Walking a 5k in Paris

It's a beautiful Tuesday morning in Paris. That means we've been here now for 3 full days, and my have they been FULL! (In a great way, though!) In fact, I'm going to have to divide up the last 2 days into separate posts, so as to not write one long, completely overwhelming post.

Sunday morning, our good friends, Chris and Jessie, flew in from San Diego! They made it from the airport to the apartment on the RER (i.e. train) all by themselves ("Comme des grands"). They even started out with a positive Parisian vibe from a nice man who helped translate the RER announcements along the way. Before Chris and Jessie arrived, we weren't sure how long they would make it the first day. Their plane came in at 7:30am, which is a long time to stay awake when you have a 9 hour time difference on top of a long flight. We started their trip off with a walking tour (lead by us) from the apartment, to the Invalides, then along the Seine, across to the the right bank, to the Place de la Concorde, through the Jardin des Tuilleries, to the Louvre, then to the Marais, and then all the way back. We estimated 3-4 miles total of walking. Not bad for a first day! Along the way, we took some pictures!

Here's one of Chris, Jessie & Trevor on a bridge crossing the Seine.

And here is a bateau mouche chugging along the Seine, heading toward the Palais Royale.

Here's the view of the Place de la Concorde from the bridge.

We walked from the Place de la Concorde and headed right through the Jardin des Tuileries. This is a beautiful park between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. If you extend a straight line past the Concorde, you hit the Champs Elysee and l'Arc de Triomphe. After strolling through the park, we arrived at the Louvre. As many times as I've seen the Louvre and its Pyramide, it never ceases to impress me. It's hard to capture a good photo with so many people around, but I tried.

One section of one wing of the Palais du Louvre...and a couple walking by

Pyramide du Louvre

Section of the Palais du Louvre

Part of an arc across the street from the Louvre.

After heading by the Louvre, we needed a little boost, so we stopped at a cafe and ordered some beers. Jessie had a Coca-Cola and it "changed her life." She could tell that French coke was different from American Coke (it's because high fructose corn syrup is banned here, so they use regular sugar...just like the old school American Coke).

Feeling revived, we continued our walk, down the Rue de Rivoli. We ended up at the Centre Pompidou, which is where my mom worked when my parents met (dad was at IRCAM). The Centre Pompidou is a crazy-looking building, but I didn't get a picture of it, because it was just way too crowded and I was a bit nervous about getting my camera out. Just around the corner from the Centre Pompidou is a series of interesting fountains. They're designed by the same person who made the Sun God at UCSD, which Chris & Jessie guessed as soon as they saw them.

Here is the really Sun God-looking one, from behind

This bird (?) spins around on a vertical axis. I was happy to have a camera where I could adjust the shutter speed to capture this one!

This was supposed to be of Chris, Jessie & Trevor...but apparently something in the sky was more interesting to Trevor than being in the picture.

Just Chris & Jess

Trevor in front of the lovely Parisian tagging

After viewing the cool fountains, we headed over to the Marais (finally!) for lunch. By this time it was about 2:30pm and we were ready for lunch. Trevor and I have a Sunday tradition (when we're in Paris) of getting take out falafel in the Marais and bringing it to a nearby park. The reason for this is that, France being a Catholic country, everything in Paris is closed on Sundays. Some restaurants are open, but most neighborhoods are pretty deserted. So if you want to be where the action is, you have to go to the Marais (the Jewish neighborhood) on Sundays. It's amazing how many people are there...the streets are not technically pedestrian, and some cars try to drive through, but there are always crowds of people who pour onto the streets, walking and riding their bikes. The falafel place we love is called L'As du Falafel, and it's amazing. I found it back when I was studying abroad in Paris, and it immediately became a regular spot. Back then, the line was reasonable. However, the restaurant's popularity has been steadily increasing after rave reviews from the likes of the New York Times. The line when we arrived at 3pm was 1/2 a block down the street. The poor falafel competitor across the street had an embarrassingly short line in comparison. Hands down, it's delicious.

After enjoying our falafel we headed home, full and happy, and relaxed for a while. Chris and Jessie were quite impressive, and stayed up until 11:15pm...I'm not sure how they pulled that off (super powers?), but they'll have to share that secret themselves on Jessie's blog.