Paris, I love You...

...except for the allergies you have triggered in me.  Yes, Paris in spring is lovely.  Gardens are beginning to bloom and birds are courting their mates ever so boisterously from the trees that are about to leaf-out.  Unfortunately for some, spring also means allergies.  I have been on some form of antihistamine every day for the past week.  My eyes are so itchy I can barely open them and I am sneezing every thirty seconds (Jim tolerates it well as he is invincible and is affected by nothing. Ever.).  And quite frankly, it's tiring.  I tire out much more quickly when I'm doped up and sniffing all day.  Despite my exhaustion however, we have been walking this town up and down over the past couple of days in order to discover all that it has to offer - and there is a lot!

A couple of days ago we packed a picnic lunch and hit up the Museum of Natural History and its Nuit (night) exhibit.  Combined with the museum is the Grande Gallery of Evolution.  For a mere twelve Euros each, we walked from room to room looking at small stuffed critters of the night and learning about the moon and the stars.  We then admired floor upon floor of stuffed, molded and preserved sea life, plant life, and a stampede of African wildlife.  From there we walked through the gardens towards the river where we sat on a grassy knoll and enjoyed our homemade baguettes and mini-bottles of wine.

Jim playing with the interactive monster screen.

Wine time!

Slightly intoxicated (me, not so much Jim) we boarded the boat taxi that slings tourists along the river between major attractions such as Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and so on. We disembarked at the Champs de Elysees and walked past the shops displaying their expensive clothing, hybrid cars, and extravagant chocolates.  The walk ended at the Arc de Triomphe.  Hitler marched his armies through the Arc (arch) and down the Champs de Elysees in order to declare his victory over France.  Jim was pretty excited to be there and took over the camera duties while I sat slumped on a railing, unable to breathe or open my eyes.

My sunglasses just broke and I am dead tired.

We then caught the boat once more and enjoyed the rest of the tour from the water.  Dinner was had at a teeny tiny Indian restaurant down the street.  I think we were one of three tables they had served that evening.  They chatted to us and were extremely friendly, finishing the dinner with a free cheese naan bread. Later that evening I treated Jim to a night out at a small jazz club where we were able to watch a sax player that Jim has always enjoyed, Rick Margitza.

The following day we hoofed it by foot to the Louvre (about a 35-minute walk).  The streets were lined with hundreds of small gift kiosks selling old artwork, books, and of course small keychains of the Eiffel Tower.  The sun was shining and people were smiling.  As a sidenote, I'd like to state that we feel very fortunate to have only had one day of rain over the course of our entire trip...nothing but sunshine and lollipops!  

We were expecting a massive line-up at the Louvre as it was one o'clock on a Thursday.  But to our surprise there were less than thirty people standing in line.  Great!  We walked right in and Jim lead the way - from the Mona Lisa to the Venus de Milo.  We saw Napoleon's apartments with their lavish decor an fine art and walked through courtyards of beautiful sculptures.  After an hour or so we had seen all of the things we really wanted to see and decided to get away from the crowds for a while before heading to the Eiffel Tower.

No line at the Louvre!

Napoleon's dining room.

I had assumed walking through side streets would yield a few cheaper cafes for lunch - too bad the side streets we chose led us through one of the most expensive areas of the city.  We grabbed a sandwich from a food truck in a park and chilled out on the grass before walking to the Eiffel Tower.

When we arrived there were pretty big line-ups to get to the top of the tower.  People are encouraged to reserve a time and pre-purchase tickets online.  Normally, we would have done this except for the fact that we can't print the tickets and we don't have a phone to send the digital code to. C'est la vie!  We admired it from the ground and after a few photo opportunities, headed home.

It has been a full three days and we need to sit on our butts for a day.  Our feet are so sore (36 km walked over the past two days) we can barely stand. We'll use today as a planning day - how to get to Ireland for less than $500.  Hmmmmmm.

Time to relax.