A Day in Paris

Mr. Fox at the Louvre

Sorry that this post is so late, the trip home was long and this is the first chance I have had to post for our last day in Europe.

Saturday was a full day in Paris, we started early with at bus tour around the city, we drove up the Champs-Élysées, past the  Arc de Triomphe, to the main square where there is an Egyptian Obelisk marking the spot where the guillotine stood during the French Revolution.  The bus trip took us past Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower and ended back on the Champs-Élysées where we took a stroll down what is supposedly one of the most expensive strips of land in the world.

Following our stroll, we were on our way to the Louvre museum for an early afternoon appointment.  We were warned that it was as busy as Versailles, so we were prepared for another pushing match with the crowd.  Luckily, even though it was crowded, it was nothing like Friday's herd.

Our guide was much better than the guide for Versailles, and she took us on a quick 2 hour tour of the museums.  We started in the basement where we viewed the base of the original Louvre castle.  The base of the castle was discovered in 1985 and confirmed the original jail that was only myth up to the discovery.  The current Louvre palace was built directly on top of the old one and has expanded into the largest museum in the world.  We moved pretty quickly through the museum, with stops at the Venus de Milo statue, the Mona Lisa, and we even had time to view the French crown jewels of Louis XVI.

From the Louvre, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower.  We entered the lift and made our way to the second level.  The view is impressive from here, I can't imagine what it would be like at the very top. (Lisa has been up there and says that it is pretty scary!)  We took pictures, admired the views of Paris and generally marveled at this engineering masterpiece!  While Linda and Lisa waited in line to take the lift back down to the ground, Clayton and I started down the stairs, followed later by Michael, Emmy, and Anthony.  The walk down was much less taxing than the Cathedral in Cologne and my legs did not hurt afterward.

Mr. Fox cruising down the Seine

Our final dinner was a farewell dinner with the entire group in an old Parisian establishment.  It was supposed to be a pretty big deal, as we had to select all three courses 3 days ahead of our reservation!  Well, we were not that impressed with the French cuisine.  The appetizers were a little sketchy, the fish had bones, the beef was 'interesting', and we had an interesting encounter with the manager on the wrong number of Chocolate Mousse desserts.  It was pretty funny listening to our tour guide and the manager arguing...I am sure Caroline did not enjoy it, but the manager was being a jerk.

Mr. Fox and the Eiffel Tower

We finished our meal and headed out for a final cruise down the Seine river to see Paris 'wake-up' and become the 'City of Lights'.  We had a good time, cruising past Notre Dame and finishing up by the Eiffel Tower with it's lights sparkling in the cool Parisian night!

After the cruise, Caroline had one final stop before heading back to pack and bed. The Eiffel Tower does it's sparkling trick 3 times a night and the bus took us to the prefect spot to view and take pictures. Clayton and I found an unobstructed view where I took pictures and he captured the spectacle on my phone.

All in all, a very busy final day!  I will be posting some more pictures and will probably post a final summary a little later.  For those who followed the entire trip, thank you very much for your interest and endurance!  I know we are all exhausted and will take some time to recover from such a wonderful vacation.