After breakfast [mmm hot chocolate] our group took the metro to l'Arc de Triomphe, where Alex did his presentation. We wanted to go up to the top, but it wasn't even open yet. Instead of waiting the half hour, we decided to head over and see the Eiffel Tower instead. The lineups weren't as brutal as they could have been, if we had gone at one or so, so we got in line and waited to go to the top! It is so tall, and when you're standing at the base looking up, it's scary. It's even scarier when you're on it. We took the elevator, and got off the second floor, to take pictures. Then another lineup, and soon we were heading to the top. I have an issue with extreme heights, and Murray wasn't helping with his facts about how tall it was, or how cool it would be if it toppled while we were on the top, what a way to go, or even the fact that there was a safety net. But I managed, and with the help of Murray and Shannon I actually enjoyed being on top. It was really high, so I didn't look over the edge or anything. But we took pictures on the top, that was cool. Then we headed back down. But our group got on the elevator, and Murray and I missed it. We felt bad, but both not being very bossy or pushy people, we still missed it. Oops. But we did get down, after being stranded on the second floor. Then it was group pictures, and then we were done. I was still shocked that I had even been up there. But it was such a cool experience and well worth the wait and the money.
After our morning was gone, we ate lunch, then headed out again to the Hotel National des Invalides. That's where Napoleon body is kept. His tomb was impressively big [he always did want to be a bigger man], but the cool part were the museums. We saw world war ones, then there were cool rooms full of medieval type things, with swords and armor and knives and quivers. Those were cool. After les Invalides, we headed over to the Louvre!!! Shannon was so happy. We first just Carlos' speedwalked through it, to find the Mona Lisa. That was cool. Then we split up [oh, I must mention that Carlos the rat got us in pretty quickly.... he's pretty persuasive], and Shannon and I headed off together to look at paintings. There were so many, so nice. Some were wall sized, like the Crowning of Josephine painting, that was so impressive. Must have taken forever and a day to paint, I couldn't imagine. I had to literally pull Shannon away from some paintings. We found the Venus de Milo, that was cool. We had only two hours in the Louvre, so we powerwalked as much as we could. Which means in between paintings. We started looking for the exit early on, because the Louvre is such a big building. It took us near 40 minutes to find it. In our search, we came across the Egyptian wing, that was cool, and then the basement. Interesting.... we eventually found our way out, and into the bottom of the pyramid. We took pictures there, then joined with the rest of the group. As I had predicted, we were the last to show. Shannon was so happy.
We headed back to the hostel, then the other one to eat supper. After dinner, we headed out again, this time to the forever cool Bateaux Mouches, a touristy thing to do but loads of fun. We got to see the Eiffel Tower at night, and Notre Dame, and the smallest house in Paris. It was tiny. Two rooms I bet. Well, maybe four. It was two floors. We passed under la Pont de Marie, which was the closest pont to our hostel and that we travelled over many times, but apparently, the first time you travel under it, you're supposed to close your eyes, make a wish, and kiss the person next to you. I was sitting between Murray and Shannon. Shannon and I looked at each other, and we're like, I'm not kissing you.... we blew kisses at each other instead. Funny story, both of us forgot to make wishes! I just laughed. I blew a kiss at Murray as well. T'was an interesting tour.
That was the end of our first full day in Paris. So much fun was had!
