Paris, Day 1: Jardin Tuileries, the Champs-Élysées, and Notre Dame.

Greetings from the City of Lights! Josh and I arrived in Paris last night after a loonng flight. Not surprisingly, Josh slept pretty much the whole time. I, well, did not. I read an entire book and watched three movies, and I was stir crazy and antsy by the halfway mark. (Patience has never been one of my virtues, I admit it.) At the eleventh hour (literally) we landed, hopped a connecting flight to Charles de Gaulle, and then took a quick taxi to our hotel in the Latin Quarter.

I have been to Paris twice before -- once with my Grandma Billie in junior high, and the second time I lived in a little apartment during the summer of 2004 and took a few classes at the Sorbonne after my first year of law school (a prerequisite for the LL.M. program, but as you can imagine, I did not complain). This is Josh's first trip, and Paris has been at the very top of his "must see" travel list.

We are staying at a tiny hotel in the same building as my old, tiny apartment. It is far from fancy, but it is inexpensive, clean, and central. I will post some pictures towards the end of our trip.

So, we arrived late Monday night. We took a short walk around the Latin Quarter, bought crêpes from a crêpe stand for dinner (ham and cheese for me, butter for Josh), and then walked along the River Seine. After that, we were tired and jet lagged, so we headed back to the hotel and fell right to sleep.

Today, we woke up mid-morning, slowly got ready, and then headed up the street to a small cafe for a quick coffee. We did not have big plans today, and Josh wanted to walk through the city and get oriented. So, we left the cafe, and headed toward the Seine, across Pont Neuf.


We walked past the Louvre, but it (like many other museums in Paris) is closed on Tuesdays.


As you can see, it was a lovely, gray day.




Since the Louvre was closed, we continued on through the Jardin Carrousel and the Jardin Tuileries.




We walked through the gardens, and then down the Champs-Élysées.


We stopped for a quick lunch: cheese crêpe for me (sensing a trend?) and pasta for Josh. We munched away while people watching.

Then, we were back on our way downt the Champs-Élysées.


We stopped at Laduree to buy some macarons.


Yum!


After that, we walked back along the Seine, soaking in the city. We got back to our hotel around 5, took a quick nap (still fighting a bit of jet lag), and headed to dinner.

We ended up at a little bistro in the Latin Quarter called Le Bistrot 30. Sadly, no pictures of dinner -- I did not have the guts to bust out my camera -- but we enjoyed french onion soup, beef bourguignon for me (a potato for Josh), fondue, and sorbet and crème brûlée for dessert.

After dessert, we took another stroll, and sat outside Notre Dame, admiring it and enjoying the beautiful night.

The view from our bench.


Josh took a (fuzzy) picture of me, since I am never in our travel pics. :)


Crossing the bridge on our way back, I couldn't resist snapping one more picture of Notre Dame.


We stopped at a small brasserie by our hotel for a few glasses of beaujolais and then headed back to our hotel to call it a night.

We didn't accomplish much today in terms of sightseeing (which is okay by me, since I have seen the major sites here), but we plan to have a big day tomorrow. Josh's Aunt Jody and her son Kohl are meeting up with us for two days, starting tomorrow. They have been in Italy and decided to take a detour to spend New Year's Eve with us, so we will be up bright and early to greet them.

With that, I am off to bed in our tiny room. Bonne nuit!