A Very Tired Afternoon In Paris

We got back to the hotel at 2 pm, checked in, and brought our bags up to the room.  The room was small, but nice, and we both took much-needed showers while literally forcing ourselves to stay awake to try and alleviate the jet lag (we're told that naps are a bad idea).  We ambitiously decided to go to Notre Dame and the Louvre before dinner (they're pretty close together), and we decided to walk the 3-4 miles to get there so we could go through the Latin Quarter, which is exactly what we did.  Along the way, we passed the other long mall in Paris, this one being in front of the Hotel Invalides, about which we know nothing.

We got to Notre Dame and were happy to see that the line to get in was pretty short.  We snapped some pictures while we were in line.

Then, we learned that we were actually in line to sit for what appeared to b a concert that hadn't started yet.  No problem; we just left the bleachers and got in the slightly longer line for the actual cathedral, which gave us a chance to check out the architecture from a different angle, including the famous gargoyles.

We went inside, and were happy to see that there was some sort of musical service going on, so we sat and listened to that for a while before wandering around inside.  Out of respect, we only took one picture inside.

On the way out, we marveled at the handiwork that went into sculpting the exterior of the cathedral before leaving.

We're not sure if you can tell from this picture, but the sun actually came out by the time we left, and it was really nice out for the rest of the night.

Next stop: The Louvre (well, sort of; hold that thought). 

We made the short trip to one of the most famous museums in the world at about 6 pm, since the Louvre stays open until 9:45 on Friday nights.  It is absolutely gigantic, and the pyramid that stands over the subterranean lobby is cooler in person than in pictures.

But here's some pictures, anyways!

Now you can definitely tell that it's sunny.

The line to get into the pyramid wasn't that long, and there was a slightly longer line inside to buy tickets.  Unfortunately, we learned once inside that the museum was closing earlier than normal; they were going to start kicking people out at 8:15.  Since it was close to 7 at the point, we bailed on the line and decided to come back the next day, but not before learning that there was a store that sold advance tickets that would let us skip the line.  The store was somewhere inside a huge, underground mall attached to the lobby, and we tried to find it using the directions we were given, but we were working on about 30 sleepless hours at this point (more on that in a bit), and it took us a long time of wandering before we found the store only to see that it was closed for the night.  Oh well. 

We were both in a lot of pain (hold your insults, please) from the long plane ride and exhaustion, but we decided to walk back and stop at a restaurant along the way.  Remember that it's about a 3 mile walk.  I still don't know what we were thinking.  For those of you who know us really well, we are NOT decisive when it comes to picking restaurants (or tv shows, or movies, or clothes, or greeting cards, or ...), and there were MANY restaurants that we managed to talk ourselves out of stopping at along the way.  We also meandered way more than intended trying to find a place, turning the walk into something well over 4 miles.  We did get a great shot of the Hotel Invalides...

...and we got someone to take a picture of us in front of the Eiffel Tower, which sort of made it all worthwhile (mission smooth-out-the-memories is firmly underway).

We didn't sit down to eat until we were pretty close to the hotel and it was already 10 pm.  Still, the place we finally ate at was very authentic and delicious.  Tom started with French Onion Soup (very different tasting broth, but really good), and Maura started with escargot (she actually ate 2 before turning it over to Tom!).

 For our meals, Maura got salmon, and Tom got duck confit.

We both got creme brulee (of course) for dessert, and it was delicious.  The whole meal was great, and we really did feel MUCH better about our ridiculous nighttime trek through Paris.  We even sat outside on the street (it got much warmer), and we could see the lights flashing on the Eiffel Tower during our meal.  We headed back to the hotel in time to pass out, and that was the end of our first day in Paris.