We started our
day walking to a café in Strasbourg, where we had croissants shaped like
pretzels (seemed appropriate since we were near the German border in
France!). Then we had a 5-hour road trip
to Paris.
I will do a
separate post after we return home about how AMAZING the French highways and
rest stops are. 5 hours sounds tedious, but when the speed limit is equal to
87mph and every rest stop is an a amazing adventure – it’s not that bad!
As we neared
Paris, the freeway signs read, “Fortes chaleurs! Hydratez-vous!” (Hot weather!
Hydrate!) I looked at the car
thermometer and it read 41.5 degrees, which Siri informed me is equal to 106 degrees
Farenheit! Wait, WHAT?! That can’t be right. I turned on the radio and thought
I heard them say (my French is good, but not perfect) that "this is a
record-breaking heat wave, and that it hasn’t been this hot since 2003 since
all those people died.” That couldn’t be right…I needed English. So I Googled
“Paris heat wave” on my phone. Turns out it actually hasn’t been this hot in
Paris on any day in July since 1947. NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN. And it chose to be
that hot again on the 3 days that we are here. Fantastic.
We found the
parking garage I had pre-reserved and dragged our luggage 3 blocks to the
hotel. Did I mention it was 106-degrees? Fortunately, when we arrived, I
realized I am mildly obsessed with Hotel Thoumieux. I will do a separate post
on it too, because it deserves stand-alone attention. It is PERFECT. I can open
our window, lean out, look left, and see the Eiffel Tower!
We started
wandering, and went right to the Seine. We decided to hope on one of the
Bateaux Mouches that tour the river, thinking that at least a moving boat would
create some breeze, and we wouldn’t have to walk. These boats are usually packed.
Today – not so much.
We saw the
Eiffel Tower, Musee d’Orsay, Louvre, tons of gorgeous bridges, the Grand
Palais, tons of people “beaching” along the Seine, and the fancy prison where Marie
Antoinette was held before losing her head (below).
We put a “love
lock” on the famous love locks bridge (Pont Des Arts) 2 years ago, so we’ve
been following the story of how the city removed the locks because the weight
was starting to make the bridge collapse. We saw how it is now boarded up, so
people can no longer put on locks.
But the funny and unexpected part of the
cruise was that there are now locks EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING else! LOL! Almost
every other bridge now has them. You can’t keep the people down, France! If
they want to express love by writing their names on a lock, placing it on
something, and throwing the key into the river – damn it – they are going to do
it! Here are 2 different bridges, now both completely covered with locks!...
We left the
boat and walked to the Pont D’Alma tunnel where Princess Diana died. It is
coincidentally the same spot where there is an exact replica of the Statue of
Liberty’s flame. We had no idea, but today was Diana’s birthday! So a small
memorial had popped up. (Also note the love locks! Haha!)
We ate dinner
at the restaurant where President Obama and Michelle ate when they visited
Paris (yes, that is how I picked places!). It was 9pm and still 96 degrees. We
ate outside on the sidewalk and drank roughly 200 gallons of water.
Then we walked
over to the Parc du Champs de Mars, under the Eiffel Tower. We sat on the
grass, took tons of pictures, and waited for the light show on the tower at
11pm. Spectacular! M looked at me and said, “this is my favorite thing EVER.”
Sweaty and
tired, we walked back hand in hand, talking about some day moving to Paris for
a summer because we love it so much.
Tomorrow: The
great Catacombs debate of 2015
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