Day 5 Wed. April 7th On our way to Paris

On the train Wednesday afternoon, headed for Paris


The countryside. I thought it was so pretty.

The train station in Paris

Concorde square. Lots of traffic. Eiffel tower in the

background!

Our hotel room. They had WiFi, so Julie checked out her

facebook.

Mel and Julie at the Arc de Triomphe

Julie standing at the Arc.

Close to our hotel at the Concorde square

The Obelisk of Luxor (stands where the guillotine once stood)

it was taken from the entrance of the Egyptian temple of

Luxor and is made of red granite.

A pretty fountain in the Concorde square

Mel and I with the Eiffel tower in the back

ground.

Well, on Wednesday, we boarded a train bound for

Paris, France. Our morning train had been canceled.

Something about a strike in France. We almost
changed our plans and went to Italy. But we

found out the later train was a go, so we kept

with our original plans. During the train ride, which

was about 4 hours long, we saw lots and lots of green

hillsides, with little villages along the way. Very

pretty. And then after the 4 hours, all of a sudden,

there was Paris. Huge city. I'm used to California,

where city meets up with the next city, and it's just

one continuous city. Not in France. All small villages,

then BAM, huge Paris. We walked alot in Paris. The

first night we walked to the Arc de Triomphe, which

is at the end of one of the most famous avenues, Champs

Elysees. We stopped at a little restaurant, and had a

very tough steak, and french fries. Dessert also. Flan

and also some fruit custardy tart. There were so many

other students there in Paris. Must have been a lot of

other spring breakers. It was fun to see the Arch in

person. they were doing some upkeep on it, so part of it

is covered with scaffolding. To think of the history there,

makes it pretty neat to see it in person.

Our hotel room was on the 5th or 6th floor. I just

remember that the "lift" went to like the 5th floor, and

we had to walk the last floor. It was old construction,

you could tell by the wood, and the old "nails" that held

the beams together.

The next day, off to the Louvre.