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Our Whirlwind Tour of Paris

I arrived to Charles De Gaulle Airport a bit revived.  I slept almost the whole flight except for when they brought out the airplane food.  We got of the plane and were immediately overwhelmed by how busy the airport was.  We shuffled through the crowd for what seemed like 20 minutes before we met up with out guide Nicolas.  I didn't get to speak very much with Nicolas, but I could immediately tell he was a wrestler by the signature cauliflower ear.  He guided us the rest of the way through the airport to the metro terminal.

We each recieved one day pass for the metro.  These cost around 30 dollars American so we were told to pay extra care in not losing this stamp size tickets.  We boarded the train and reaches our destination only two stops down the line.  I am having a hard time remembering the actual hotel name, but I have deemed it 'Hotel Chitay.'  At first glance it seemed like a very nice establishment, but after further examination the rooms were found to be quite inadequate.  It may be all of the traveling making me grumpy, or it may be the fact that I have to share a full size bed with one of my former teammates that makes this place not so 5 star in my mind. No offense Gabe.  This post will probably be very late getting to you due to the fact that Hotel Chitay's internet mirrors the quality of it's laundry service.  Wait I just got two page loads of internet so this hotel may have gained a half star.

We only stuck around the hotel for about 15 minutes.  Then we were off for a tour of the city.  First stop was Quick. Quick is a French version of McDonalds.  The only thing we had eaten that day was the meager airline food so a nice burger and some pommes frites was very welcome.

Once we had some food in our belly we headed straight for Notre Dame.  It was a beautiful building and we made sure to grab a team photo in front of it.  I didn't bring the correct lens with me so I just go a team photo in front of the doors.  Hopefully I can get the photo from someone else to post at a later time.  We did not have time to go in because we want to get to the Louvre as soon as possible.

Upon arrival at the Louvre we were told that it costs 10 Euros to get in.  Some decided that they would walk around the nearby financial district, but I made sure that I got in line to see the art.  We didn't get a lot of time to explore as the museum was closing in 40 minutes.  Our eyes almost bugged out of our heads after we saw the vast expanses of the collection.  We could have spent weeks inspecting all of the art, but instead picked out a few of the most popular to visit and then see everything else we could fit in on the way.  The first stop was to the Mona Lisa.  We only got to spend about 5 minutes in the crowded room.  It was a true pleasure to be in such close proximity to this famous work.  The same can be said for the Venus de Milo.  We had a very short amount of time to spend viewing this as well, but I am very glad that I did.

It took a few minutes for our group to reconvene.  We roamed around in the plaza in front of the Louvre and purchased random souvenirs from the street vendors.  Once we were all together we descended into the metro tunnels to head for the Eiffel Tower.

I guess I had never realized quite how large the structure was.  A few of the guys decided to travel to the top, but I took in the crowd at the base of the structure.  I sat back a enjoyed watching the street entertainers, the soldiers with machine guns, and the many couples who strolled along arm in arm. We grabbed another quick team picture in front of the structure, and again my lens couldn't handle the angle.

By the time everyone was done exploring the Eiffel Tower we had a very short amount of time to grab a bite to eat.  We ate some very delicious pizza, steaks, and pasta and a local eatery the Nicolas had picked out.  We had a very strict deadline of 10:00pm for when we had to get heading back to the hotel.  I guess the metro trains only run till a certain time of night so we needed to make sure we didn't miss the last one.

The rest of the night was spent cleaning up for the day in our minscule bathrooms, searching for internet signal, and preparing for our long voyage home tommorow.  Okay time to wrap this one up.  I could write a lot more, but my eyes are a bit to tired.  Probably wont hear from me again till I am back in Kearney.  Will do a recap then.  Thanks for reading.  Jeff.