Paris

(pond next to the Eiffel Tower)

OK, I have finally gotten off of my lazy rear end and uploaded my pictures from my trip to Paris and Barcelona. I guess now the next logical step would be to share some of those pictures with my friends here.

(My DH's attempt to get both me and the Eiffel Tower- he didn't think to turn the camera sideways! lol)

My husband and I were only able to spend the day in Paris, which was only enough to wet the appetite. Revisiting Paris has now been put on our Bucket List. We spent the entire day walking in the 40 degree temp with biting wind and freezing rain. Our hotel was nice enough to allow us an extremely early check-in, we arrived at the hotel at 6 am, we ate breakfast and headed out. We were about 4 - 6 blocks away from the perfect viewing spot of the Eiffel tower, so that is where we headed first. It was beautiful, great photo opportunities. From this little area we walked down past a beautiful fountain and across the street and proceeded to stand in line for at least an hour waiting to go into the Eiffel Tower. Not even the rude tourists could take away my enjoyment from standing under it and looking up at all that steel in AWE. I chose only to go up as far as the second level, it was freezing outside!! I took several pictures, or should say attempted to, from that vantage point. The city was mesmerizing.

It doesn't matter where my husband and I go, we always opt to walk. There is just something to being able to experience a new city this way. Plus, it is always a great opportunity for us to get lost, literally! We got so turned around walking through all the little streets, every thing looked so very similar. The major streets jutted out from one center point, so you could end up going in circles and never really know it... happened to us.lol

(Arc de Triomph- taken from across the street on the corner of Champs-Elysees)

(under the Arc de Triomph)

We walked from the Eiffel Tower, with several detours, to the Arc de Triomph. Did you know that there is an under ground tunnel that allows you to access this monument without having to fight with crossing the busy streets? It reminded me of the part of the Davinci Code where they were running through tunnels, at least I think that was the movie I was thinking of. There are 284 stairs to the top. Yes, I actually paid 9 Euros a piece to walk up 284 stairs!! By the time I got to the top of the stairs I thought my legs were going to fall out from under me. This is where I wished that I had purchased that stair master last year instead of the gym membership that I don't use. At the top, we walk outside and get hit with rain that literally felt like ice and wind strong enough to make you feel like you were drunk, we ran around the top and took a couple of pictures.

(view from the top of Arc de Triomph)

Our plan from this point was to head back to the hotel, take a nap, grab some dinner and do it all over again to experience the city lights. However, our bodies and the weather had other plans. We did grab dinner at Victor Hugo Cafe, excellent food, but we were so exhausted from the day of travel, walking and battling the elements that we just headed back to our hotel and went to bed. We found out when we got back to the hotel that this was the day that all across the world they were turning the lights off to a lot of the tourist attractions (as well as other things) in observance of going Green.

I will post another day about our time in Barcelona. It was another beautiful city, but after spending the day in Paris it just didn't hold a candle. Maybe I was still tired, I don't know, but for some reason I just didn't get into wanting to sight see. I think our tour guide and some other couples from our group scared the crap out of me... all I could think about was making sure my purse was clamped to my side so that it didn't get stolen or pick pocketed.