Part 2 Europe...France

Day 1 (Monday afternoon)

Once the Audi trip ended, Chris and I flew into Paris for a few days. One of my sweetest friends recommended the Hotel du Champ de Mars, just off Rue Cler and it was so wonderful! I would recommend it to anyone, a 5 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower and 10 minutes from Hotel des Invalides. However, I think my favorite part of the hotel was the itty bitty elevator that looked a bit like a cage; I let Chris be the first to take a ride in it (as you could fit only 1 person in it with a suitcase). The look on Chris's face as the door closed was priceless.

The hotel lobby.


After a long nap, we decided to get up and spend the rest of the afternoon exploring. We walked down Rue Cler and checked out all the shops, just before wandering over to the Eiffel Tower. There were scores of people there, but we walked through park and enjoyed watching all the people playing with their dogs and were very surprised by the number of runners as well. Not sure why I didn't think the French were into running, but they are!

Eiffel Tower (first time...I'll explain later)




We then headed to the Hotel des Invalides, however discovered it was closed that day. We still ended up walking through the grounds.




The rest of the evening, we literally just walked around trying to figure out the area. It was a beautiful evening; we eventually stopped along the Champs Elysees for the most expensive cappuchino we have ever had...however the people watching was spectacular.



Capuchino Time/Rest our aching feet (Many of these stops made)




Last stop before we headed home for the night was H&M and the Arc de Triomphe. I know, crazy combo...but I had to see if the H&M of Paris was the same as the one in San Francisco, right? Okay, back to the culture....Arc de Triomphe was beautiful!


On the way home, we stopped for some dinner (nothing outstanding, but filled our tummies) and then tried to figure out the map. Needless to say, I think we walked around the Eiffel Tower another time as we were quite turned around. However, we apparently got to see the Tower at night from just about every angle possible. Hehehehe....

Layne: "Oh look, there's the Eiffel Tower, we are almost back to the hotel."


Layne: "Okay, I feel like we might have been here before already tonight."


Layne: "Oh my gosh, there it is AGAIN!!! Where are we???"(At this point, we were afraid we might be sleeping at the Eiffel Tower)


Finally made it back, phew!