Day Six

Day Six- Sunday, March 27^th.

Today we woke up bright and early to an amazing breakfast buffet full of cheese and eggs, pastries, and meats for the carnivores., but for some reason it was one of the only meals I forgot to take pictures of, but it was delicious.

We then all loaded onto yet another bus to have a nice little city tour of Paris. We picked up our tour guide (Valerie), which whom I was not impressed, and took a drive around the City of Lights. We saw everything it seemed: The Bastille, Tour Eiffel, Norte Dame, ect. We then stopped by the Palace of the Invalides and Napoleon’s tomb (turns out the French still really love him).

After a quick look around and a coffee break, we fought of some aggressive North African salesmen and loaded back onto the bus (they are EVERWHERE in Paris). From here we headed to the Louvre. Our tour guide told us that if you spent three minutes looking at every piece inside the Louvre it would take you over three months to get through everything. Wow! SO Brian and I knew our time was limited. We had 2 ½ hours to go through the Louvre and to eat lunch so we definitely had to hustle. Brian really didn’t want to see the Mona Lisa (weirdo) and since I have seen her we went to all the exhibits that he wanted to. Brian wanted to see mostly see sculpture and so we spend a couple hours wandering the sculptures exhibits and we saw some amazing pieces. And it was perfect being able to walk around the Louvre with my soul mate. The last time I was there it was great, but there is something to be said about being there with him and seeing his excitement and appreciation for all the art. After a slight communication error and losing Brian for 15 minutes we found each other and headed upstairs for lunch. The Louvre has some pretty spending vendors, but we managed to find a slightly less expensive place and picked up a quick bite.

Our 2 ½ hours was up and the whole group met back up in front of the Louvre. From here we split up into two groups. The main group went to the Montparnasse Tour, since the Eiffel Tour takes so long to get into (it took me 2 hours last time) Daz decided that this was another great option. The tour is 689 feet tall and as an amazing view of all of Paris. Brian didn’t especially want to go so he volunteered to stay behind with anyone else who didn’t want to go. Four kids chose not to go and so Brian and I both stayed behind and the six of us went on a little adventure. We wanted to check out the Latin Quarter and Norte Dame and find some crepes.

We walked toward Norte Dame and on the way found a little crepe stand so we veered off course and ordered some amazingly delicious crepes. From there we continued to walk to Norte Dame. We stopped to take pictures of Sainte-Chapelle, said to house the Crown of Thorns, and then we continued on to Norte Dame. We didn’t want to go in becausee we knew we would do that tomorrow, but we took some pictures, and walked around the cathedral. We only had a couple of hours to spend exploring before we needed to meet everyone for dinner, but it was a great little adventure.

We met the group back at a little restaurant on the Rue de Gobelin (awesome name) and sat down for dinner. Dinner was okay. The food was a little bland, but we were able to enjoy a nice meal as the only group in the place. We even were able to sing for Denise (it was her 63 birthday). Even though the food was bland the chocolate moose we had for dessert was not and it might have made up for the dinner. ;)

After dinner we took a boat cruise on the Seine River. We were lucky enough to get seats on the outer back deck of the boat (last time I was there I was inside in and a little jealous). It was beautiful, and once again such a wonderful thing to be able to do with Brian. By the end of the tour it started to rain, but most of us just popped out the umbrellas and toughed it out. It was too beautiful to go inside.

The boat cruise was over and everyone went out and wandered around as we waited for the Tour Eiffel to light up. At 8:00 it lights up and then at 9:00 for 5 minute it twinkles. Beautiful.