What a day!

It's hard to know where to begin. The camera battery is charging, so photos will follow.

Truly I cannot fathom how today could have been better. First, the weather - 70 and sunny. People were out in droves, and everyone so heureux - happy.

It took forever to get to our apartment - the driver picked us up along with another couple. That couple was staying near the Opera, so we drove all over the place. Driving here is terrifying. Motorcycles and scooters pass on the right and left as long as they have an inch to spare. The airport shuttle was TOTALLY worth the money.

Slim, our landlord, is tres adorable. Very energetic, which is good, since he lugged our baggage up the three flights of narrow winding stairs. The apartment is everything I pictured and more. He even had a bunch of electric converters set up for us - a sweet detail. We have a set of swinging windows, with a guard rail (like a balcony)so we can lean out over the sweet little rue(street). The area feels safe. All is very well.

Next we ventured out to Rue Cler to check out the fresh market and have lunch. My favorite part was stopping at a stationer where the 70-ish woman spoke ZERO English, and I was able to parse out a conversation in French. I have worked hard at reviewing my conversational French, and I can't describe how fun it is to have a real live conversation. She was a DOLL, and I felt like hugging her by the time I left. She felt like hugging me too when I paid the bill.

We stopped by our apartment, and then headed out to find the Eiffel Tower. There are no words to describe it. Finding it by sight was great fun because you round the corner and see the tip, then more and more until finally...VOILA. I likely took a hundred photos. (not kidding) I also bought a whole lotta little Eiffel tower keychains from street salesmen. Frank was very proud of my bargaining. I would walk away and they'd come down half in price. Likely we still got taken, but what fun. (Yes, Emily and Anna, of course I got you a keychain)(And your mini towers, too, Sue) Next we bought a two day pass on the on and off yellow bus - but managed to get two days plus the remainder of today for the price by waiting until 4 pm. (all negotiated in French!) So, at 4:15 we boarded, and for 2 hours saw almost all the sights. It was unbelievable.

GRACE'S Paris tip number 1: If you have half a day in Paris, take the yellow on and off bus for the two hour "green" tour. Vraiment! (really!)

We saw...the Opera, the Louvre, the Musee D'orsay, the Notre Dame, L'arch de Triomphe, all four sides of the Eiffel Tower, the Pont Neuf, Le Musee Rodin, the obelisk (?), (Obelisque de la Concorde) etc etc etc. We were in the back row of an open air double decker bus, and I'm surprised I didn't fall off I was taking pictures in so many directions. We had headphones for a narration of the whole thing. We took the green tour, so orange, blue and yellow are still ahead. (And a repeat of green) You can get on and off but we just wanted to see it all and rest, so we stayed on for the full two hours. Truly, the day was glorious, the sky blue, and I have the feeling the photos will be sensational.

Well, all for now. Time for dinner. Back to Rue Cler for rotisserie chicken - a Paris specialty, and FRENCH fries, mais oui. (of course) Poulet Frites. (that's chicken and fries) And then we will walk back to the Eiffel Tower to see it light up at night. And then...we will sleep for as long as we can. We both slept some on the plane (8 hours Minneapolis to Paris) but I'm surprised at how well we are doing. I'm told that the key to avoiding jet lag is to hold out and go to bed at a regular bed time. I'll let you know.

And, by the way, I did wait in the long line for the WC at the Eiffel Tower, and no, the toilet paper is not pink. Sigh.

A demain, (until tomorrow...) xoxogjr (and fjr says hi too!)