Paris Day 2:

PLEASE excuse typos- all of these were typed up on an ipod while driving in the car from place to place.  I will try to correct any I catch, but I'm sure I'll miss some.

Good morning Paris!! Despite having a short sleep, it was a pleasure to wake up in Paris. We were a little slow to get out the door because we needed to make our strategy for viewing the city. We bought delicious pastries at the boulangerie just outside of our apartment and we took them to la Place de la Bastille, the old location of the prison.  There is only a tall monument in a round-about to mark it. We sat down to enjoy our french breakfast as cars circled by rushing to work.
A couple metro stops away we went looking for the apartment of Victor Hugo. It was difficult to find, but find it we did. They have some of his own furniture that was donated by his descendants. There was also a strange wooden writing desk where his quill and pen and ink bottles and some papers are permanently attached and preserved in glass. I though that was pretty awesome.
Hopping back onto the metro we headed to the south end of the city to find the catacombs. But we should have gotten there much earlier. The line outside was over an hour long. We didn't have time for that unless we wanted to give up some of our other plans.
So instead we got on our bus and returned to the Latin Quarter of which we had seen a little bit with Rick Steves' tour. But today we were on the search for the Pantheon and the Sorbonne university, two sites mom wanted to see. The Pantheon was very big and beautiful but we did not take the time to go inside. After we walked by the university we visited the Cluny museum. Mom was looking to see the tapestry of the lady and the unicorn. We had no clue what the museum was really like.
Laid out in a very old, expansive mansion on top of more ancient foundations and Roman baths, this museum just seemed to go on forever! I swear it was 'bigger on the inside'. We didn't plan to spend so much time there, but we did walk through every bit of the museum in search of the tapestry. Only to discover that it was not here because it was on a tour and currently in Japan. Dang. But we did see some original stone king's heads that were torn down from Notre Dame. Someone collected them and buried them long ago.  It was an impressive museum. We simply had no clue what it would be like.
On our way out of the Latin Quarter we took a bus so we would be able to sight see and it is a good thing we firm. Very quickly we passed by an enormous church and beautiful fountain so we got off the bus to take pictures. It was the Église St. Sulpice which houses one of the biggest organs.
We got back on the bus to take us very close to the Eiffel Tower at the Pont d'Alma. At this bridge there is an entrance to the Sewers of Paris, or next site on our list, but to our dismay, we struck out again. The sewers are closed on Thursdays and Fridays.  2 strikes in one day was not looking good, but if we had done the catacombs and the sewers I don't know how we would have done everything else.
So we quickly moved on and went to a quick stop in the Rodin museum to see the Thinker.  Picture, done... Moving on to la Place des Invalides. Full of war history, is ancient old hospital houses the tomb of Napoleon and displays of very beautiful, intricate weapons and pieces of armor.
We did not try to see everything they have at those museums, because we still had other places to get to before they close. This is what is difficult about seeing sights in Europe. Many things close around six. It takes talent to see as many things as we did in the amount of time we had. My mom would have been able to move even faster if dad and I weren't such obsessive photographers. I took over 300 photos in just 2 days and my camera is just our secondary. I don't know how many are on my dad's camera.
Moving still quickly we went from Place des Invalides to the north side of the Seine to go see...the Louvre!
Now- being time constrained people, going inside was never our plan. I know it's a little crazy, but my parents are more into history and I am into pictures, so being outside and seeing the glass pyramid really was enough for me. And that's all we did. We SAW it, we took pictures and we moved on.
We were also really hungry, so we went searching for a cafe recommended to us by our cousin Heather. We got some directions from people in the Louvre, but we could 't find it. We asked a news-stand vendor and he directed us one way, but we never found it. Dang. Eventually we settled with a slightly expensive place that sold take-away crêpes and sandwiches.  So we ate them at a park near the Orangerie, a museum my mom hoped to visit to see Monet's lilies; but she also really wanted to be at the Arc de Triomphe for the relighting of the eternal flame at 6:30. So she had to give up the Orangerie and we went to catch a bus that took us directly to the Arc.

The Arc de Triomphe was one of my highlights of Paris. It is a gorgeous and impressive structure that was just begging me to keep taking its picture. My parents watched the flame relighting and then we got to walk up all the stairs (I forgot to count as I went :( should have done that) and we got to see all of Paris from the top. It was spectacular.
We took the stairs back down and let me tell you, there are a lot of stairs! Of course not as many as cathedral towers and other things but what I likes about these stairs is they were open in the middle so you could see all the way down.
After taking more pictures from the other side of the arc with different lighting we took the metro up for a quick stop in Montmartre. I got to see the Moulin Rouge!!!! Yay!
We had nothing else planned until 11 pm so we headed home to find a grocery store to eat. It was fun for me to go in a grocery store because I remember all the things I used to buy regularly. Picked up some chocolate!!
We ate quickly at home while figuring out the fastest route to get back across town late at night. Not all buses and metros run 24/7 so we needed to plan ahead. After our dinner of bread and cheese and grapes and other random things, we were off for the main event! Wanna guess where we were going at 11:00?  The only tickets we could find to visit the most popular site in Paris were for 11. You probably guessed it: la Tour Eiffel! We couldn't get tickets to ride to the top but even the 2nd floor is very high. The views of the city are incredible. Right as we stepped off the lift it was on the hour, so the tower was sparkling. When we had had enough of the view we 'descended' and continued to take pictures from the park across the street where hundreds of couples and groups of young people were gathered, enjoying a lovely evening in front of the tower. I can't count how many times we had to tell these random vagabond men that we didn't want to buy their wine, champagne, or cigarettes.
Needless to say it was a memorable experience to visit the Eiffel Tower at night.
We took the metro back home and apparently our timing was perfect because we were literally on the last metro that goes to our stop and they there were already some exits closed off. Good job us!
So generally it was the day with the most fails but it was still JAM-packed and 'bout near ran me off my feet.  Mom has decided she does need to come back someday because she is not done...