Gay Paris, the Tour Eiffel, and Da Vinci's Louvre

The plan for this weekend was to go to Lyon and then Normandy, to see more of France ... well, we made it to Lyon. It was oooookkkkkkaaaaaayyyyyy. It was like a huge Dijon, only uglier, more busy, and REALLY hot. Plus, I was coming down with a cold, so I took it out on the city itself. We did get to see some Roman ruins, and went to a museum with more Roman ruins, which was cool. But I got sunburnt and my throat killed me all day. That is neither here nor there, however. The bottom line was, we wanted to see Paris. We had to see Paris. Screw Normandy, it was all about the Tour Eiffel. We went to the train station in Lyon and changed our train tickets before sunset. We spent two hours trying to get cheap hotel rooms near the Tour Eiffel. That was Lyon for us: Paris overshadowed it. And yes, we are going to Paris on Friday. But all of us wanted to see it NOW. And I'm glad we did.

We had the chance to figure out their extensive Metro system; we got to see the Louvre; we got drunk on American food and drink at the Hard Rock Paris; we watched the sparkling Tour Eiffel at midnight. All in all, a great time. I literally teared up when I saw that Hard Rock menu, and all of the American foods on it. We've been eating so many baguettes, so much jambon (which I pronounce hambone just for fun), so much butter, that we spent over 3 hours hanging out in there. Plus, there was American rock music. And yes, the French love their American music, but all we've heard in Dijon is that Glamorous song, Rihanna's Umbrella, and Justin Timberlake, and that's it. Over and over and over again. Mixed in with some awful, truly awful French pop. Don't even ask.

So. We were in the Hard Rock Paris for so long that we made friends with the waiters and they invited us out after their shift was over ... they even drew us a map on how to get there. And we fully intended to go, but once we got back to our hotel to get ready, we all fell promptly to sleep. It had been a long day of train riding and Metro riding, and we'd come in from Lyon that day (Saturday). Before we'd even left the Hard Rock, I started (kind of) shouting, "I want to see this damn Eiffel Tower everyone's talking about!!!" Yes, everyone was staring at us because we were loud and hysterically laughing about everything. So, with a few drinks in us, we headed to the damn Eiffel Tower. And it was amazing. I knew this was going to be a moment I'd always remember, so I was in each moment. Walking up the steps of the Metro to the tree-lined boulevard above. I could see this sparkling on a building and wondered what it was ... I followed my eyes across the street, and it was the Eiffel Tower that was sparkling. I had no idea that it periodically starts sparkling with white lights. I even filmed it with my camera. It was amazing. We oohed and ahhhed all the way down the street and took tons of pictures and were begged to buy stupid things from street vendors. It was beautiful, and it was much bigger than I ever imagined. We didn't get to go up into it because it was too late, it closed at 11 p.m. It's 11 euro 50 to go all the way to the top, which I fully plan on doing next weekend. So, we spent the rest of the evening sitting in the grass nearby, joking around, laughing, and soaking in the sights.

The next morning, we got up and returned to the Eiffel Tower. We had to see it again and it was only 1 km from our hotel. Not as pretty in the daytime, but still a sight to behold. Plus, we didn't look as icky for the pictures. Then we headed to a little French cafe to fill up before a long, long afternoon in the Louvre. We were so psyched.

It made our trip to be able to go into the Louvre ... all of us, Lauree, Jenna, Julie and I have all been waiting our whole lives to see the things inside. So, we again took tons of pictures and then waited in the extensive lines to get inside. Julie and I split off from Lauree and Jenna and got the Da Vinci Code audio tours at 10 euro a pop. We both loved the book and wanted to see everything from the book and movie ... and it did not disappoint. It was really fun, and made the whole thing really mysterious and exciting, with audio bits from the movie, and it was narrated by Jean Reno. Of course it involved going to the Mona Lisa (Oh Lame Saint!), and I elbowed my way right to the front so I could stare for a long time. It was amazingly beautiful in real life. There were also lots of other Da Vincis, Caravaggios, Raphaels, Berninis, Vermeers, everything you'd ever want to see.

The audio tour only lasted an hour, and then Julie and I felt a bit lost ... there's just so much to see and without a tour guide, it's daunting. So we poked around, went to see Vermeer's work, and then hit the gift shops. I bought a souvenir for Johnny and Grandma and of course, myself. Had to get a shirt with the Venus de Milo on it. And for Johnny, a goofy compass that looks like the one from the Vermeer painting L'Astronome. Hope you like it, bro!

After the Louvre it was time to head back to our hotel to collect our baggages (as they call it), and then through the maze of the Metro, finally to the train station, and back to Dijon. Which is when I decided to call everyone ...

I will post pictures hopefully in a few minutes, but if not, soon!

Jennie