Paris, hon hon hon hon hon

Paris, c'est magnifique!

To start, the flight was more or less dreadful! It was too short to have a proper nap and was.... just annoying! Toya slept through landing and was basically asleep the entire walk through customs. Yuk. Aside from that, we enjoyed the bus ride to Gare de Lyon (located near our hostel) and got some shut eye. At the station, the French were very helpful with directions. We easily made it to the Blue Planet Hostel.

- Must go shopping with Claudia - to be continued.... (sorry for the teaser!)

WE'RE BAAAAACK!
To continue...
After checking in we went and got fresh bread and tasty fruit from a nearby market which we ended up doing everyday. We made it to the Louvre but was closed because it was the first of May... who knew. Sooo, we hung out in the Tuilerie garden in the sunshine. We ended up taking a nice loooong nap in the lounge chairs near the trees. Toya has racoon eyes (but not anymore). We walked allllll the way to the Eiffel tower to kill time until we could actually use our room. Long but enjoyable walk. We hung out in the garden near the tower, took photos, hung out with the ducks and partially debated climbing the stairs up the Eiffel Tower... NOT! It's ridiculous how people line up all day for it.
Finally we napped (oh so good), and then got dinner at the grocery store and made yummy brie baguettes. We met a really cool Australian girl who told us about a few sightseeing places. Afterwards, we got dressed and headed over to La Bastille (down the road) for some wine. It was PACKED! We checked out a few bars and finally found a quieter place which was consistent with our budget. Good wine, good atmosphere and then back to bed.

Next day...
Breakfast: pain au chocolat - all we can say is delicious. We went to the Louvre AGAIN and found it way too busy. We went to the Arc de the Triomphe, which was beautiful; made our way to Pont Neuf and then to the Notre Dame. We later went to Eglise St. Etienne (I think) and saw that it was right beside the Bomb (Katie knows what we're talking about)and went for a quick beer. We then went to the Pantheon and Rue Mouffetard (which was really cool) and then made our way to Jardin Luxembourg. We sat momentarily in the sun and then realized that we needed a nap! Later that night we went to L'Ecurie for dinner - delicious steak and frites served with AMAZING Rocquefort and Pepper sauce (boys, wouldn't that be cool for Poutini's?). We sat beside a really cool Irish couple who were so funny and had many great stories. All in all, a great atmosphere and fun to be in a stable. We then headed to Pomme d'Eve across the street for some beer. We sat, listened to some music and quickly made friends. That is, the entire Rugby team to be exact. We also met a German guy who spoke 5 languages, really interesting and schön (oh la la). The night went by fast, once we surfaced, we realized that it was daylight! Just in time to catch the first metro... very good night (Thanks Katie!!!!)
We went to "bed" and were kicked out at 11:30. We shocked the cleaning crew. We went one last time to the Louvre and the line up was even more ridiculous than last time. It would take a full day to get in. Forget it. So we made our way to the "tall ugly skyscraper", as Laura called it, and got to see a magnificant view of Paris. We were pretty tired and thirsty.... mmmmmm Fanta. That night we went to the Sacre Coeur... absolutely beautiful, so glad that we went. Toya took amazing photos. Will show you in the near future (give or take a year). That night, we went to bed early and got up to catch our train to Amsterdam! All went smoothly with the Rail passes.... love them.

A bientot!