Paris

Anyway, when we landed we met up with Josh who had already been in the airport a while.  He was supposed to land 4.5 hours after us.  It all worked out and then our French friends from the plane let us use their  phone to call Christophe to tell him we would  be late and helped us figure out the metro.  We got to his house and he ended up being there to let us in.  This is a link to Christophe's place.  https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/572303  That was a relief because I wasn't sure how everything would work out and I had never used airbnb before, much less traveled to Europe.  Anyway, that place was small, but clean.  Christophe and his wife were really helpful and did their best with English.  We didn't get to eat that day until around 4 or 4:30, but Christphe recommended a place to eat that was close to where he lived on top of the metro station (which was just a few minutes walk from his home).  Of course we couldn't read the men, but there was a waitress who spoke English and got us a ham and cheese sandwich, fries, and a salad.  It had dressing on it which I don't like, but it was light and I was starving.  The sandwich was actually really good.

That night we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower.  I went up by myself but met three other girls in line behind me who were a lot of fun.  They were from Sweden.  The line was not bad at all.  Many people told us that we would have to wait forever.  It seemed like the perfect time as well.  It was still light out when I went up...maybe around 8:00 or 8:30 and then it got dark while I was up there so I saw the lights come on, when it twinkled, and the city at night.  What more could a girl ask for?

There is a beautiful garden in the back of the cathedral.

A cute little ice cream man and live music behind the garden.

The lock bridge behind the cathedral.

The bridge and the cathedral

Some views from the tower.  I went at sunset...perfect...I got to see the tower and Paris in the day and at 

night...plus the line was short!

Some views from the Eiffel Tower

Some friends I made in line.  They are from Sweden.  

Down at the bottom of the tower.

The next day we got up and grabbed breakfast from the adorable cafe across the street from our airbnb.  I had a bacon and spinach quiche and some fruit I had bought from the market across the street the night before.  Then we headed for Champ de Elles, the famous street for buying high end fashion in Paris.  Unfortunately when we got off the metro it was raining.  There wasn't much we could do so we started getting wet.  We had to go to the bathroom and the only one we could find cost 2 euros. Wowzers!  I never paid that much to use the bathroom before.  We came to realize that typically you pay to use the bathroom in Europe, but usually it is more like .50 or 1 euro.  We saw the Arc de Triumph, but were drenched and cold by this time so we didn't take many pictures or get too close.  After that we began our Walking Tour with Sandeman's. http://www.neweuropetours.eu  We have found them to be a great company offering excellent tours that are fun, interesting, and informative.  Our guide was Sophie from Australia who moved to Paris because she married a French man from there and she is an artist.  However, this particular tour included more than 3 more hours of walking in the rain.  We were soaked and frozen to the bone.  After the tour finished we took the metro to where we were supposed to meet for our next tour, a bike tour and river cruise...pretty much we were destined to be outside all day in the cold rain.  However, when we got off it had stopped raining.  I was starving and we found a restaurant where I had salmon, rice, and bread.  We walked around a bit and I got a few souvenirs.  Our next tour was with Fat Tire Bike Tours and now it was evening and sunny.  We rode around learning a great deal more and then got on the River Cruise (which was included) down the Siene.  Then we got back on our bikes and went back to the companies office.  Our guide was Claire from Scotland.  We were all pretty tired and got home late, but we learned a lot that day.

Wednesday we went to the same cute cafe for breakfast and I got another bacon and spinach quiche which I age with some fruit.  Then we went to the Louvre.  We stopped for a sandwich and I still had a little fruit from the market to go with it.  Later we went to the train station and where I got a salad and croissant (because I had to get one in France!).