Paris Days 1-3

**Note: Paris is being done as part of the blog reboot in 2010. I dropped blogging for that week b/c french keyboards suck a fat one. It was still an amazing time with lots of great memories, so I'm filling it in from them.**

We arrived in Paris from our overnight run and worked our way to our hotel - great call on the location, marginal call on the setup of the place. We were on the 4th floor, showers on the ground floor. However, we were in the heart of the city with quick access to the metro and the lady manning the desk was very nice directing us to hotspots each night.

We spent our first day hitting some of the big sites around us. Notre Dame was just 2 blocks away, we walked past the Louvre, towards the Arc de Triomphe, around George Washington Square (Yes, America is so badass, the French put up a statue of the Father of our Country), and to the Eiffel Tower. We didn't go up in the tower - I'm glad we didn't which I'll explain in a moment - but we did have a purpose: Greg needed a photo of the "Weifel" Tower. Greg's primary goal in Europe was to get a picture of him such that the Eiffel Tower shows a side of his manhood that would drive the ladies of JDate wild. See the pic at the right and judge for yourself. We ended up staying around the Eiffel Tower for dinner and drank at a bar as the skyline lit up. We ended up having to walk back because we didn't realize the metro had stopped, but overall a good first day.

Day two we devoted to diving into some specific sites. We started at Notre Dame, which we hadn't ventured into the first day due to a long line. There were some incredible murals, windows, and of course - Gargoyles! I want my house adorned with them someday - or at least I would if I wasn't so sure I'll never be allowed to make that decision.

After that it was off to the Louvre. It's impossible to do in one day, but we gave it a shot. We of course started with the paintings. Mona Lisa was packed as expected, but we had to see it just to say we had. Beyond that were incredible works devoted to the French Revolution, Napoleon, Joan of Arc, works depicting medieval France, Jesus, and Plato's school in Greece. Other highlights included sculptures of ancient Greeks and Romans - including the Venus de Milo - and a special exhibit of Egyptian mummies.

We circled around towards our hotel and wrapped the day at the Pantheon. The Pantheon is home to most of the greatest contributors to French history. Entombed there are Voltaire, Jean-Jeaque Rousseau and Victor Hugo. There are tributes to martyrs of the French Revolution and France's first national convention.

After seeing Paris lit up the night before, we decided that we should check it out from the top of the Arc de Triomphe. As dusk fell we headed back out and climbed to the top. In a word: Amazing. I'm glad we skipped 6 hours in line and 40 euros go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. For 5 euros we got a full view of all Paris, including incredible views of the Eiffel Tower (see right). Greg capped his last night with a handstand (of course) and we returned back to the area around our hotel (not wanting to repeat the previous night's trek home).

Turns out there was a great little bar district up the street from our hotel. We started at an English pub where Greg spied Galliano. If you're head just took you back to drunken nights in Santa Barbara then you know what that means: Harvey Wallbangers! We were pumped as we ordered a round. the only think I remember after round 3 was talking with some British dudes, unsuccessfully hitting on some french students and wrapped the night chilling with a pack of Aussies.

Day three was Greg's last of the journey. We did a tour of the catacombs under Paris. In the medieval days they were used to store the bones of the dead in Paris, experiencing a boom during years of plague. There are tunnels of 10x10 rooms just piled with random bones. Crazy. The Catacombs were later used to hide from the Germans in WWI and II. After that it was tie to bid Greg adieu. That night I took it easy. I had dinner at St. Michael's square and grabbed some drinks at a random bar. The next day was my cousin Mollie's wedding - the moment that spawned my trip had arrived.