Paris: Day 1

Dusk in the City of Light.

A very "typical" Parisian street.

Days until my wife joins me in Europe: ZERO!

Today I flew up to Paris (a small French city situated on the Seine River) to meet my beautiful wife Christie, who is now joining me for the rest of our time in Europe.  She actually left "yesterday" -- flying through the night and arriving at 8am, while I took two budget flights (Windjet from Catania to Rome then Vueling from Rome to Paris) and arrived around 1:30.

We met at our hotel, Les Jardins du Trocudero Eiffel, which is conveniently situated just steps from the best view of the Eiffel tower that Paris has to offer. 

 It was great catching up -- talking via computer speakers over unstable internet connections just isn't the same!  She kept talking to me about having "Jet Legs" -- so I thought the best thing to do would be go out and walk.

We first jumped on the Metro -- which is fantastic by the way -- for less than 5 minutes and emerged at the Arc de Triomphe, the most famous (and largest) "victory" arch anywhere in the world.  Standing underneath the 24 story tall structure, I tried to picture all the events that had taken place in that very spot -- such as Napoleon's coronation as emperor, the Nazi's marching through the arch to claim France, the end of World War II, and most importantly, the finish line to the Tour de France.  The Arc is also one of the busiest traffic circles in the world -- and it was fun standing there watching 12 separate avenues converge.  There is actually a rule stating that any accident occurring in the round-a-bout is ALWAYS split 50/50 responsibility... my kinda place!

Did Napoleon ever imagine that under this Arc would go Nazi boots and LiveStrong bracelets?

The most famous avenue running away from the Arc is the fabulous Champs Elysees -- home to world class shopping (Cartier, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Gucci, etc), car dealerships (Ferrari, Mercedes, Bentley, etc), and people watching to the 14th power.  We grabbed a quick sandwich as we walked down the lane, window shopping (thank goodness!) and having a great time.  Christie actually got to make a pilgrimage to her version of Mecca -- the home store of Louis Vuitton.  For those of you not familiar with the monogramming conglomerate, let me just tell you their simple principle: for every "LV" on an item, add 100 euros.  Did I mention they were monogrammed with hundreds of "LV"?

Nothing makes a girl smile like expensive handbags!

With the weather turning from brisk to bone-chilling cold, we made a quick turn -- crossing the River Seine and heading in the direction of the Eiffel Tower.  Due to the deteriorating weather conditions, we did not go up the tower (saving that for tomorrow) but did get some great views and of course, the obligatory pictures.  Of course, every whom we came across I tried to speak Italian with -- I gotta get all these languages straight!  (Note to self: French people speak French not Italian, Italian people speak Italian, not a mix of English and Spanish). 

 

Now that Christie is here, I'll finally get a picture or two with me in it!

When we finally got back to our hotel, Christie was still mentioning those "Jet Legs" -- so perhaps I did not make her walk far enough.  I'll try to get them completely worked out by tomorrow.

In just my first brief taste of Paris, I can already tell that it is an incredible city -- more to come tomorrow!

~ J. Twice  

  

Good night from Paris!