Paris - First impressions

        As soon as I stepped off the Chunnel from London, I felt like I had to be watching my back every second.  It was very different from the Atlanta I’ve seen and grown up in.  The first odd thing I saw was a blind French lady “Boooing” at the Police Station as CT and I were getting our tickets for the Metro.  We couldn’t get any from the machines because it wouldn’t take our cards, so we went to the ticket window.  In somewhat broken French I asked politely if I could have a booklet of tickets (the perfect amount for what we needed) and she understood me!  I paid and we were on our way, which ended up being the wrong way… As we rolled our bags down one way these two sketch-balls walked over to us and with a French accent asked us if we needed help.  I looked at him with a stern French face as I rolled by him to go back from where we came from as CT said “No”

NOTE:  when in France be sure to know where you are going before you try to go on you own adventure, there are too many people out there trying to take advantage of “silly Americans.”  Especially in the train stations!!

        We got help from a nice man from inside an info desk area.  He helped us through this huge gate with all our luggage, then we had to walk all the way to the other side of the train station to get on the correct train.  After the train we had to roll our bags across a few streets because the “intersection” we were at was a roundabout and had about 9 roads going into it.  Then once we picked the “right” street we rolled all of our luggage up the street and realized we went the wrong way.  We then had to turn around go back around the roundabout crossing half the streets again, and actually arrived at the correct road.  I was so glad when we finally got to our Hotel, I could finally take a shower!  I felt disgusting after the long over-seas flight, walking through London and a long train ride!  Haha!  The room we were in had two different levels to it, it was way different than any other Hotel room I’ve stayed in.  That night we got to a bunch of complimentary things, a huge bottle of water, candy, snacks, a plate of cheese, and a few other things. 

        I did not sleep well at all that night, I stayed up until 4 am if not later just watching a French documentary, it was actually quite interesting.  However, the next morning we woke up at 7:30!!  We got ready and I felt completely dead, but we went to eat breakfast and it was delicious, so that helped a little.  I am pretty sure that we were the only ones not eating the “petit-déjeuner” with just bread and jam or butter, with coffee and juice.  I also had an amazing cup of coffee, which definitely helped me wake up.  I just wish I would have brought my water bottle because you had to pay for water everywhere! 

NOTE:  Bring your water bottle with you when walking around Paris!

        Our first stop (besides the cute cafe) was Pallais de Chaillot, where the pictures started because it was perfect to take pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower.  It was nice out, so i was able to wear my scarf and jeans to look more french.  We kept walking towards the Eiffel Tower to just get the real view of how big it actually was.  We then walked across la Seine and through the Camp de Mars.  Then continued  down Motte Piquet la Tour Maubourg to the Hotel des Invalides.  From that Hotel you can see all the way down Ave. du Mal Gallieni and see the tops of Grand Palais and Petit Palais.  These pictures were taken in the middle of the road with the Hotel & the road.

Hotel des Invalids

        We then continued the walk down the river, walking past the Place de la Concorde, Musee de Orsay, and to the Place Dauphine on Pont Neuf.  On this little island is where we found Taverne Henry IV which is this amazing non-touristy restaurant.  I had to do most of the talking, because the waiter didn't speak much english (at all) :D haha!! After a delicious lunch we went to Sainte Chapelle.  It's so crazy when I think about how this amazing church dates back to the 13th century, and the french did a great job of keeping a huge percentage of the original glass.  It was so amazing to see how highly people held the stories is the Bible.  If you didn't know, each column of glass is a different Bible Story.  That was really awesome to see, and I still Thank God that I was able to see this depicted so beautifully.

        Once we wandered around Sainte Chapelle for quite a while, we headed to Notre Dame.  We were only able to see the outside because the line to get it would have taken over three hours, and we did not have that much time to waste.