C'est si bon, c'est si bon...

Ross and I arrived in Paris two Sundays ago, the 14th. Navigating Charles de Gaulle airport was not too difficult, we found an ATM, got some euros, and headed down to the metro that thankfully Ross already knew how to use. We made our way to the hotel, checked in, dropped off our bags, and then proceeded to locate the fated site of what would be our first Parisian meal: Lunch. Ross had a croque-madame, basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with an egg on top. I got some other kind of sandwich. First attempt at delicious food: success. The rest of Sunday we spent wandering around Paris, and knocked out a few landmarks; both of us were too jet-lagged to do a full museum, so we figured we'd spend the day just looking at stuff.

This is Ross at the airport calling his parents to let them know he was safe. I waited until that night to e-mail mine. We couldn't actually get internet in our hotel, however, so we had to go across the street and steal it from a MacDonald's.

This is our gorgeous view of the city out of our hotel room. The showers were on the second and sixth floors only, and cost an additional 2.5 euros. Not that that bothered me.

My bag broke in the airport, as well. This is how I ingeniously fixed it. Ahh, resourcefulness.

Ross at the Arc de Triomphe. After my class in Rome on Roman architecture, neo-classical design is a lot more interesting.

Myself at the Arc. The E.U. flag is flying with the French flag inside the Arc because the French are in their term for heading up the E.U. at the moment. One thing that was really cool about the Arc de Triomphe, is that unlike 2,000 year old Roman monuments they still allow you to walk up inside this one, up into the attic and all around. It's really interesting what they have kept inside, and it was fun to finally be in an arch (many of the arches in Rome would have been constructed the same way, with a hollow attic).


As an example of something interesting in the attic, there was this wonderfully preserved Napoleanic handicap accessible elevator. Despite some of his obvious faults, Napolean was really a pretty disability-conscious guy. "Do Not Enter" signs haven't changed much in the last 200 years, either.
You were also allowed on top of the Arc, as well, which afford you a spectacular view of Paris. I think we all know what's in front.


After the Arc, we walked down some huge, famous, French street for which I've forgotten the name. On the way we stopped off in this weird car shop with new models of cars that I don't think they're actually selling, and I can only think of one person who might actually buy them.

"Daddy, would you please pass the brie?"
"In a moment, darling, daddy has to shift."

This is the obelisk at the end of the road Ross and I walked down. We took a break when we got here, and laid down on the warm pavement and looked at the obelisk, since we were still pretty jet-lagged, and the walk was pretty long. I actually fell asleep. This was one of the best obelisks I've seen, though, and the gold inlay work at the bottom shows how it was transported and put up when it was taken from Egypt.

Not the best Notre Dame picture, but it's pretty big (and I guess we were standing pretty close).


Me being artsy. Ross and Notre Dame. He looks a little tired.
After Our Lady, we found the Space Needle of Paris, and would have gone up, but the elevator wasn't working to go to the top on that particular day, so we would have only been able to go to the second level. We were tired, we had already seen most of Paris from atop the Arc, and we are cheap, so we passed.


After all the excitement and weariness of wandering Paris on about 36 hours with no sleep but a 20 minute nap at the Obelisk, we found some dinner and pretty much called it a night.