Day 2 - Paris Baby!!!

Alright folks, after 23 hours of travel time, consisting of 4 planes, 3 security checkpoints, 2 airlines, 1 being pulled to the side to unpack and check my bag, and 0 delays (Thank God), I arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport on the northwest side of town around 1:30 PM local time (7 hours ahead of CST).

First order of business was to get from the airport to my hotel in the city center.  I won't go into the details here but let's just say my lack of knowledge regarding the French language combined with my superior sense of direction made for a little longer than normal trek than I was hoping.  However, it all worked out in the end and I figured out (the hard way) how to navigate the rail system in town.

I made it to my hotel, Grand Hotel Levique, on Rue Cler, which is about a 10 minute walk from the River Seine.  I'm staying in a single room by myself which looks like this.  Shared bathroom and shower down the hall (which isn't as bad as you'd think).  Kinda like a poor man's Motel 6.

Actually, it's not bad at all and the location is wonderful.  Rue Cler is a very busy street with shops and cafes and fruit stands all up and down it.  Very Frenchish (new word alert!) and I'm very happy with my choice.



After settling in (and recouping for a few minutes from the trip) I decided my first order of business would be food (at a little place called Cafe du Marche) and then on to the Eiffel Tower.

At the restaurant I met an older couple from Denmark who spoke English, and we chatted for quite a while.  They were really nice and it was great just to talk with someone.   This will be the challenge of the trip I believe:  Going long periods of time without somebody needing to tell me it's time to play a round of "The Quiet Game".

Moving on to the Tower, I went close to twilight and went to the second of three levels.  I decided it wasn't that big of a deal to go to the top (save it for another time perhaps).  Lines weren't bad and I made it to my spot within 30 or so minutes.  The second tower is a little under 400 feet high (all the way to the top is 900 ft) and the whole thing weighs over 10,000 tons.  I really lucked out with the weather.  It's a solid 70+ here during the day and a nice 60 or so at night with a breeze.  The views were outstanding and I hung out till after nightfall to see the "City of Light" when it was doing its thing.

Here's a shot of me and if you squint, you can see the dome of Notre Dame Cathedral parallel with my right shoulder.

Here's a shot at dusk of the River Seine.  As you can tell, Paris is essentially a less prettier Houston.

This is a shot after I decided that I didn't need the elevator and would just walk down to the ground level.  Apparently, P90X does not do a good job of preparing one for stair climbing.  For those of you who will get this I did not quote "Bring It!" unquote.

This is from the bottom of the tower looking up.  I just thought it looked cool.  Useless FYI about the Eiffel Tower #3:  There are 336-600 Watt sodium lamps used to illuminate the tower (hence the yellow color)

And this is a shot of The Ol' Girl from a distance.  Quite impressive I think.
















Quite a first day for me.  Paris, French food, Eiffel Tower:  these were all impressive things, but as always seems to be the case, some of the most spectacular events in one's life are also the least expected.  While walking home, I decided to get something to snack on in my room and stopped into a small store, when out of nowhere, fate ran me into this:

Chocolate and Caramel in one cereal!?  I may never leave France.