Paris

This weekend, Patrick, Justin, and I headed to the French capitol for a three night stay. We arrived around 6:30 Thursday evening, but failed to navigate through the underground system to the stop nearest our hotel until around 8:30. After we got out of the train station, we were having some serious second thoughts about our hotel location. All the windows in the neighborhood around the station were basically barred shut and when we went into a pharmacy to ask directions, the lady had a "don't rob me" look in her eyes.

Friday, we spent the majority of the day at the Louvre. We wandered throughout the massive art and history museum for three hours - and had just barely scratched the surface. So, we hurried through a part of the one wing we hadn't covered and left around 4:30 ... about 6.5 hours all told. That night, we grabbed some picnic stuff at a grocery store, three bottles of wine, and enjoyed the evening in the park beside the Eiffel Tower. At dark, during the first ten minutes of every hour the tower appears to have a seizure of sorts as thousands of lights begin flashing.

Saturday, we did the majority of our site seeing. First, we went back to Eiffel Tower to do the trip to the top. It took about three hours to get on an elevator to the second level, then an elevator to the third, then back to the second, and back to ground level. The view was obviously very cool, though I think I prefer the view from the top of Saint Peter's basilica. IMHO, Rome was much more beautiful.

After the Tower, we left on our second holy pilgrimage of the European Vacation: Père Lachaise cemetery. We searched for approximately 20 minutes for the grave in a crowded (with dead people) cemetery that is the permanent residence of notables such as Frederic Chopin and Oscar Wilde. But we were seeking neither. Finally we found it: Jim Morrison 1943-1971. The gravesite was pretty lame, so we took a couple pictures and left.

Then, we went to the Concorde and on the Arc d'Triumphe. Initially commissioned by Napoleon in 1803 to commemorate his imperial victories, it wasn't finished until the 1830s. It is the largest roundabout in the world and the converging points of twelve avenues. It was enormous and intricately decorated.

That night, we went back to the Eiffel, enjoyed food and wine, and went back to the hotel. Paris - check.