April 18, 2000 was our first full day in Paris. Laurie and I met Ab and Gus for breakfast (coffee and croissants) then we went to the front desk to ask about the open top bus tours of the city.

Or concierge was knowledgeable, but not nearly as much as David at the Lime Tree Inn in London. She showed us where we could catch the bus and we paid 25FF/ea for a discount (Normally the tour is 125FF (about $18), but with the discount it was only 100FF). We asked for a map, but she said that she only had one and asked if we could bring her back some!

We caught the bus in front of Notre Dame. Our hotel, Hotel Axial Beaugourg is in the Marias district, just north of the Seine on the Rive Droit. Norte Dame, on Ile de la Cite, was less than a half mile away. D&D’s place was within a half mile of there. We got on and got the maps for the hotel. Although it was quite brisk, we sat on top.

The bus headed west along the Rive Gauche, past the Musee d’Orsay (see Abbie’s notes) and crossed the Seine at the Pont de la Concord into the Place de la Concorde. I took three years of French in Jr High, and one in High School. We spent a lot of time on French culture and a lot of time on Paris. The Place de la Concord was something that I always wanted to see.

We passed the obelisk that Napoleon swiped from Egypt, by the Place de la Madeleine, the Paris Opera and back to the Place de la Concord. We then headed up the famed Champs Elysees (Oh, Champs Elysees, Oh Champs Elysees, au soleil , sur la pruie…) to the Arc de Triumph.

The Arc is a huge structure, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 but not completed until 1836. It is in the middle of the world’s largest traffic circle. We walked around, marveled, took photos, and got back on the bus.

We went back down the Champs Elysees, and back along the Seine to the Palais de Chaillot ("Built, as you know, for the 1936 world’s fair" our tour guide said). We crossed the Seine and got off at the Eiffel Tower.

The tower is truly amazing – it is all it’s cracked up to be and it’s cracked up to be a lot. The queues were long so we didn’t go up. There are green spaces in front of the tower all the way to the Ecole Militaire, where Napoleon graduated, Class of ’86. A policeman was there to keep people off the grass – he didn’t look happy, maybe because his job could have been eliminated by a sign.

We were meeting D & D at 2:00 and it seemed to be only 2-3 miles away (it was 1:00) so we decided to walk. I like trying to figure out how to get about in a strange city so this was fun for me. At one point the four of us all had maps out, trying to figure out not only where we were going but where we were. We got our bearings and headed off in a vaguely East Northeast direction.

We got to the Place de la Concord and realized that our estimate of distance was about as accurate as that of the guy who invented "near beer". We were going to be late so we decided to take the Metro, Paris’s subway system. We figured out where to go so I went to buy tickets.

The guy behind the window professed to speak no English (although he could have been mocking me) but I managed to buy us tickets. Yes, they were intentionally day passes when a ticket would have sufficed, but we got on and got to our destination.

Dan and Doreen were waiting for us at the café across from the hotel.

It was a great introduction to the city. We saw key sights (sites?), got our bearings, figured out the metro, and got back nearly on time.

Thanks again to D & D for their hospitality and guidance. A great trip!

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