There are stairs everywhere in Paris; no wonder the people here can eat such good food and still stay skinny.  Several flights for every trip on the subway (we made 7 trips today, most of which included a transfer and thus, more stairs).  Then there were the 400 steps up and down Notre Dame.  To top it all off, there were ~250 steps up and down the Arc de Triomphe.  Jeesh.  My feet are quite sore right now, and taking a much deserved break.

After Notre Dame we came back to the hotel and uploaded some pics and played with camera settings.  Then we set back out and walked around the Eiffel Tower.  It was raining, so we didn’t stay too long.  Then we took the Metro to the Arc, where we climbed up and surveyed Paris from up top (and there was a break in the incessant drizzle so we could enjoy it!).  From there, we Metro-ed to the Musee de l’Orangerie, which has good impressionist works, including oval two rooms entirely covered with Monet’s water lilies.  (This was Mel’s favorite; she had no idea there was more than one of these).

We were planning on re-visiting the Pompidou after this, but were bushed, so we headed to the Latin Quarter for some dinner.  There were so many tasty looking options that we opted to mill around the streets window shopping and munching on food from street vendors.  We had the tastiest salami and cheese panini (toasted!), then after a bit more wandering we had a nutella and banana crepe.  After a bit more wandering, Mel’s shoe decided to attack her foot, and we decided to call it a night.  On the way back, we stopped at the market and got some wine, cheese, marmalade, and bread, and munched on these back in the room.  Now it’s late and we’re bushed.  Time for sleep (it’s almost 10 here!).

Here’s some pics from the back half of the day (more online).

Yes, that is a wall-size Monet, one of 8 we saw today.

More pictures from Notre Dame!

Mel has this thing for gargoyles…

Of course, we had to have Eli emulating the ‘death by electrocution’ sign, although I don’t think he replicated the scream of terminal agony very well 🙂

Finally, us at the top of Notre Dame, before descending those 400 stairs.  That’s the cathedral spire sticking up there behind us, in case you can’t tell.

Best laid plans… the plan: to get up at 7 and go up Notre Dame.  The implementation: wake up at 9, and leisurely make our way over to the island, walk around a bit, grab a delicious breakfast (tea, croissant, crepe w/nutella).  Then we checked out the inside and climbed the tower.  The views were amazing, and there weren’t as many stairs as I was fearing (Eli counted 392 on the way down, although I think 402 is the official number).

Gotta run!  This afternoon Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, dinner, and Pompidou part deux.  More Notre Dame pics later, and PM pics.

We changed the resolution on the camera to shoot raw and max res jpgs, so they take forever and a day to upload now.  So it’ll take me longer to get them all up, but they’ll get there eventually. (Mel really liked the gargoyles, so lots more gargoyle pics!)