Paris

Paris smells. That was the first impression we got. I'm not sure if it was the drunk Frenchman on the Metro that crapped himself and passed out with his pants down, or the pee puddles around every corner or the overfilled garbage, but it just didn't smell pretty. It's like the city of love is starting to ripen and go sour. Despite the smelly business, we made it to our hostel and immediately started to trek around the city. We visited the classic French monuments, such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysée, the Musée du Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Sacre Coeur. On the first day Jesse ate a bit of cheese at the Arc du Triomphe, and we had hot chocolate while walking down the Champs-Élysée towards the Louvre, where we spent the entire day staring at paintings and getting stared at by marble statues. On a side note, we found the French have a few of the Metopes still from the Parthenon in Athens. At Notre Dame we played with the leaves left by the trees in the courtyard. On November 11, we walked to the Arc du Triomphe to watch the Remembrance Day service which featured guards on horses and a large french flag flying inside the arch! It was neat to see and we may have even seen the French president drive by in his car. After that, we climbed up the Eiffel Tower all the way to the top. We then made our way to Notre Dame, where we played in the leaves fallen from the trees in the courtyard. After a warm meal, we went out for a walk to take pictures of Sacre Coeur. Thus ended our time in Paris.