Sights and Sounds Eighty-Seven

We made it to Paris. It's Sunday afternoon and we just got back from walking around for about 6 hours so i thought i would update the blog real quick before we head out again.

The train from York to London was a breeze and the Eurostar to Paris was incredible. It really was like sitting on a cloud. It was so smooth and fast. The service was awesome and the whole experience was simply fantastic. I was amazed how easy the whole process was from printing out out tickets at the station. to checking in, passport control and boarding. I highly recommend this as a mode of transportation if you are thinking about heading over the channel to France or Belgium.

We arrived on time at 5:30 and were at our apartment in 15 minutes after a pretty short taxi ride. Our contact was a little late meeting us but we were all settled and ready to wander around our neighborhood by 7pm. We are staying in the 3rd Arrondissment on a street called Rue de Saintonge.
 It's an awesome location (special thanks to my friend Kee for recommending this area). We took a quick walk around and to our delight the area is full of small bistros, shops, bakeries, cheese shops etc. Dusti is in heaven. There is even a market called Marche des Enfants Rouges which specializes in ethnic foods from Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The smell of the food is delightful.
We ate at a restaurant, Chez Jenny, that specialized in food from the Alsace Lorraine region of France, but we ended up ordering steak and fries (steak frites)! 

After picking up some milk from the supermarche we headed back to the flat and to go to bed. We were woken up by quite a noisy party/night club (not sure which) which carried on until 3am. They were having a great time but it kind of sucked for us.

This morning we decided just to walk as far as we could to get our bearings. We will go back to most of these places to see them in more detail later this week. Here's a few shots from the day so far.

Place Igor Stravinsky

                                            Hotel de Ville, which is, essentially, City Hall

In the square in front of the Hotel de Ville

Notre Dame Cathedral, the "heart" of Paris. Our guidebook says that Paris landmark distances are measured from the cathedral.

Looking across the Seine at Notre Dame

Statues in the Jardin des Tuileries

One of the Louvre facades, one bookend of the Jardin des Tuileries

Jarden des Tuileries, looking back at the Louvre

The Seine

Jonathan under a tree in the Jardin des Tuileries. You can see the black chalkboard over J's shoulder that announced the menu of one of the Tuileries cafes. The trees made a wide avenue for walking.

View of the Eiffel tower from one of the roads leading down that way. Along the way, we stopped and bought single meringue swaddle in cream rolled in chocolate shavings. Jonathan nearly died.

Our first view of the Eiffel tower from the gardens.

These pictures make the weather seem nice and warm. It wasn't. Low 50s, and the blue sky you see in some pics lasted only for about an hour!

So we saw all that on our a 5.5 mile walk and that was just our first few hours exploring. Tonight we are going to bar hop and eat in our hood. Possible pictures to follow...