One Night in Paris

Hahaha . . . I got to name my blog post after a porn film. If you like this one, wait until my trip to Dallas . . .

Getting out of my hotel in Brussels and into my hotel in Paris was perfectly painless. Good maps and a metro system in Paris with tons of stops allowed me to get to my hotel so quickly that I got there too early to check in. The Hotel Monte Carlo allowed me to drop my stuff off, so I went to the Jardin des Tuilieries and walked around for an hour or so until my hotel was ready. I took some pictures, including the one to the side. Then I went to my hotel.

I have to say that I’m pretty happy so far with the hotel. My room is on the fourth floor, but this hotel actually has a lift, so I didn’t have to lug all of my stuff up four flights of stairs. My room looks out over a busy street, so it’s a little noisy when the window is open, but I also have a fan in my room, so I may try to sleep with the window shut tonight.

I spent most of my first afternoon in Montmartre, the neighborhood in which my hotel is located. It’s very lively, with a ton of cafes, bars and various other institutions of capitalism, despite everything I’ve heard about France from about 40% of Congress, but I digress.

Last night, I went to an Irish pub to watch the Europa League match between Lille and Valencia. For dinner, I had what essentially was an open face grilled cheese sandwich with ham and tomato. I don’t like tomato much, particularly on sandwiches, but this was perhaps the best use of cheese I’ve ever experienced. In fact, I’ve had a lot of bread, ham and cheese since I’ve been here, as you probably could’ve guessed. Since I’m not a big fan of wine, I probably won’t be going crazy with it because this town is extremely expensive and good wine is just wasted on me because I can’t tell good stuff from bad stuff. I’m much more interested in bread and cheese.

After breakfast this morning, I headed to the Louvre. I took a ton of pictures and will post them to my Facebook page. My main interest in going was to see the Mona Lisa, which I’ve always dreamed of seeing. It’s even the wallpaper for my iPhone. Well, I’ve seen it. It didn’t change my life, but it was pretty awesome. Overall, I have to say that La Musee du Louvre was not as great as I hoped, but still well worth the price of admission. The one area in which it was much superior to the London Museum was the art collection, as one might assume.

One piece I have to point out, though, is the one to the right. As you already know, this is the great Gummi de Milo, made famous in an episode of the Simpsons several years ago when Homer peeled it off of the butt of a babysitter and as a result was accused of sexual harassment until he was proven innocent by a secret filmmaker. I always thought it was smaller than this, but I don’t really know art that well. Also, I was surprised to see it in the Louvre, but they have a whole wing dedicated to Jerry Lewis, so go figure.

Before I let this go too far, the Louvre doesn’t really have a Jerry Lewis wing. Just for the record.

After the Louvre, I again walked through le Jardin des Tuileries. I then continued on L’Avenue des Champs Elysees all the way down to L’Arc de Triomphe, which I’ll get to in a second. First, I want to point out that it was a beautiful Indian Sommer (German spelling) day here in Paris and that the stroll down the Champs Elysees was gorgeous. Again, a lot of cafes and eateries and other shops. I stopped for a ham and cheese sandwich and made my way down the street.

I got to L’Arc de Triumph (or as it is called by the Onion, The Arc of Capitulation, but I won’t go there) and decided I needed to walk to the top. Keep in mind, I had just walked around the Louvre for several hours and then walked a mile or so down to the Arc. I then decided to walk UP STAIRS to the top of L’Arc. It was worth it, though. Great views of the city on a beautiful day to go along with such a historic place.

After a little break, I decided to take advantage of my unlimited five-day metro pass and go to the Eiffel Tower. I was able to take some pictures, but it was already getting late and the line for tickets appeared to be never-ending. I decided that I would try again in the morning.

Tomorrow, my plan is to begin the day at the Eiffel Tower and then head to the Hotel des Invalides. I’d also like to get in the Musee d’Orsay and Notre-Dame, but whatever I don’t get to tomorrow, I’ll try on Sunday morning or Monday. I still have a few days here and the only thing set in stone in my calendar is a soccer match between Lyon and Paris St.-Germain on Sunday night.

Okay, I’m going to eat now. Since the wireless internet is fantastic in this hotel, I’ll probably keep you a little better posted from Paris than I have from elsewhere.