Paris

My first day in Paris:

The first night, despite not having slept since I left the airport in Louisville (so, nearly 30 hours), I had a hard time sleeping. Still jet-lagged, my body decided to interpret my sleep - which in Kentucky would have been sometime in the evening, but was actually around 10:30 in France - as a nap. The result: only about 3 hours of sleep. However, this allowed me to be up and about as the sun rose on the Villette Canal, which runs into the Seine. I took a walk in the crisp morning air, and snapped a few photos. I also bought a metro pass, which allowed me to move with ease around the city for the next five days.



After taking a morning walk, I headed back to the hostel for breakfast, and met up with Jill, my traveling companion. We had a quick meal, and headed out for a day of exploration. We literally hit nearly every major tourist attraction in Paris within a matter of hours. The following photographs are from the first day:

We first headed to Le Musee du Louvre, which was absolutely enormous. I spent most of my time with the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian art. After about four hours I was exhausted. So was Jill, and we left.



Leaving the Louvre, Jill and I walked the Champs-Elysee (about two miles) to the Arch de Triomph. It was far larger than I had ever fathomed, not to mention far more incredible



We took the metro from there to the Eiffel Tower.



And then to the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.



I spent the rest of the night relaxing and drinking with Parisians on the Canal near our hostel. It was Friday night, and the river's edge was crowded with people, all sitting in circles by the water, smoking cigarettes, and drinking wine and eating crackers and chips. I talked American politics and British literature with a French woman, and listened to a couple of men playing the blues on a bench by the sidewalk.