More trip info...

Here is some more paris recap. The whole language thing was hard in Paris. We did not take the time to learn too much french since when Eric and I went to Italy, most people knew English. They were used to tourists and knew where the money came from. The French are so egotistical that they think you should have learned their whole language for your 5 day trip! Geez! We got by though. Luckily, Paul and Sue knew enough French to get us by.

We did all of the tourist stuff. We went on a boat-bus tour the first night which was cool. We got to see all of the main attractions and were able to get a good idea of where things were. We ended up at the Eiffel tower just as the sun was about to disappear and we got into line to go up to the very top. After standing in three lines to go up two elevators, it was quite cool being at the top and seeing the city all lit up. We finished up about midnight and tried to find a taxi since we were very far from our hotel. You had to basically jump on the taxi's near the tower because so many people were trying to get one. Finally I almost killed myself and snagged one only to have the guy say he can only drive 3 people not 4 even though he had 4 seats. I guess his water bottles really needed the front seat to sit on! What a dick! Every taxi we took after that had no problem with taking 4 people.

On Day two we went to Notre Dame which wasn't far from Paul and Sue's hotel. It is a spectacular sight. It is just amazing to me that it took 200 hundred years for them to make it from 1400-1600. The gothic architecture was just amazing to see. We wandered around it for a while and just took it in.







After Notre Dame we went on to the Musee D'orsay, a museum that houses many works including some by Monet and Van Gough. It was cool. Eric and I love art so we just loved going into the museums. It is neat to see paintings by famous painters up close so that you can see in person what makes them so great! I am a big fan of impressionists so it was very cool to see real Monets.






That night we went out to dinner and shared a bottle of wine, which is what we tried to do every night! French wine is ok. Sorry Kien, but I gotta say that I didn't like the french wine as much as I did the Italian wine. I guess I am a snob now ;)

Also, people always say that Paris is the city of love and romance. I don't get that. I think Venice is way more romantic than Paris. You can't beat the canals, gondolas, italian music playing along the canals, and the twinkling lights lit along the canals. Paris just does not try very hard to make people feel welcome and to put up the romantic ambience.