morning and then take the high speed train into Paris.

 

We will be in Paris for 5 days and then we will jump over to London for the Olympics.  Our plan is to see the final swimming event and hopefully Michael Phelps last gold medal.

 

After London, we will head down to Venice and Rome before we fly home (via Germany).

 

So if all goes according to plan (and that is 50-50 at best) we will hit 5 countries on this trip.

 

More to follow.....