Day 3 - Bonjour to Paris and Geneva -Another busy day in paradise

July 2015

Minigan's Travels -Summer 2015

Bonjour to Paris and Geneva!
Day 3 - Another busy day in paradise

Jim making new friends...

Ruthie making new friends...

Day 3

We wake to cloudy skies but we don’t care because………….. WE’RE IN PARIS! 

We want to get to the Louvre early to beat the crowds so we’re up and ready early.  Jim and I get ready then head down to breakfast where “our” table is waiting for us.  We’ve sat at the same table at the window for the last couple of days so we have claimed it as ours.  This is a good way for us to have our coffee and breakfast while Jaimey gets ready.  Breakfast consists of croissants, cheese, orange juice and a banana.  We get to watch the people walk by, eating their baguettes, walking their dogs, heading to work.  The scooters, cars, bicycles, rollerbladers and skateboarders are also passing by which makes it quite entertaining. We try to guess which are locals and which are tourist………….. which isn’t very difficult. 

We go back up to our room and Jaimey is ready so off we go!

It’s a very short walk to the Louvre from our hotel .  There is a cool breeze in the air but no rain…. Until we get in line, which is outside.  The line is very long already.   We wait.  We try to face the opposite direction of the drizzle but it’s becoming annoying so we run for the bookshop to see if they have any rain ponchos.  Unfortunately, they don’t.  We look back at the line (which has diminished somewhat) and decide to try it again.  There were vendors selling umbrellas to the people in line.  It was hilarious.  They apparently were not supposed to be peddling their goods in that location so they kept getting run off by the Louvre personnel.  The would leave for about 30 seconds and then come right back.  We bought an umbrella during one of their visits!  So glad they were persistent!

Although the line was long, it moved nicely and the rain actually let up some.  We made it inside to go through security and all was nice and dry.  Next we had to take the escalator downstairs to get our tickets.  More lines. Again, they moved quickly.

"THE" Mona Lisa

The Louvre – well I don’t even know where to start.   We have heard the lines to see the Mona Lisa are very long so we decide to go there first.  We work our way through the massive building and by the amount of people we can tell we are getting close.   We finally turn into the room with the Mona Lisa and see the line.  Not too bad.   However, as we get closer, we see you can only get within 20 ft. or so.  The people are all crowding and pushing to get photos (or take selfies).  VERY pushy.   But of course we had to do it.  It would be crazy to be right there and not go up to see her up close and personal.  We wiggled our way through and probably did a little pushing and shoving of our own.  We got our photos (and our selfies) and got the heck out of there!

Our “must see” list consisted of the following:

-          Mona Lisa

-          Winged Victory

-          Venus de Milo

-          The Marly Horses

We got to see them all!  The history surrounding us was so impressive. 

We had a little fun with our visit also.  Jim did a “selfie” tour with many of the sites or he posed with some of the statues.  It became quite funny.  Imagine, Jim being funny!

While Jim and Jaimey went to purchase our lunch, I sat at a table holding a spot for us to eat.  I started a conversation with a young lady that was seated at the same table.  She was from Chicago.  She had been in Madrid and decided to come to Paris before heading back home.  She had studied abroad for a year so she was not afraid to travel alone at all.  Very energizing conversation. 

After the Louvre it was time for a light snack.  David had told us about a restaurant we needed to go to.  La Deaux Magots – Hemingway was said to have visited there often and even wrote parts of his books there.  It was right across the street from St. Germain Church (the oldest church in Paris). David, being the good son, knows that I like Hemingway ........ and wine.

We stopped and had a glass of wine and a light snack.  Wonderful place - full of character.  Our waiter had visited the US last year with his girlfriend and was telling us all about the places he had visited.

















When we left, we decided to walk along the Seine and visit the vendors.  We bought our traditional magnets and a couple other souvenirs.  It was fun just walking along and looking at all the different vendors.

Time to head back to the hotel…….. for a nap.

After a nice refreshing nap, we decided to head to the the Pont Alexandre III bridge.  Jaimey has nicknamed this the “pretty bridge”.  It has beautiful lions on all four corners and is the most picturesque bridge.  You can also see the Eiffel Tower from the bridge. On the way, we passed the giant ferris wheel and more fountains then  walked up part of the Champs Elysees and saw where the Tour de France had ended the day before.  There were still bleachers up alongside the road.

Pont Alexander III Bridge

Everything is so beautiful. We had not seen the lights flashing on the Eiffel Tower yet so once we made it to the bridge we chose to stay in the area until we got to see them flash.  At the top of every hour they would flash for 5 minutes.  We walked around until it was time.  It was quite chilly.

Lights flashing

We got our photos and grabbed a cab.  Yet another experience!  Zipping in and out of traffic, in and out of the cab lanes and in and out of pedestrian traffic was quite hilarious.  He got us home safe and sound though……. And we were warm.  A good ending to a fun filled day.

Bonne Nuit