Paris - Day Un

Several of you having been asking me when I was going to start posting about our trip to Paris.  Well, it starts today!  After several drafts and many rewrites, I've decided to just go day by day and give you a rundown of what filled our days in the City of Lights.

I'm not going to lie, I just don't feel comfortable writing posts titled things like The Best Way to See Paris, 10 Things You Must See in Paris - you get the idea.  We loved our vacation, but what we did (and loved) might sound horrid to others.  So today I'm going to tell you about our first day and if you're planning a trip to Paris, maybe some of this will help you.

Day Un (1)

We arrived in Paris on Sunday morning a couple hours later than anticipated due to flight delays.  I had arranged a car through our hotel to pick us up at the airport, but they were not able to wait for our arrival.  Luckily, after a phone call from the airport courtesy phone to the car company, they arrived and scooped us up.

We had a wonderful driver who pointed out many attractions on the way to our hotel, Hotel Duquesne Eiffel.  The first site of the Eiffel Tour took my breath away!

He also drove by Arc de Triomphe.  This structure was inaugurated in 1836.  It just amazes me that this monument has been standing for 181 years!!  There's not many structures in the US we can say that about.

We also drove by the tunnel and memorial to Princess Diana.  After sitting mesmerized looking at this location on my television in 1997, it was quite eerie to see it in person.

Upon arriving at Hotel Duquesne Eiffel, we got the delightful news that our room had been upgraded.  Don't you love hearing that when you check in!!  This adorable little boutique hotel is wonderfully placed between the Eiffel Tower and Dome des Invalides (Napoleon's tomb).  Since the Eiffel Tower was my draw to going to Paris, I wanted a hotel with a view of the magnificent structure.  Trust me, waking up and peeking out the window to see it daily made my heart happy.  It's twinkling lights were also the last thing we saw before turning in at night.



After relishing the view from our room, we headed out to check out what would be our neighborhood for the next week.  We gravitated to the Eiffel Tower and after a quick 10 minute walk found ourselves under it.

Our stomachs soon made us aware that we needed food.  On our stroll back towards the hotel, we had many outdoor cafes to choose from.  Our pick was Le Champ de Mars.  It was located at the peek of a wedged street and looked inviting.

We had wine, of course! And our first bowl of French Onion Soup of the week.  It was delicious!  We also ordered a plate of meat and cheese.  Both of us were a little underwhelmed.  But the deliciousness of the soup made up for the lack of love for it.

At this point, we were TIRED and headed back to the hotel for a quick nap.  The long flight and time difference had caught up to us.  The two hours we napped were well spent because when we woke up we were ready to head back out and do more exploring.  The beauty of Paris is everywhere you look and we were content just randomly walking up and down streets.

Walking the streets of Paris was everything I had hoped it would be.  The sites and smells were so stimulating.  We walked around a bit, popped in another cafe for dinner and headed back to the hotel.  We wanted to get a good night's sleep because we were headed to Normandy bright and early on Monday morning.

By the way, I booked our flight and hotel as a package deal from Travelocity.  We got an excellent price and had no issues whatsoever with them.  Check them out if you are looking for good prices.

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