SATURDAY IN PARIS

May 2, 2009
Went to bed early last night as knew we would have a busy day today, so you might know by 3 AM we were both awake, but stayed in bed until 5 then we quickly made our way out the door and were off to find the car return at Orly Airport. After our bad experience of driving with the sun in our eyes the other morning we had made plans to be well on our way before this happened again. By the time the sun came up we had found the car rental place and were looking for the bus into Paris by 7:30 AM.

The bus brought us into downtown Paris where we caught a cab to our Young and Happy Hostel. After finding out that the dorm rooms were on the top floor, and no elevator, we asked if we would be able to rent a double room… yes, but they only had a room with a double bed available tonight and then we would have to move to a different room on Sunday where we would have twin beds. Both of these rooms are on first floor…. But you still have to walk up one flight of old circular pie shaped set of stairs from the ground floor…. .. I just asked Martha how to describe the stairs and she said, old, ancient and dangerous…… will have to be very careful tonight as have to go up 1 ½ more sets of stairs to get to the bathroom. Oh well… we will only be here 4 nights and for Paris the price is pretty good…. So will just have to deal with the fact that its an old building.

Since our hostel has a lock out for cleaning between 11 AM – 4 PM we put our stuff into storage and off we went to find the closest Metro so we could start our adventures in Paris. Not far away we bought a set of 10 tickets and set off for the Eiffel Tower. In 1994, on a tour, I had seen it but only front a distance on a evening tour of Paris by bus.
Now I was up close and could snap all the pictures I wanted. The line to get in was long but we decided to stick it out and visit the second level of the tower, the top was closed this morning because of a rain possibility. We were in line by 9:30AM and after spending 30 on the tower, walking all the way around… looking at Paris and snapping picture we were down the elevators and off to find the Diana Memorial by 12:30…… yes, we stood in line for 2 ½ hours… but, it was worth it….the view was fantastic. In pictures you might note that I have my raincoat on… it never did rain but the sun went away and it was a cold wind that we stood in all that time and I have found that my rain poncho makes a great wind shield.

Walking to find the Diana Memorial we went first to the Rue Cler, an area of Paris that has all kinds of shops and markets. Here we found Martha’s favorite little eating-place
where we enjoyed Crepes made with ham and cheese. Soon we were at the bridge near the place where Diana met her untimely death. The people who loved her have made this area into a memorial by writing messages on the wall above the tunnel where she died. It was quite moving to read these love notes to Diana.
Picking up the Metro again we went to find Cathedral of Notre-Dame…. Again we found long lines and I said that I would rather not do another line today so it was outside photo time and walking around to the park in back we found a lovely garden and even better photo opportunities. We also took time to enjoy a yummy ice cream cone (4 euros each for two small dips) while wandering the area and listening to the musicians as they entertained us hoping that we would favor them with our coins.

Turning back towards our hostel we took a few side trips finding our way home but did accidentally discover an ancient Roman Arena, a bakery where we purchased dinner for tonight and to our surprise a wonderful area up the street from our hostel full of shops, markets and just all sorts of things for us to check out in our spare time tomorrow.