Bonjour! J'adore Paris!

Mom and I are in the corner of this one!
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Ahh Paris! The City of Love! I am feeling the love I have got to admit. This is by far my favorite city so far on our journey. We woke up very very early to make the drive from Cologne to Paris. It was actually quite a nice drive, I dozed on the way mostly. We got another country under our belt however, as we drove through Belgium. I made Dad stop at a gas station so I could say I had actually "been" per say to Belgium. I would like to visit, because what I saw of Belgium from the car, it was an idealistic country setting. Maybe a possible later vacation? ;)

The parent's bedroom
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We got to our hotel with very few minor mishaps. Parisian streets have no lanes! The French are very crazy. Driving in the traffic circle around the Arc de Triomphe I was sure we were going to be hit, or hit someone. But we made it to our hotel in one piece and we finally got to get rid of that evil car!!! Weeoo! Now there will be no more disagreement over direction... except the metro ^-^. Our hotel is quite swanky. Kas and I felt a little out of place arriving very dirty to the nice hotel with the fancy women sitting in the lobby. Oh well! There is a fantastic display of flowers in the lobby which must have cost a small fortune. The perfume of it was amazing! There was also a very cute bellhop? is that what they are still called? that brought our bags up to the room. Sigh! I love the French. But I felt quite bad cause we had no change to give him for bringing the bags. Oh well, we'll try to find him later.

The atmosphere is so chill and everything is comfortable and light.

Our room! Lovely
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It's quite rainy here in Paris. It's quite hard to believe that there was a heat wave here just a week or two ago and that people were dying! It's so cold!! It's like November in Calgary. Geesh. But it's good walking weather. We set off to gather our surroundings, but as we reached the bridge and caught a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, the sky opened up on us. We sought refuge in a near-by cafe, where I had the cutest hot chocolate I have ever had. They just call it chocolate here, and he brought my cup and saucer with a small jug of warm milk and a tiny jug of liquid chocolate! A turkey sandwich to go with and I was quite fine. I love cafes and coffee shops. The atmosphere is so chill and everything is comfortable and light. I like all the little cups and snacks, although I am not a big fan of coffee. I perfer my chocolate unless in Ice Cap form. Then coffee is ok. I haven't had a drink yet here though. Everywhere we've been teh age is 16, but I still feel like I'm going to be IDed or something. Everything is so expensive ehre anyways so I guess it doesn't really matter. Oh well! By the end of our meal, the rain had let up so we decided to walk over to the Tower. It's... big! And round! The base is round! It makes a perfect circle with the ground. We didn't go up however, because the lines were huuge and we weren't sure whether we wanted to walk up or take the elevator... ah! That is alot of steps. We decided we might do it another day, but for now we'll just take pictures from the ground.

The Eiffel Tower in the rain
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But the gardens here are simply beautiful. The French definately have it going on. I have fallen in love with the architecture as well. The rounded blue roofs, brown buildings, white shutters, and iron wrought balconies have made me dream of money so that I could buy one. If only! I should have to learn French. I think I shall when I get home. Anyone have a good way to learn a lanaguage? I wish you could place tapes under your pillow while you sleep and then when you wake up you know it like they say in books. Has anyone tried? I don't know. The Military school it huge here too! I'm pretty positive it is still in use. We then made our way over to Napoleon's tombat Le Hotel de Invalides. The tomb is huge! I saw a picture of Ester's of it, but I didn;t think it was that big. Man! It's housed in a church with many other tombs of political figures. I guess the main museum of his was closed, so they had a couple of Napoleon's effects on display, including his coat and hat. I didn't realize the man was so tiny! If you know me, he is my size! That is small for a man! I knew that he was short, but I thought that he was fat, or bigger then that at least.

Doesn't it look like it's leaning into the Seine?
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Then! A Saretsky family marvel. We went to the first resturaunt that we saw! It was quite a feat. Usually we go past at least 5 of the same type of restaurants after looking at all the menus until Kas or I complain. After we ate, we headed back to the Tower and bought some post cards. I saw some miniature paintings that were only 1.40 euro and I think I would like to buy one for my room. They were quite pretty. We then went across the Seine to the other side which housed an old palace which is now 2 different museums. Kathryn and I had quite a laugh taking funny pictures with the Eiffel Tower. It's so much fun! We're gonna try and do some more, and then some with the Arc as well. But we were all tired, so we just headed back for an early night. I looove our rooms. Ours is blue, and our parents is yellow. I like ours better. But it's done in the classic French style/fabric and I'm thinking I might want to make my room look French. Oo la la! Au revoir for now!