We started our morning by moving hotels. Our new hotel was a Marriott in a PRIME location. We decided to just walk to it, which meant we got to walk pass the Arc again! Check-in time wasn't until 3pm, and it was only 10am, so we again just figured we'd drop our luggage(a carry-on each) off then go explore. During the check-in process, I might have just happened to drop the words "great place to celebrate our 10 year anniversary". It couldn't hurt, it worked at the last hotel! Well, nothing happened and we dropped our bags off and headed out!
Our nice Canadian friends had told us a great way to see a lot of Paris without killing me by walking everywhere was to invest in a Hop On Hop Off bus pass. They had also told us to ride the whole loop and see what you'd like to see, then get off the second time around.
That was our plan as the bus stopped first at the Arc, then a few more stops, then at the Eiffel Tower. We kind-of felt like we were the odd ones out not taking pictures of these beautiful places, but we had already taken MANY pictures that were better than from the top of a bus. One of the next stops after the tower was Les Invalides. It was a beautiful building, and as soon as Jared heard that it was a Military Museum we HAD to jump off the bus. So much for sticking to plans! :)
It really was gorgeous!
They had weapons, armor, and artifacts from all the different decades of war.
Jared was in his element!
I do have to say that with SO many different museums it Paris,
I'm glad that we can say that we actually went inside one!! :)
This is actually the front(we got off the bus a little prematurely).
In 1670, Louis XIV ordered it to be built for aged and unwell soldiers.
Here are a few pictures(out of a hundred) Jared took.
Inside the main building Louis the XIV built a chapel for the veterans, and made it mandatory to attend daily.
Shortly after the completion of that chapel, Louis ordered the construction of a separate private royal chapel to be built. That was the building with the beautiful gold dome that we first saw on the bus and prompted us to get off.
This chapel was stunning!
Directly under the dome was a HUGE open section that held a HUGE tomb in the middle. Inside is the burial place than non-other than Napoleon Bonaparte!!!!
This isn't a good picture of the tomb, but it shows the scale really well with the people on the 2 different levels looking at it!
Here is a better picture of the tomb!
We jumped back on the bus, and drove past more stunning architecture which most are now museums!
Then we made it to Place de la Concorde. It's a HUGE public square. During the French Revolution this is where the guillotines were. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette and many other aristocrats were beheaded!
I just realized that I didn't get a good picture of the square, but it has two beautiful water fountains on either end with an obelisk in the middle.
We tried multiple times to get a good picture of us with the fountains, but it wasn't meant to be.
You can only get so much when asking a stranger to take your picture!
Here is the obelisk. It was a gift from Egypt to France in 1829.
It originally stood at the entrance to Luxor Temple in Egypt!
Around the square is a crazy round-about, where we decided with the weather being overcast and a little chilly to jump back on the bus to our hotel. There is a stop by our hotel.
We went to the check-in counter and they said our room was ready, and we had been upgraded to a street view suite. My planned worked!!!!! We quickly changed into pants and grabbed another jacket and headed back out. (I'll post pics of our room later)
One bad thing about the Hop On Hop Off bus is that is only travels in one direction. So we could either ride the whole loop again, or just walk back down to the square. We decided to walk!
On the east side of the Place is Tuileries Garden. It was originally built as the gardens for the Tuileries Palace in 1564, but became a public garden after the French Revolution in 1667. It is located in the middle between the square and the Louvre!
Letting my back relax after the walk along with everyone else!
On the Louvre side of the garden is a smaller monument that looks similar to the Arc de Triomphe. I didn't realize at the time of this picture, but you can look straight through the arch and the obelisk is right in the middle, and then in the distance right in the middle is the Arc de Triomphe. They line up beautifully! I tried to get a picture the next day from the bus, but it didn't work! :(
The Louvre was originally a palace built in the late 12th century. The original palace was added onto many times to the present size. During the French Revolution they decided it should be used to house the nation's masterpieces, and opened in 1793.
One end of the museum.
We figured because of our limited time in the city, we wouldn't spend a full day wandering the museum. The only painting I would want to see was the Mona Lisa. So no, we didn't go inside and again we were ok with that!
Then we headed out one of the gates that gets you to the Louvre.
It was so beautiful!
Me on the bridge to the gates of the Louvre!
We then headed back through the gates to the other side of the Louvre to do some cheap souvenir shopping for the kids.
We ended up back in Place de Concorde. The busses would get backed up because of the crazy traffic so we decided to just walk back to our hotel and find some place to eat along the way!
Yes we ate pizza while in Paris. It seems a little contrary, but I was hurting by this point with all the walking. You can tell by this picture that I'd had enough, and just needed to sit! It was a very different pizza than normal if that counts. It was chicken and green pepper, Italian style.
Then I waddled back to our beautiful hotel room.
Our room had amazing french doors(ha ha, I love the irony) that looked out onto Ave. des Champs-Elysees. Which is famous for it's theaters, cafes, and high end shopping. It was an amazing view! That is the Eiffel Tower on the side of Jared's head.
We couldn't help but move our chairs in front of the doors and just relax listening to the hustle and bustle below us! This is a very unflattering picture of me and the bump, but this seriously was one of my favorite things to do with the limited downtime we had!
I soaked in a hot tub again, and by the time I was done the lights of the city had come on. I was feeling MUCH better by this point and decided to be a little adventurous and try a night walk towards the tower!
I am pretty proud how this picture turned out that I took!
Yes, I might have been standing on a traffic stand so I wouldn't get hit by cars while taking this picture!
Jared was happy to find a Beretta store!
Then we made our way to a great night view of the tower!
Near the bridge we took our pictures from was this, a replica of the Statue of Liberty torch!
One last shot before heading back!
Day 2 was just as wonderful as day 1, and with more walking!
I was VERY sad about tomorrow being our last day in Paris, but excited with the adventures that it held!
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