Day 1 - Paris on no sleep

After dropping our luggage off at our hotel (it was much too early to check in), we checked out the Arc de Triomphe, which is right up the street. 

We bought metro tickets and zipped up to the Bastille, where there is a public market on Sunday. Although the metro is rather dingy im most places, the Bastille stop had some nice artwork on the walls. 

We strolled over to the market area and took in hte sights and smeels. The variety of food is wonderful: fruits, vegetables, cheeses, meats, spices, shellfish, and more.


Our first attempt at ordering at a bistro went poorly, with the waiter deciding I was a complete moron and he should deal only with Edith. Two coffee's and baguettes cost us 9 Euros (about $15).

We then took a city bus to the vicinity of the Louvre, but deferred visiting there until we bought our museum passes on Monday.

 

 

 

Instead we wandered across the Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris. We took the requisite photos of each other with the Seine in background.

 

There we spotted a boat tour outfit and took a one hour tour on the Seine. We saw all the important landmarks, but the tour guide's french accent made it difficult to know what we were looking at on occasion.

 

The Eiffel tower was unmistakable, and the boat cruise was as close as we got to this landmark during our stay.

 

By the time the tour was done, we were feeling pretty groggy.

I feared we would wake up at 2:00 AM and not be able to sleep any more. We did wake up then,but then dozed off until 8:30 AM. We were now living on Paris time.

We went back to the hotel, checked in and went for a cheap (relatively) bite at a subway-like place on the Champs-Elysees (which is also a block away from the hotel). Although the food helped a bit, we were still very tired, and hit the hay at about 6:30 PM.