Paris - Day One

Links to all posts in this series:
Paris - Day One
Paris - Day Two
Paris - Day Three, Part One
Paris - Day Three, Part Two
Paris - Day Four
Paris - Day Five, Part One
Paris - Day Five, Part Two

I can't believe it's been a month since we went to Paris. I still have hundreds of photos to edit. As I edit, I'll do several posts about our trip, along with photos, so stayed tune.

We flew overnight to Paris and landed at Charles de Gaulle airport at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. I think that airport is bigger than many American towns. It's huge. After wending our way through customs, immigration and baggage claim, we found our way to the bus that took us to the train station, where we caught the RER train to downtown Paris. Once we arrived downtown, we walked several blocks, suitcases rolling behind us, to our hotel. Since our room wasn't ready yet (we expected that, as it was only 9:00 a.m. or so), we locked our luggage in a closet and walked around town a bit.

The first thing we came across was a little square where people were setting up for a flea market. Since it had been several hours since we'd had a light breakfast on the plane, we bought a light snack from one of the vendors: one croissant each and a diet Coke to share. Yes, diet Coke at 9:00 a.m. Don't tell my mom!

As we ate our snack, we made our way to the Palais Royal garden, where people were starting to come out and enjoy a lovely late summer Saturday. Before arriving at the garden, however, we walked through Galerie Vivienne, an indoor shopping mall built in the early 19th century.

You can't tell from this angle, but David actually took a catnap by the fountain. When we were able to get into our hotel room, we took a four-hour nap before getting ready for our evening at the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower is worth visiting once. In my opinion, once one has gone up to the various observation decks, etc., it's not something that needs to be on the itinerary of repeated visits to Paris. Once one has "been there, done that," there's no great need to repeat the experience. But, it's certainly worth doing once.

As one wanders the streets of Paris, the tower often dominates the cityscape. Here's a shot I took as we approached the tower.

We spent several hours on various levels of the tower from late afternoon until well after dark.

After the sunset, we ate an exquisite (read: expensive!) dinner at 58 Tour Eiffel, one of several restaurants located in the tower. After dinner, we enjoyed a walk along the Seine River as we returned to our hotel.

Our first day in Paris was thoroughly enjoyable and a great beginning to what was a memorable trip. Come back later to travel with us to the Louvre, Notre Dame, Versailles and more.