Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, Jardin des Tuileries, Louvre, Notre Dame, Seine Boat Ride

Posted by Andrew on Sep 22, 2010 | 4 comments

UPDATE:Sorry for the lack of pictures yesterday. Our internet connection was spotty and I was only able to post one. Now there are more. Enjoy!

Hello again! Today we had a much better day than yesterday, although Andrew still isn’t feeling better. We woke up and got out of the hotel around 9:00 a.m. I asked the concierge on the way out where we could find a bakery for breakfast and he recommended this great place only two blocks from our hotel. It is called Josephine and if you look into the windows on the side of the building you can see them making the fresh bread and pastries. I knew from the start I would like this place. They also have amazing fresh-squeezed orange juice which Andrew really needed. After eating quickly on the patio we moved on toward the Seine stopping briefly to buy Andrew some meds for his sore throat. It was interesting to say the least to try to buy OTC drugs in a foreign country where you can’t read the boxes and the workers speaks English “un peu” (a little). Haha, after a bunch of funny gestures and yes and no statements we were off with something for Andrew’s sore throat.

We continued walking down the main road until we reached the Seine and saw the Eiffel Tower unobstructed for the first time. It took my breath away. It is so stunning. Then we headed East along the river until we reached the Place de la Concorde with it’s beautiful fountains and Egyptian Obelisk. Along the way we passed lots of people walking their dogs and some pretty amazing park areas along the river. It’s amazing the difference between London and Paris. In London, if you walked too slow, people would run you over. In Paris, everyone seems content to walk at a leisurely pace. I can now see why it is considered such a romantic place. Everyone seems to be taking their time and enjoying life. And one thing we noticed right away is that people have dogs everywhere here. In the first hour of walking, we saw more dogs than we did the whole time we were in London. We even saw a pug from the taxi on the way to the hotel. Next we headed into Jardin des Tuileries, a beautiful formal French garden that leads into the Louvre. Again, people were just strolling around although we did notice some panderers and people selling cheap imitations of the Eiffel Tower here. Once we had enough of the park we crossed the street into the area where the pyramid that forms the entrance of the Louvre is. We spend lots of time watching people and just enjoying the plaza before venturing back into the gardens to grab a quick sandwich to eat while enjoying the view. Andrew had salami with pickles on a fresh baguette and I had ham and butter which is apparently very popular with the Parisiens. Since we knew we would have to save our trip to the Louvre for another day since the lines were getting long, we headed East again to Notre Dame. On the way we noticed some very loud music playing across the river so we crossed the bridge to check it out. It was a free benefit for heart disease where they had all kinds of fun Cirque du Soleil-like performances. There were amazing pole and trampoline acrobats as well as a group of men playing music on oil drums. It was really moving and all free. We couldn’t believe our luck to stumble across something this awesome. After the act was over we continued on to Notre Dame. Wow, all I can say is “spectacular!” It’s the most incredible church we have been to so far. And it was the first church to allow us to take photographs inside. I included a few below, but you really can’t tell the scale of it’s beauty unless you are there. We even ended up just sitting in the seats for about a half hour enjoying how amazing it all was.

By this time we were getting tired and Andrew was a little worn out because he was feeling sick. We walked about halfway back and then decided it might be a good idea to try a water taxi or “Batobus.” It’s basically a hop-on hop-off boat service on the Seine. We got to see Paris from another angle and it was wonderful, although it was a little warm. Did I mention that it’s about 80 degrees here? Nice, but we didn’t know this when we left the house and we had our jackets with us. The Batobus dropped us at the Eiffel Tower which is close to our hotel and we headed back. On the way we noticed that none of the restaurants were open yet (it was about 5:00 p.m. at the time). When we got back in the room Andrew took a little nap while I asked the concierge to help us make reservations at a nice Michelin Guide-rated restaurant two blocks away from our hotel. We were in luck, they had some seats open. Our concierge is the best, I just have to say again. They will help you with ANYTHING and do it with a smile. We couldn’t ask for more. The restaurant is called “ETC…” and is a modern and seasonal take on classic French bistro food. Turns out it was a good choice because the food was out of this world! Just what I was hoping for in a French dining experience. We started out with the mushroom ravioli in a mushroom foam with a cheese crisp on top. Wow, so earthy and delicious. Then I had the cod with spicy sausage, spinach-stuffed squid, and white beans. Another home run. But I have to say that the best item all night was Andrew’s quail stuffed with fois gras and served alongside the best pureed sweet potatoes you could ever imagine. They were so fluffy and smooth. I have no idea how they got them that way but we were definitely impressed. And the perfectly-cooked (medium) quail literally melted in our mouths. We finished the whole meal off with a poached pear with homemade caramel, and sesame brittle. It was an amazing meal we’re not soon to forget. We are finishing the night off with a few episodes of Modern Family on the laptop so we can fall asleep and hopefully do some more sightseeing tomorrow. We are going to try to see the inside of the Louvre, but I’ve just found out that they may be closed tomorrow due to some labor strike. We will see and keep you posted. Au revior, Chelsie and Andrew