Day 7: From Venice to Paris

Our flight left Venice at 7:30am for Paris. We booked a flight on MyAir. In order to get to the airport on time, we had to catch a vaporetto at 5am. This found us up at 4am. We had gotten virtually no sleep the night before with packing and news of Uncle Dan so this was a challenge! It did make for some nice photo opps, as it's unusual to be in St. Mark's Square when it's empty. The air was chilly so that helped wake us up. The vaparetto was on time, and at 5:40am, we arrived at Piazze del Roma to catch the land bus to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 6:15am to check in. I don't know what I was expecting, but the airport was new and modern, and surprisingly efficient. We were amused and annoyed by a group of couples checking in in front of us. It appeared that they were all taking a weekend trip to Paris. It started with about 4 couples. Then another couple would show up, they would exchange kisses, and that couple would cut in line. This happened over and over again (yet we were the only ones who seemed to notice or be annoyed!). It was almost our turn when the final couple arrived and made the final cut. The man looked at us and said something we didn't understand. We pretended he said, "I'm a cutter, and I know I'm a cutter." We checked in without further incident and went to get a cappuccino which we desperately needed. We each had a cappuccino and croissant (4.5E)--our cheapest breakfast yet!

We got our luggage in Paris, bought metro tickets, and headed to the apartment we rented there. It is in the St. Germain area--a really great location. We arrived there at 10:30am. The lady we rented from was a complete riot. She was scatter brained and spastic and made us tired just watching and listening to her!

We went out to get lunch and find an Internet connection which was not far from the apartment. We got the news that Uncle Dan had in fact passed and began planning our early departure. The soonest we could leave was Friday so we decided to make the most of our Thursday. And so began our whirlwind tour of Paris...

It was 1:30pm when we left with our map and metro tickets. First stop: a walk along the Seine and stop at Notre Dame. I was in Paris in 1999, and there was scaffolding all over Notre Dame so I really enjoyed seeing it this time. We immediately noticed the difference in the churches in Rome and Venice and Paris: the Italian churches were art focused---the paintings and frescoes were the highlights. The French churches had magnificent stained glass.










Second stop: the Louvre. The Louvre was on strike during my 1999 visit so I was particularly excited about this (and okay, I'm more than a little obsessed with The DaVinci Code). We got there at 2pm, got our tickets (9E each), and started hitting the highlights. The enormity of the museum was unbelievable---it just kept going and going. The display rooms were fantastic, as well as their treasures. We really enjoyed it.












We walked through the Jardin des Tuileries (formal gardens laid out in the 17th century) after the Louvre. They were beautiful. The leaves were turning, and there was a good distant view of the Eiffel Tower.






Next we walked along the Avenue Champs-Elysees, making our way to the Arc de Triomphe. We climbed the narrow 284 steps to the viewing platform and enjoyed the view at the top (6E each). We also got to see the symbolic reignition of the eternal flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier which was neat. Finally, we headed to the Eiffel Tower to see it during the daytime.




By 7pm, we were hungry and spent. We freshened up at the apartment, finalized our departure, then went to see the Eiffel at night. It was misty and cold by that point, but we were not to be deterred! It was lovely at night, and we had "dinner" at a refreshment stand at the tower (if you call a hot dog on french bread and the most delicious chocolate banana crepe dinner). It may have been just one day in Paris, but we made the most of it! We went back to the apartment, reminisced about all the funny things on the trip, packed up, and toasted to Uncle Dan--when we all were together he always toasted my favorite toast, just 2 words, "To Family".