PARIS- Yesterday

Posts to come: Car trip to Pisa and Lucca AND Bergamo

Lets talk Paris, first :)

WE LOVE IT HERE! I've been to Paris beifore, but I wasn't with the love of my life which makes the whole experience even more amazing! Lets talk RyanAir before we get to the site seeing.

RyanAir: Bergamo to Beauvais (Which is 1 hour outside of Paris)

If you are ever going to fly RyanAir, there are a few thigs to know. The airports are in very inconvenient locations, but they have a shuttle from that airport to a central point in the city that you are trying to get to. The shuttle for us was 14 euro a piece. They dropped us close to a taxi and a metro station, so we were fine. I did panic a little because I was not aware of how inconvenient the location really was. Rome should be interest... oh yes, we are flying out tomorrow night at 9:00 pm to Rome to be able to fly out at 8:00 am the next morning... I am tired thinking about it!



Our hotel - Hotel Villa Garbaldi - no pleasant, but totally duable. Both of us were hesitant when we got here, but it's not that bad. My Mom would NEVER EVER sleep one night here, but I am ok. For 95 euro per night, it works. On their website their map shows them being extremely close to the Eiffel, well, it's a good 15 minute walk. No problem for us, though ;)



We arrived pretty early yesterday morning (our flight landed at 8:00 am and we got in from Beauvais to Paris at 11:00 am - morning traffic) so we saw a lot! We put our stuff in the room and headed for the good ole Eiffel. Matt was floored, and honestly, even though it was my second time I was also floored! I forgot how cool it is! HUGE HUGE HUGE! Here are a few pics of the tower.






I had to have a crepe... the most important part of Paris for me :) Right past the tower there is a "Fair Grounds" type stand that makes great crepes. I got a plain Nutella Crepe, and Matt only got 2 bites :(






We had some time to kill before our bike tour, so we decided to lay on the grass and look up at the tower.

FAT TIRE BIKE TOURS
I made reservations for the Day Tour knowing this would be a good way to acclamate ourselves with the city.  Emma, or whoever your tour guide is, stands under the Sud leg of the tower holding the following sign...

Then you walk to the shop and get your bikes and go!  They also have an internet cafe, sell t-shirts,  have segway tours, etc.  A lot goes on at their shop.  They are all from the USA and the guy that owns the shop is from Austin... go figure :)

We went a ton of places.. here are a few!



 Matt showing off his bike skills :)

They have the cutest dogs EVERYWHERE... Here is a French BullDog!

This piece of artwork near the tower is all about peace.  The word "Peace" is written in several languages on this.  The ones on the pillars are countries that have not made peace and the ones on the glass panes have made peace.

This is Napolean's tomb.. which we plan to go in tomorrow morning.  That dome at the top is real gold leaf that was re-done in 1989.

Can't remeber the name of these...

This is the most expensive hotel the city (somewhere my mom would LOVE to stay).  This is where the winner and their team of the tour de france stay when they win... FOR A WHOLE WEEK!  The 7 yrs Lance won we flew the Texas flag from the hotel rather than the US flag.

Lourve... I have more pics of the inside for the next blog.

We had such a great time on the day tour that we went on the night tour.