Our Adventures in France...Day 2

Day 2 was our first full day in France. We were up by 8:00 a.m. and met our local tour guide Antoine at 9:00 a.m. We were taking a driving tour around Paris to see the sights. 

A few quick pictures before heading out for the day. 

Trent was having fun with his camera.

 Trent getting some good shots in the bus.

Our first stop was the Lourve to see if we could get in for a tour and not have to wait in the long ticket line. We learned quickly that Antoine was a wheeler and dealer and used his connections to get us tickets without waiting in long lines. Antoine wasn't able to get us in during the morning hours, but got us tickets for a 1:00 p.m. tour. While Antoine was negotiating our ticket times we took some pictures. It was cold and a bit windy, which felt good in July.

The Louvre is one of the world's largest museums and most visited art museum in the world. There are nearly 35,000 pieces exhibited in the Louvre.

The glass pyramid was built in the late 1980's and is over the lobby of the Louvre.  It was built a little over a hundred years after the Louvre opened in 1874. 

 Tim and Trent taking a break and taking it all in. 

 Clearly 8:00 a.m. was too early for Trent to wake up.

Another picture by Trent.

Since we were a few hours from our Louvre tour we toured more sights in Paris. Next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral. Wow, was it beautiful! The Cathedral is considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture and one of the most well-known churches ever built. The church contains the office of the current Archbishop of Paris. Notre Dame still holds church services and one was going on when we toured it.

Picture by Trent

A picture by me...I was so impressed that Trent got nearly the same picture I did.

  The stain glass is gorgeous and has so much detail as does everything in the cathedral.

Church service

  This is the center of Paris, France.

 We had the hunchback of Notre Dame walking around...aka Zach.

The cathedral was built in 1163 and building continued through the 1240's.  It was destroyed during the French Revolution in the 1790's and then was restored to it's original Gothic state.

 Trent had to buy the French flag at a local souvenir store.

From Notre Dame we toured more of Paris. We made a quick stop where Napolean's tomb is. 

 Chapel of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, Paris, built in 1679.

Love Zach's scarf.

Antoine definitely knows where to take pictures. He took us to a great spot to get a great view and pictures of the Eiffel Tower. He had tried to get us tickets to go up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, but this time we weren't so lucky and would have to come back later in the day to walk up to the first and second levels of the Eiffel Tower.

 I wish his eyes were open.

 Reimers Family in Paris, France and we are jumping for joy.

We had lunch and then it was time for our tour of the Louvre. The Louvre was so crowded and I am so glad Antoine was our guide and he took us to see the most important pieces, so we didn't have to wonder around aimlessly trying to find our way around.

 The inverted pyramid. 
Since 2002, the attendance at the Louvre has doubled.

  Look at all those people.

 View of the pyramid from inside the museum.  
It was raining, thankfully we were inside.

The Mona Lisa.

Trent's picture of the Mona Lisa.  He was so mad that the picture didn't come out straight.  He was bumped when trying to take the picture. He was so upset and said he couldn't breath with all the people surrounding him. I felt the same way.

It was a battle to get close enough to get a picture of the Mona Lisa.

 

After the Louvre, everyone except Tim, Trent and myself went to the Orsay Museum. We needed a rest and found a cafe next to the museum and enjoyed some yummy crepes. We met up with the group after they toured the museum and then we walked to the Eiffel Tower.

 Trent took this picture of the group.

The walk from the museum to the Eiffel Tower we were told was about a 20 minute walk along the Seine River...well that 20 minute walk must have taken us about an hour, at least that's what it felt like. I had a meltdown about 3/4 of the way there. I needed to go the bathroom and bathrooms are hard to come by in Paris. I was tired and I was done walking. Thankfully, I regrouped a bit and made it to the Eiffel Tower where we found out that the bathrooms were closed for cleaning and would reopen in 45 minutes. We searched for other bathrooms around the Eiffel Tower and there were none. We walked out to the street to use the public bathroom and it was closed. We then walked back to the bathroom and just waited for it open. Finally, it was reopened and there were about about 8 stalls. Really! Millions of people visit the Eiffel Tower each year and they have 8 bathroom stalls to accommodate that many people. I would have liked to complain to someone who worked there, but from the look of how the lines to get up to the Eiffel Tower were organized I highly doubt they care about a complaint about how many bathroom stalls they have. I think they figure you are going to come to the Eiffel Tower no matter how long the lines are and how little information there is about what lines to get in to do what you want to do.

Walking along the Seine River and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance.  

At times it didn't seem like it was getting any closer.

 Bridge across the Seine River.

 Finally it looks like it's a block away.

 We made it!

The Eiffel Tower was erected in 1889 and as an entrance arch to the World's Fair in 1889. The Tower is the tallest structure in Paris and most visited paid monument in the world. In 2011, 7.1 million people went up in the Eiffel Tower (and only 8 bathroom stalls to accommodate women).

Everyone except Cindy and I walked up to the 1st and 2nd levels of the Eiffel Tower. There are over 300 steps to the 1st level and another 300 steps to the second level. The third and highest level is only accessible by elevator.

 Beautiful views from the Eiffel Tower.

The tall building in the distance was our hotel.

 John and Tim

 Trent took this cool picture of Zach.

Our day wasn't over yet. We still had an hour long boat ride on the Seine River to take. I think all of us were pretty tired by then. A few of us slept for a bit of the boat ride.

Sights along the Seine River.

 Notre Dame

What a long sightseeing day we had. We couldn't wait to get back to our hotel. Tim got us pizza and we happily ate it in our hotel room. We could not get to bed quick enough.  We needed our rest for the next day at Disneyland Paris.