Europe trip '12 (Day 10: Paris)

The day started with a breakfast of croissants, baguettes with jam, tea, and coffee at a little French cafe. We walked up by Notre Dame and caught the hop-on/hop-off bus tour that I had booked in advance. We decided to sit on the top even though it was a bit cool and drizzly. The bus provided ear buds to plug in for a guide through the city. We drove along the Seine river, past museums and churches, and around the opera house. We got off the bus at the Arc De Triomphe and walked to the top. After admiring the view we walked along the Champs Elysees and did some window shopping. Jim decided to walk further down to visit the Virgin Records store and Sadie and I went into McDonald's for a drink. This McDonald's was very posh! It was so crowded but Sadie was only one of three kids in there. A nice French woman who was sitting across from us had gotten a happy meal and she gave Sadie the toy. Sadie said Merci to the woman. After Jim came back we wondered through H&M and then hopped back on the bus. We took the bus to the Eiffel Tower! We were getting kind of hungry at this point so we got some hotdogs and drinks and sat on the ground and ate. Sadie fed some of her bun to some ducks. The line for the elevator was super long (they only had one lift operating) so we decided to walk up 668 steps to the second level and then ride the lift to the top. This worked out well. The views from the Tower are amazing! We had a good time looking over Paris! We took the lift back down to the second level and decided to walk down from there. We hopped back on the bus and rode it back to the Notre Dame. We walked around some back streets that were full of shops and restaurants and did some shopping. We stopped at one of the restaurants where Jim and Sadie shared some fondu and I had true French onion soup. We stopped at a small market for some toothpaste (we were running low) and some fruit and chocolate and then it was back to our room. Here are pictures from Day10.