Catchup: Paris Day 2 Part 2

Ok so I left off when we had walked to Luxembourg Gardens:



We were both fairly tired and in want of coffee that wasn't 5 euros.


FOX could drink though!


A couchsurfer was going to meet us to show us the secrets of finding cheaper but yummy coffee, so we goofed around the park a bit


this reminded me of home


We went to a nice fair trade coffee place, and even though it was fair trade it was less money than the tourist joints! It was goood. We rested our legs and enjoyed some latte's and chatted to Zerouk about Paris.

After the coffee he walked us towards the Louvre. We wanted to go in while it was cheaper (after 6pm until 10pm I believe) so we started walking towards the famous museum. We passed some other interesting places:



on the bridge!


looking backwards:


I might be wrong, but I thiiiiink this is the island thing we walked around during our Rick Steve's historical walk hehehe


And we made it!




There is Erin and Zerouk in front of the famous triangle thing




So we made it in! There was less of a line up than expected for some reason, so we were very lucky to get in quite speedily! Once we got in the photos continued...

I think Erin was trying to look up his skirt... pervert hehe..


I took a lot of photos of things, so I will try not to put ALL of them on here... you can look at my Paris folder on Flickr after all if you want to see everything...











mummified cats!!








there were a lot of huge things there




I couldn't help myself. Blame North American culture and it's messed up attitudes towards nudity and sex.


Erin being less perverted




I liked the roof


In case you didn't think the Louvre was big


I was berated after taking this shot because I had put my water bottle on the floor. The security guard didn't know whose it was and started freaking out asking who the water belonged to! She seemed mad. It wasn't a bomb lady...


We made it to the Mona Lisa! There were signs all over pointing how to get to it. When we got there, there was a piece of glass in front of it, so you couldn't get super close. You could still take photos behind the glass though, and it still turned out ok. I have a clearer pic of the painting but here it is with the family shots:







When we left (at closing) we noticed it was now dark out! Time for night shots.
















We thought Erin lost her camera for a while here, but thankfully we found it. That was like a mini-heart-attack! We also found a very swanky toilet, which was entertaining to find as well! We finally walked out of the place onto the bridge to find a party going on... There were people with beer and music, it was like Berlin kind of haha. You can hopefully see the silhouettes in the background here if you squint?



 The Eiffel Tower was all lit up:


I was having fun with my mini tripod thing I think!




The little island thing was too!


We ended up walking up to find a metro station that would take us back. At least I think that's where we were going. We had been walking all day, so we were tired. There were a few more sights on the way back, like this one,



..but I was exhausted and not really holding my camera too steady so we just hoofed it to a station (took ages) and went home. Our feet were so tired we put some hot water in the bath and soaked them for a while! It was a good day though!! Very very packed!!

I slept very well as you may imagine!

Catchup: Paris Day 2, Part 1

We woke up and ate from our Berlin groceries before making an excellent discovery!

We found a cheap supermarket right by our hotel. It was like a discount place, and everything was wayyyyy cheaper than anything we'd seen the day before. It was probably the best find we could have made. We stocked up on snacks and nutella and bread and headed out to get to the start of our "historical walk".

We started around the the Hotel de Ville (I think that's how you spell it)





There was a beautiful carousel there in front!


There was also a free exhibition there, so we hopped in quickly to have a look. It was photography, so very interesting. It felt like Paris, and yes I know that is a cheesy thing to say but that's what it was like. Older photos, and atmospheric ones that made me get into the mood for walking around. Here is where it was:



So we started a bit late, but that was okay. I was feeling French hehehe



Paris is a fantastic place to take photos!!



Now the real start of the tour was the Notre Dame.







I liked the lights quite a bit...


 

 Fox started listening to one of the sermon things. It was free for us to go in, but I have no idea what the guy was saying!


I was getting weird looks from people sometimes because FOX was in my front pocket like this:


there were some nice candles:


Look at this door! It's bloody massive!!


Walking around the side was also quite nice :)


although I think the back was actually the most interesting photo-wise:


The walk took us to a lovely little island thing..


Erin was amused by the signs for boat traffic!


There were many skinny roads and nice little stores all around this area:


Another massive door:


We found this candy store here, and bought some of the best lollipops I've had in ages. They were sooooo good!


Some houses were starting to tilt...


others not at all


We found a Canadian themed bar! It had awesome door handles!!!




They had doughnuts woooo




We made it alllll they way to this monument. which is A LOT of walking!


We thought about going into here, but the lineup was massive and it cost a lot of money


Erin was the leader of this walk, since I can get lost in my own backyard. You can see she was serious with her papers and map and history about the places we were going :p Tour Guide Erin! It was excellent!


I was goofing around with FOX for quite a while, and got some hilarious looks from old people hahahahahaha



We came across a nice courtyard and decided to have a break! We were walking a lot and eating nutella. It was time for a little rest!


This was under construction, but still looked okay. I guess


Very elaborate and massive organ!




So after this we went walking to Luxembourg gardens, but there are loads more photos to come so I will cut this off here. It seems we did half of Paris in one day!!