Strolling the streets of Paris

Today was another GORGEOUS day in Paris. The weather has been really fabulous. After we slept off our ridiculous jet lag (see previous post), we decided to spend a lot of the day exploring Paris by foot. We left our apartment via our tiny elevator...

...and started walking down the Champs-Élysées toward the Louvre. We walked to the Grand Palais which we can see the roof of from our apartment. It is a very large building with an ornate glass ceiling that was built for the 1900 World Fair.


Unfortunately the inside was closed so this was the best shot I could get from below it.

Across the street is le Petit Palais, which as you can see, isn't very petit.




We then continued along the Champs-Élysées taking in the various sites and sounds...



(Concorde)



(Jardin des Tuleries)

(and finally, ice cream)

...before continuing to the Louvre. We didn't go inside the Louvre today (that is for another day), but we really enjoyed walking around the outside of it.




After that, we walked for the first time in our trip along the Seine River. The Seine has such fabolous views as it goes right through the heart of Paris.


We followed the Seine until we reached Notre Dame.


(Darcy making this sign really great)

It is so cool to step in a building that is a little less than a thousand years old.


We walked around the inside, taking in the stained glass.



We wanted to go to the top...

...Quasimodo-style, but first we needed a quick lunch for energy.

After lunch, we climbed the 400 steps to the top and took in the panaromic view of the city. It really doesn't get old.




...and of course, the gargoyles...



Darcy then decided that a boat ride on the Seine would be lots of fun and I agreed, so we walked down to the Seine...

...hopped on a boat and began riding around.


(Hotel de Ville)

(Louvre)

(Tour Eiffel)
We hopped off at the Tour Eiffel stop and walked around below it. Talk about an amazing structure.



Darcy was also really impressed with the guards' guns and wanted to be their friends.


We decided to wait to do the Eiffel Tower until later (perhaps Friday) and that we were going to take the stairs up as far as we can to make it something of a challenge.


(Darcy showing she is up to the challenge)
We then strolled back to our apartment along the Seine...a great way to end our afternoon...



We went to le Grand Palais Restaurant for dinner. What is funny to Darcy and I is that we always seem to be the only people eating food when we go to a place. We realize dinner is eaten later in France, but we were eating dinner from around 7:45-9 at this restaurant and not a single person around us had food. Anyway, we really enjoyed it.

We grabbed dessert at a different place closer to our apartment that had live music, and then headed home. A full day...and a great one.

(View from our apartment of lit up Eiffel Tower)