After a bit of an adventure at the Dulles airport (stuck on the plane at the gate for over an hour so they could remove "suspicious" luggage from the plane), I arrived in Paris this moning around 7am. I was promply stuck in the back of a cab and rushed (and I do mean rushed!) to the hotel. I am so glad I am not responsible for driving around here. I don't know how anyone survives! I don't know what the conversion rate of miles and kilometers is, but we hit 180!
I dropped off my luggage at the hotel and headed out. Our hotel is about a block from the Eiffel Tower! I strolled along the Seine for a few miles just looking around. Paris is an interesting city. You walk past a 400 year old buiding and run into graffiti stained sculptures and trash piles. The architecture is amazing! The trash and dirt is not. I wish I could just wander into all the buildings and poke around. I didn't have my phone on me so I don't have any pictures to post at the moment. But, I will - I promise!
It was a bit chilly, so I stopped in for a tour of the Musee D'Orsay to warm up and rest my legs. If you are into Impressionism, this is the place to be. Lots of Degas and Monet, Pisarro and Surrat. I was most impressed by the number of Rodin sculptures. Plus the building is amazing! It is an old train station and worth the cost of admission just to see the building.
I am back at the hotel for now. I was planning on staying up until bedtime, but I am caving. If I can just sleep for an hour, I will be good to go. That still gives me time to hit the streets again and meet up with my tour group for dinner.
More later - with pictures!
