Day 19: Paris

Our arrival in Paris on Wednesday night was a little more adventurous than we would have liked. We rented an apartment from HomeAway.com, and, as it turned out, the instructions for getting to and accessing the apartment left something to be desired. So, after dropping Thierry off at Gare de Lyon at around 7pm, we drove across Paris to the place where we were supposed to pick up our keys (in a lockbox, since we were after hours).

We found the address, the door, the mailbox, and the lockbox, but... no key! I started calling the numbers provided to me by USAParis.com, but naturally not a single person picked up. At some point, a little old French lady got agitated that we had left the mailbox open and came out to yell at us. She kept yelling so I had to roll up the car window on her, but she still wouldn't stop. So, Sharon got the camera out to document this hooligan and only then did she scurry off -- we could only catch a glimpse of her in retreat!




I then found a second set of (contradictory) instructions telling us to drive BACK across Paris to the actual apartment. Again, we found the address, the door, the code, etc., but we couldn't get through a second metal gate to get to our apartment. Finally, after about an hour (and me starting to think creatively about plan b), someone picked up from USAParis.com and told us to go to yet another mailbox, where finally we found the correct fob and key and... ta-da! ... into our apartment, finally. And about two hours after we started this adventure!

We ended up eating at a decent little bistro just down the street from our apartment at 55 rue Ste. Antoine.

Anyway, the next day we got the first photo of the kids on a Parisian bridge, Pont Marie, heading over towards Notre Dame:





Here's Notre Dame from the back, taken from a beautiful garden:





The line to get into Notre Dame was very long but moved quickly, and soon we were inside. I took a few non-flash photos...













We continued to walk the entire way to the Eiffel Tower, which from our apartment was nearly six kilometers (about 3.5 miles!). We were exhausted by the time we got there, but it was worth it despite the long lines (yes, could have booked in advance, but hey, we're spontaneous). We went all the way to the top and the views were unbelievable.





Getting ice cream before standing in line...









You can see the tower's shadow...




The view of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower:




























After the Eiffel Tower, we headed back towards the Quartier Latin for a great meal of fondue with the kids. They loved it.





After dinner, we walked back across Notre Dame towards our apartment and got a few more photos in.






















One of my favorite photos... here's the moon over Paris from the Seine River; what a nice way to cap off our first full day in Paris!