Paris - Part 1

Aaah, Paris!  Paris has been on the top of my list of places to visit for some time and we were so excited to have it work out to go there with Natalie and Grammy.  Our flight over was uneventful (it was really exciting flying in and seeing the Eiffel Tower).

Once there, we snagged a taxi to take us to our apartment.  Wow, that really threw us right into Paris.  We had thought it would be easier and quicker to take a taxi rather than figure out the public transportation system with all our luggage and such, but wow, it was a long drive, lots and lots of traffic and some seriously scary driving.  It was really neat to get to drive through the city and see a lot of things.  We rented an apartment through AirBnb.  That first day there, we felt like it was in a bit of a scary neighborhood and were a little worried about what we had gotten ourselves into, but after our first initial reaction, we were ok with it.  It was a nice apartment, right in Paris.  That first night, we walked up the hill to Sacre Coeur. 

Amazing view of the city!

Lots and lots of stairs, up and up!

This basilica is one of the newer sites in Paris, but quite awe-inspiring.  It is barely 100 years old, but has quite an interesting history.  It's built high up on Montmartre hill and offered an amazing view of the city.  We enjoyed seeing the city in the dark, all the lights and crowds.  It was great.
For our first full day there, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower.  It was sure amazing, to get off the Metro, walk out into the sun and have the Eiffel Tower right there. 

Eating crepes in front of the Eiffel tower!

 

I think it's probably one of the worlds most known icons and to see it in person was so exciting!  The Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 for the World's Fair and was originally meant to be a temporary exhibit.  Good thing they kept it.  It has had a fascinating history.  It was so fun walking around and under it.  It's very tall and so neat.  We waited in the long line to ride the elevators to the top.  I kind of wanted to climb up the stairs to the 2nd level, but it would have been quite the hike.  The elevator was kind of cool and wow, once you get up top, it is so high!  It was fun to actually be at the top of the Eiffel Tower, although I think the view looking up to the tower from down below is neater.  After taking the elevator back down to the 2nd floor, we walked around a bit there and then took the stairs to the first floor.  We bought a few souvenirs and decided to walk down the stairs the rest of the way.  We then ate lunch on the grass, with the Eiffel tower behind us.  So cool!

 So high up!

Chad took this picture with his camera extended over the edge of the tower.  It was a bit scary, if he had dropped it.  But, awesome view!

After taking a ton of pictures, we decided to head to the Statue of Liberty in Paris.  Yes, the Statue of Liberty in Paris.  This 1/4th size replica of the Statue of Libery in New York was given to Paris by Americans living in France, 3 years after France gave the original to the US.  It faces out into the river, although originally it faced the other direction.  This made it difficult to get any really great pictures.  Oh well, it was cool to see.

Back side of the statue.  It would have been nice if it still faced this direction.

To get to the statue, we had to walk along a long pathway in the middle of the river.  It was quite pretty.

I saw this older couple sitting, watching the river and thought it was very Parisian. 

After leaving there, we hopped on the metro and went to the Arc de Triomphe.  Unfortunately, it was closed to the public that evening, so we only got to see it from across the street.  It really is in a cool location, in the center of a round-about with 12 streets going out from it.  It was a little scary watching the traffic, but definitely a fun site to see.

We packed in a full day, so it was nice to get back to the apartment and put up our feet. What a great and memorable first day in Paris!