During our trip to the UK, my daughter and I took a day trip to Paris. We traveled on the Eurostar from Ashford, England to Paris early in the morning. I know, one day to see Paris is not enough, but we did it within the time we had! We'll go back another time to see the rest. 

The Eurostar was a trip by itself...186 MPH in a train is incredible. You have to experience it for yourself for my description to be relevant. The land just flies by! There is an incredible WHOOSE! when you pass under the car pass-overs. You could sometimes see people stopped up by the tracks to watch the train pass by. I'm sure they are tourists!

The track from England ends, literally, at the Paris station. You have to board another train if you want to go to Brussels. We purchased all-day tickets for the Métro (subway) and took off. We visited the Eiffel tower, the Musée du Louvre, the Hôtel National des Invalides, Notre Dame de Paris (Cathédrale), Arc de Triomphe and several parks. 

A funny story regarding the Métro...the tickets are paper with a magnetic strip. You have to pass the ticket through a machine that reads the strip. That machine will let you enter the station to board the train. Natalie's ticket was crumpled up and the machine refused to read it. I went up to the station attendant and told him our plight. He went over to Natalie, who was embarrassed because of the situation, and said (in broken English with a very thick French accent), "Of course you cannot enter the station, your ticket is crumpled. The machine will not accept a crumpled ticket. Why is your ticket crumpled? Your father's ticket is not crumpled! Do you think I should let you pass with a crumpled ticket?" I was rolling on the floor laughing my head off. He had clued me in to what he was going to say to her. Natalie's embarrassment was turning to anger by this time. The ticket fellow prattled on for a few more minutes before he let her in. She realized he was teasing by this time, and she even laughed about it. This went a long way towards changing my mind that the French are rude to foreigners. 

What can I say, the Eiffel tower was spectacular! It is a masterpiece of engineering, as well as a masterpiece of art. Check out the pictures.

The Louvre is equally as spectacular. it was built over the ruins of a medieval building that was being excavated. The art contained within its walls is breathtaking. We were able to see Roman statues, world famous paintings by Michelangelo, Da Vinci and other priceless artwork. The Venus DeMilo was just as I pictured her, stunning. You could spend 3 days in the Louvre and not see all of it. We only had a few hours, so I drug Natalie around by the hand. I wanted to see the Mona Lisa before the museum closed, so we headed out for the hall where she was hanging. We turned the corner and passed through tall, arched doors into the most impressive hall I had even seen. 

It was a rectangular hall, about 200 yards long with 30 foot arched doorways on each end. We could see smaller arched doorways along the sides that led to other areas. On the floor were rugs that looked like they came from an antique shop. The paintings were hung along the walls at eye level. There were out in the open, with no glass covers. You could touch them if you wanted to, but no one would dare do such a thing. The paintings were from the Italian masters. It was so surreal to view paintings I had only see in books.  

We were almost to the Mona Lisa (just 10 yards from her) when the guards stopped our progress and told us the museum was closing. Then they started to herd us out a side door! I told them I was visiting from America, and just wanted to see the Mona Lisa! I was almost frantic, but they stood their ground and told me to exit the door to my right. I was pissed!!! I could see her, barely, but I wanted to see her up close. I suppose it will have to wait until next time.  

It was getting late, so we decided to get a bite to eat. We wandered around close to the Notre Dame de Paris (Cathédrale) and found a small restaurant. Small doesn't describe it adequately. It measured 15 foot wide by 25 foot long, including the open kitchen area. There were only 7 tables in the place, and you had to sit with people you didn't even know. They were very busy, and the food bore out that fact. We had a 3 course, typically French dinner, including wine. The owner was amazing, he would seat the patrons, then go outside on the street to lure more people into the place. It was like going to a carnival and watching the sideshow hawkers. In between this, he would bring the food to the tables and even chat with the patrons. He spent quite a bit of time with us talking, telling us about his trip to the States.

Our eating partners were two women from the States! They were on a month long trek through France.