Smackie the Frog

Today was the second day in Paris. And oh what a day it was. The good news is that Frans was rehabilitated and back in the game. The bad news is that my feet are suffering pretty badly, but I told them that they had to suck it up and do their job anyway, because who knows who many times you are going to be in Paris. So in spite of the pain and blisters, my feet performed admirably, and it wasn’t until the very end of the day where they really started hurting. Thank you, feet.

Anyway, we started off with breakfast at the hotel, and it was pretty good. I had some pound cake and a croissant. And from there we headed off. Our plan was to first go to the Arc d’Triomphe, which we did. And it was a pretty impressive site. Then we walked down the Champs Elysees, which was very nice also. Then we were going to go to the Louvre. And we did. And we got there and the sign said that they are closed on Tuesdays. So we had to activate Plan B. This meant going to see some churches. The first was the Sainte-Chapelle, which was actually built as a private chapel for the King of France, and housed relics from the passion of the christ. The second was Notre Dame, which was spectacular and amazing. Finally we saw Saint Severain, which is a very old church, but inside they were filming a movie or a commercial or something. It was most bizarre.

Then we had lunch at Brasserie Balzar, hat tip to Laura for the recommendation, which had very, very good French food. And we were served by a waiter in training, who was apparently doing everything wrong. He had my chicken pointed the wrong direction on the plate, he didn’t wipe the edge of the plate properly, he didn’t approach the diners from the correct side of the table. Poor guy.

So at this point my feet were hurting pretty bad, and we came back to the hotel for a midday rest, which was perfect. My feet had a small chance to recover.

A few hours later we met back up and headed to China Town, which is a lot like a China Town in any big city. But we did get some Chinese food for dinner which was very good. I had sweet and sour chicken, but so what?! It was damn fine sweet and sour chicken.

Then we hopped back on the Metro and headed back to the Eiffel tower to take a river tour of Paris. And somehow we timed it perfectly such that right when we got to the boat place it was time for the next tour. And the tour was wonderful. Paris is a very beautiful city by night. And it was even nice enough to sit outside and enjoy the weather some. And then there was the tour guide who gave all of the announcements in French, English, Spanish, Italian, and Russian.

So at this point is when my feet decided to completely give up. Somehow we made it back to the hotel, though, and that is where I am now, writing this update.

Day 2 in Paris was definitely a good one. There is so much to this city, and I have only barely, barely scratched the surface. Tomorrow is Sacre Coeur, The Louvre, and hopefully a crepe from a street vendor.

Ciao!