Paris in the Springtime: Finale Jour

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

We woke up to another gorgeous day with the sun shining and trace clouds in the sky. No early morning run today so it was a relaxing start with our wonderful buffet breakfast bar. We checked out of the hotel and headed out to the Métro. Our plan was to take this back to the train station so we could put all our luggage in a locker while we continued to tour around the city. Unfortunately, to continue on our disappointing evening we found the Metro line by our hotel didn't open until 10:00 am and it was only 9!! Luckily, there is another public trainline that runs deeper and parallel to the line we wanted to take that was open. So our plan was not foiled, phew! We got the right tickets, made in to the station and dropped off our luggage. We got back on the Metro and went on with the plan to go see the Eiffel Tower and go up to the top. Once we got off the Metro we walked a few blocks through the city to the Tower, getting pictures along the way, and then stood in line for a couple hours to ride the elevator up to the second and third floors. The line was much longer then usual because one of the elevators was broken so everyone was funneled through the one remaining functioning lift. No big deal, but by the time we finished it was early afternoon. We only had a couple hours left before we had to be back at the train station so we walked through the city streets, found an open pastry shop to grab some authentic croissants, and went straight to the Louvre. We had to ditch our plan for out picnic in the park and our back of plan to eat outside at a café so that we had enough time to make it to and see some things inside the Louvre. Luckily, the Louvre was open and with our museum passes we could skip the lines for tickets and walk right in! :) We saw tons of sculptures, paintings, ancient artifacts etc before we left to walk up through the city to catch our train. Luckily we had enough time to stop at one of the street crêpe vendors to get a walking dessert crêpe! 

Sunday Morning Metro Stop. Waiting for our train to take us to Les Invalides so we could walk to the Eiffel Tower.

Les Invalides. It was a hazy, foggy morning but the sun was shining so bright. This is what we saw as we came off the Métro.

Approaching the Eiffel Tower. How sweet would it be to live in either of those two apartments? Wonder how much rent is a month....

Park at the base of the Tower. It was so gorgeous in Paris this weekend - with the sun, warm weather, and blooming trees and flowers. How could you not love it here?!

Due to technical difficulties we got to wait for two hours to get up...luckily it was worth it.

Waiting in line with Beth.

More blooming trees in the park at the Tower.

Thanks Instagram for making my photos look so cool!

The next several pictures is what Paris looks like from the Eiffel Tower. Unfortunately, the hazy morning didn't give us such good visibility. 

At the very top!

The Seine

West Side, way in the distance is La Défense district where our hotel was.

Paris

Flowering Trees make for perfect picture opportunities.

Ready to enjoy my authentic croissant in the gardens in front of the Louvre. Once again hundreds of people were out enjoying the sun and city parks. So I joined them. This croissant was delicious!

Outside of the Louvre, ready to go in and see some art!

Almost inside. Yes, the pyramid is the main entrance to the Louvre. Cool, huh?! You have to go down to enter the building.

Inside the Louvre, on the way to see Mona Lisa

There she is and yes, the painting is small!

This is the incredibly large paining opposite Mona Lisa. 

Another view inside the Louvre. Tons of large large paintings...

Looking out a window of the Louvre to the rest of the Louvre and the Gardens and city beyond.

Metro sign - just looks cool and Parisian. :)

Walking crêpe with Nutella and banana anyone? Trust me, you don't want to say no...

Paris was absolutely aMaZiNg!! I missed out on a few things and totally ran out of time, so Beth and I are already planning to come back. After all, I may not have a chance to come back and since I'm only a train ride away, why not?!?