On Wednesday, Sarah and I spend our first day in Paris!! The weather wasn't fantastic, but at least there was sunshine! Once we got settled into our hostel we decided to just wander over to the Eiffel Tower and start our tour of the city! Of course... as we started walking, it began to snow... I swear the weather is more temperamental in Europe than in DC! Finding our way to the tower was easy... we were about 6 blocks away... and it is kind of tough to miss! It was pretty exciting to see it for real and we decided that we might not have a better day to go up!!
Despite the weather and the fact that it was not high tourist season, there were a ton of people there! Before we even saw the line, Sarah and I decided we were going to climb the tower rather than take the elevator. We figured after all our Italian food we were due in for some exercise! Little did we know how much exercise we would actually get! 668 steps to the second level of the tower - as high as you are allowed to climb for a low price. It was quite a workout but the views made the entire climb worth it! Here's a panoramic shot of the view... the quality may not be great, but you get the idea...
After managing our way down... which was actually difficult because our legs were shaking so badly from the climb up... We then decided to head over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. The sun was just going down and the lighting was gorgeous!! I didn't realize that the Arc is in the center of a traffic circle, which is quite busy. Because of all the tourists, the government created a tunnel that goes to the Arc so people are not crossing the busy street... thank goodness!!!
After walking around the Arc a few times (not much else to do) we began walking down the Champs Elysees, which is where all the shopping is! We scoped out a few restaurants to try but basically just walked, watching all the people and trying to absorb the Parisian life. At the end of the Champs Elysees, there is the Concorde Plaza with these beautiful gold and green fountains and it was a gorgeous place to watch the sunset!
The Plaza Concorde is right in front of the Louvre, so we continued our evening stroll to the front of the Louvre just so we could finally see the front! It was so exciting and I was just itching to go in! Instead of paying to get in for a few hours, we decided to wait until Friday, when it's free and we made our way back to the hostel, but not before checking out some souvenir shops first!
Here is a GORGEOUS sunset shot I got right before heading into the smelly bowls of the Paris subway...
Despite the weather and the fact that it was not high tourist season, there were a ton of people there! Before we even saw the line, Sarah and I decided we were going to climb the tower rather than take the elevator. We figured after all our Italian food we were due in for some exercise! Little did we know how much exercise we would actually get! 668 steps to the second level of the tower - as high as you are allowed to climb for a low price. It was quite a workout but the views made the entire climb worth it! Here's a panoramic shot of the view... the quality may not be great, but you get the idea...
After managing our way down... which was actually difficult because our legs were shaking so badly from the climb up... We then decided to head over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. The sun was just going down and the lighting was gorgeous!! I didn't realize that the Arc is in the center of a traffic circle, which is quite busy. Because of all the tourists, the government created a tunnel that goes to the Arc so people are not crossing the busy street... thank goodness!!!
After walking around the Arc a few times (not much else to do) we began walking down the Champs Elysees, which is where all the shopping is! We scoped out a few restaurants to try but basically just walked, watching all the people and trying to absorb the Parisian life. At the end of the Champs Elysees, there is the Concorde Plaza with these beautiful gold and green fountains and it was a gorgeous place to watch the sunset!
The Plaza Concorde is right in front of the Louvre, so we continued our evening stroll to the front of the Louvre just so we could finally see the front! It was so exciting and I was just itching to go in! Instead of paying to get in for a few hours, we decided to wait until Friday, when it's free and we made our way back to the hostel, but not before checking out some souvenir shops first!Here is a GORGEOUS sunset shot I got right before heading into the smelly bowls of the Paris subway...
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