Paris - days 0.5, 1 & 2 - or, how to find Gare du Nord

Our first day in Paris was really a half day - we checked into our hotel at about 2 pm, after which we walked over to Jardin du Luxembourg to take pictures.  Oh, and for Lee to geocache. After walking for abut two hours, we went and got some dinner and then crashed from no sleep at about 5:30...and slept until almost 10 am.  Long flight with little sleep, navigating Charles De Gaulle airport - which seems to go on forever - walking Luxembourg gardens, and the time change took a toll.  Not as young as we used to be.

So, our first full day Paris began by making our way from our hotel in the Latin Quarter to Gare du Nord - the main train station and the Paris office of Eurail.  Because I bought our Eurail Pass from other than Eurail themselves (at a savings of about 250 euros), I couldn't make the reservations we needed for the high speed trains - 5 of them - online but had to go to their station office: at Gare du Nord.  Not exactly walking distance to our hotel or anyplace we wanted to go.  At noon, we left with half our reservations made.

Next important detail:  have something to eat. Which we did, then filled our water bottles and headed to the Eiffel Tower with a few hundred thousand of our closest friends.  It was a zoo - the lines criss-crossed each other in the center.  I think I got some decent pictures.  We watched the Paris police chase some souvenir hawkers, lots of people waiting in line, and many others, like us, just enjoying a great day outside. After, we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe for pictures.  That's over by the really high rent district.  Found Chanel's Paris location - I would never shop anywhere else if I could afford it.

Day two began much earlier with an actual breakfast and another trip to Gare du Nord to finish all our high speed train reservations.  Because we were much earlier than the day before we got all the reservations completed in about 30 minutes.  I feel better now.  From Gare du Nord we segued over to the Paris Hard Rock Cafe so I could get my pins. We also found a place to get sim cards for Europe.  From there, we headed to the Louvre and Tuileries. Beautiful weather allowed for some nice pictures.  Way too many people. Almost a two hour wait for tickets.  We met a mother and daughter from the UK on the metro and again in front of the Louvre.  Had a great conversation with them about where we were going and travels we had in common.

So, tomorrow is our last full day in Paris. We've made no decisions on what to do.  I want to see Kirby's performance tomorrow night. Now, I need to post some pictures for everyone to see.

Until next time...