Paris or Bust

After a wonderful week in Italy it was time to turn our attention to the city of light. We boarded our night train in hopes of an Orient Express experience. What we got was closer in comparison to a National Lampoon movie. We got to our "cabin" and quickly realized that we'd slept in hostels with more space than this! A tiny ladder, two bunk beds and just enough space for two bags of luggage was all the room we had. Since Steph had researched and discovered some potential safety issues on the overnight train she quickly activated her 'security' gene and McGuyvered the crap out of our room. A bike chain here, a luggage lock there and even we weren't getting out of that room alive!



We slept well and awoke to the sight of French countryside at around 8:15am local time. Mike navigated the metro map quickly so we were off the train and taking the subway within and hour of arriving in Paris. As we rolled our suitcases towards the hotel Steph announced to Michael that the Eiffel tower was on his left. "It's smaller than I thought it would be," he said. We rolled right into the hotel, dropped our bags off and headed out in the direction of the tower. At its base is when Michael realized the true scale of the structure and we both stopped to marvel at is enormity. We contemplated going to the top only for a moment, deciding that the long line and unusually cold weather were enough for us to forego that particular experience for now.



We walked along the parks leading away from the tower, noticing how similar the layout was to the mall in DC. Sandy walkways surrounded by stretches of grass with various trees and buildings on either side. This walk led to our next stop, Les Invalides. This sight houses a multitude of important artifacts in French history that includes a memorial to general Charles de Gaulle, a veteran hospital, and Napoleon's tomb. The tomb itself seemed to be quite an overcompensation for little-man syndrome with its gilded ceilings and a tomb that was easily 20 feet off the ground. Nonetheless, the tomb was magnificent and fit for a leader.



We closed this day by settling into our hotel room with an amazing, scenic surprise:


This is the view from our hotel room. We cannot begin to describe the view in real life and how lucky we feel to have this as our welcome to Paris. All we can say is that it's one hell of a night light...