Day 2 of Paris

The day started off with checking out the local street market. As we walked down the long sidewalk, we saw fresh fish, meats, breads and fruits... along with homemade clothes, bags and jewelry. We enjoyed seeing all the Paris market had to offer, but decided to head down the Champs Elysees to grab a bite to eat before getting on the metro to head to the Louvre Museum.

The Louvre Museum is huge and to be able to see everything you need to set aside at least a whole day, if not more. Obviously, we didn't have the time to do that, so we picked a few different things we wished to see and went in. Our first stop was to the Mona Lisa painting. The room was packed full of people and the painting was much smaller than I expected, but it was cool seeing a piece of history. We then went to the Venus de Milo. This sculpture is said to date back all the way to 130-100 BC. I'm not quite sure either of us has ever been in front of something that ancient. One of the other pieces of art we saw was the Dying Slave by Michelangelo. He is most known for the Statue of David and the Sistine Chapel ceiling, but weren't lucky enough to see those. The Dying Slave was made in the early 16th century, and once again, just pretty cool seeing something so old and from such a well-known individual. Of course we saw other paintings and sculptures, but too many to mention all on here.

We then left the Louvre and made our way to the Ferris wheel. Neither of us have been up in a Ferris wheel for quite some time and what a better time to go up in one than in Paris. It was a great opportunity to get an aerial view of city other than from the Eiffel Tower. It was also cool snapping a few pictures of the tower from the air and a good way to get off our feet for a few minutes.

When traveling to Paris, we both said we would use more public transportation because our bodies are starting to break down on us with all the walking we have done. However, we somehow manage to walk even more when we specifically say we won't! From the Ferris wheel we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral which wasn't a short and easy walk. Once there we waited in a line to enter the church and take a look around. We weren't in there very long because both of us were hungry and ready to find some food. We stumbled upon a small cafe close to the cathedral and decided to eat there. I ordered a ham, cheese and fried egg sandwich and Andrew ordered a chicken salad. From the pictures you will see, both meals really didn't turn out like the typical meals you would think of, but they were both still good.

After a full stomach we ended up going back to the hotel to take a little nap before heading back out on the town. We each ended up buying a cup of coffee and sitting at the Arc de Triomphe for over an hour just people watching. The Arc is surrounded by a roundabout that I am sure everyone has heard stories about. You wouldn't believe how many people would try running across the road to get to the Arc. The safe way is obviously a passageway under the road, but either they didn't know about it or just felt like being crazy that day. It was beginning to get dark so we decided to just walk along the Champs Elysees and window shop (because that's obviously the only way to shop in Paris). We found many things and put them on our list of things to buy once we win the lottery.

With it being Saturday night we wanted to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate the current events! So we bought Laurent-Perrier 1999 and took a walk down by the Seine River to watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle one last time. We celebrated our one day engagement, the great time in Paris so far, and later realized we also were celebrating the day Andrew would have walked in graduation for his Master's degree.

Saturday was of course another great day in Paris and we were both sad that Sunday was going to be our last day in the City of Lights and of course Love!!