The "Day 1" part is slightly misleading, since I had a total of 24 hours in Paris.  By the time I checked into my hotel and stowed my bag on Saturday, it was 3 p.m. and that's about when I was due at the train station the next day.  But I digress.  Notes made during the trip follow.

Wow!  That's all I know how to say.  After starting out rough with a flight that sat on the runway for two hours, I wasn't sure I'd stick to my guns about immediately getting on a train and a subway to get me to another train to take me from London to Paris, but I did.  The first hour in Paris alone was worth it - Notre Dame (see church above).  Just amazing.  Uplifting, even with the throngs of tourists.  There was a feeling of quiet and reverence, like maybe this was a place God would actually want to hang out.  And so beautiful, inside and out. 

After snapping a bazillion pictures, I walked along the Seine, not really knowing or caring what all I was seeing because it was all so lovely, but feeling the pang of not having anyone to share the beauty with.  Apparently, Paris really is a city for lovers.  I've never seen so much kissing in my life.  Maybe I was just more aware of it as an observer rather than a participant.

The Eiffel Tower would tease from a distance every once in awhile, seemingly close but never getting any closer.  I wandered over to the Louvre when I saw it from across the river (there's no mistaking it), but didn't feel like spending the day inside.  Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, so that seems like a good day for catacombs and museums, time permitting.

Instead, I hopped one of those open-topped tourist buses that moves mind-bendingly slowly but does let you see everything.  Unlike the ones we'd taken in England, this one even stopped with such frequency and views that I was able to take some amazing shots at angles I wouldn't have had on the ground.  Check out the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe!



My guys would no doubt have insisted on going all the way to the top of one or both of these, which is a little more height than I'm totally comfortable with.  (Just ask my mom, who had to rescue me from the big, bad Ferris Wheel when I was eight).  Yeah, forget how big you think the Tower is and magnify it by an order of two and you might arrive at the actual height.  Huge just doesn't do it justice, as you can tell from the picture at the start of this post taken from Montmartre where the tower rises above all. 

So today I just wanted to breathe in the city and lay eyes on all the iconic sites I could.  Tomorrow I've promised myself to stop for pastry.  I'm not missing the cuisine totally though.  Tonight I'm having duck, pomme frites and a wonderful Cote du Rhone.  The duck's not as rare as I like, but hey, any meal I don't have to cook....  Plus, the wine is fantastic.

As long as I have working eyes and a camera, I'll be a happy woman.