Day 2 - Paris (Continued)

This was turning out to be one of the best days ever...where is the rainbow with the pot of gold! Our luck was unbelievable! Seriously, from getting there on time to be the first group up and not waiting hours in line. To missing getting poured on at the top of Notre-Dame. And this was just the start....

So after we did some fun souvenir shopping and practicing our French with defenseless sales people. We finally found some souvenirs worth spending our over priced Euros on. We purchased a little wooden pencil full of small colored pencils. Our goal was to do some sketches while here, the beauty and artiness of the Paris was so inspiring and rubbing off on us.We kept ducking in between stores to keep out of the downpour of rain. Starting to feel hungry we thought we should look out for a cafe. Well what was the next store, a gorgeous little cafe with a crepe cart out the front. I'm not sure if it was the smell of the yummy crepes or the sight of the worlds biggest bottle of Nutella I had ever seen, but we had to stop! A hot, fresh Nutella crepe made to order sounded irresistible (actually writing this I am drooling for one...mmm) gosh the smell of it while cooking was amazing!
Actually I think our crepe experience deserves its own blog!

So after enjoying our life changing crepe. We continued on our exploration of the Latin Quarter. We crossed over the seine to the historic part of St.Germain. Narrow lane ways, more stone buildings with beautiful facades. Wondering around for only 5mins, Sarah started talking about street markets, wondering if there were any in the area. Oh that would be perfect! We turned a corner and oh, guess what was there? A street market! Luck was on our side again.
The street markets were bright and colorful on this gray, rainy day. And all undercover, which was perfect for keeping us dry. These were your local farmers markets, fresh produce, fish, meats and flowers. As well as a few clothing, home wears and handbags...fun! We bought gorgeous French scarves for only 2e a piece and Sarah bought a t-shirt, very tres chic!

We then walked further around the area, discovering more narrow lane ways, great little Parisian shops, restaurants, book stores and would you guess it, more creperies! They seemed to be everywhere.
We came across the Luxembourg Palace, a number of little churches and loads of souvenir stores.

What a wonderful morning of exploring, now to find the metro and catch a ride back to our Hotel.
It took us a while to find the Metro stop. Kind of suprizing as there seemed to be so many in the area on our map. Most of the little lane ways we took were too small to name on our map, so I guess you could say we were a little lost. We finally found a Metro stop, which was good timing. We had been walking so much (not to mention the huge stair climb we did earlier) we were really looking forward to heading back to the hotel for a break.

We caught the Metro, mid afternoon, not busy at all, great! We felt like pro's at the thing now and knew how to get around it no problem. We got off on the Champs Elysees and walked to our hotel. I stopped by reception, just to check on the room with a view availability. Wouldn't you know it, with the luck we were having today, there was a room! And not just any room. A king suite, with balcony looking out over the Champs Elysees, Arc de Triomph and the Eiffel tower...crazy! Should I go buy a lottery ticket too? Could this day go any better? I had to do a separate post just for this room too...amazing!

So after being giddy in our room for a few hours, enjoying our balcony and resting up a bit, for our big night out. We headed out for a girls Parisian night on the town. We jumped back on the Metro, this time heading to the La Fayette, Paris's beautiful old department store. We discovered it was just a block away from the Paris Oprea House too, so we jumped off a stop early to walk by the beautiful landmark.

Again, popping up to street level from the Metro was a thrill, its like we are entering Paris all over again. You never know what sights you will see and it never disappoints. We walked a block or two to the grand old Oprea House. Amazing! We sat on the steps and took it all in. The builiding was situated on a huge square surrounded by gorgeous buildings. After a few mins, I realized the tall wrought iron gate at the entrance of the building was open and there was a security guard standing there. Well again, I thought it never hurts to ask. So I walked up to him and put on my cute Aussie accent and asked if I could pop my head in and take a peak at the Grand Staircase? He was a little hesitant, so I told him I would be really quick and just take one pic. He looked around, looked over his shoulder, leaned in to me and said OK, but please be quick. Oh I felt like I was getting access to a top secret facility...woo hoo! Amazing! (yeah I know I really need to find another word to use, Amazing is getting a little used) Anyway, it really was Amazing, the grand marble staircase, with gold gilded statues, very impressive! With in a min another security guard was over shooing me away and locked the gates behind me, all the other tourists who saw where I had been were turned away...Again, lucky me!

Just as we were getting ready to leave, it became very dark. The sun was setting and the lights came on to help illuminate the Oprea House. The dark gray cloudy sky in the background made the whole site rather dramatic.....

We then walked on to the La Fayette Department store, it was huge and pricey! Shopping here would've sent me broke, so it was purely window shopping. Man did we see some strange shoes though. I think the plastic, flesh colored shoes were my fave...lol! Blue really seemed to be the shoe color trend in Paris at the time and we instantly fell in love with them! Besides the shoes and the fashions the building itself was a sight all in its self. From the outside, a beautiful old stone, Parisian building, on the inside it looked like a Palace. Gold gilding ever where, beautiful ornate balconies and a stained glass dome that was spectacular.

While working around the department store, we discovered in the basement an entrance to the Metro. So we jumped back on the train, where to go next? While looking at the map we discovered that the station we were on was on the same line as the Trocadero. This was somewhere we hadn't talked about going too, but at night it offered the best view of the Eiffel tower lit up. Sounds great, lets go!

WOW!!! The tower at night is even more beautiful than during the day. WOW!!! Someone pinch me now! While we were sitting on the steps of the Trocaddero starring goofy eyed at the stunning Eiffel tower, it started to sparkle as it lit up with thousands of dancing white fair lights! Really, it was already amazing enough. Again, we just happened to be somewhere at the right time. It only lasted for around 10mins and was completely unforgettable. What a special sight to see. While here, there were dozens of pushy peddlers selling more souvenirs. The one thing Harry wanted me to bring back was the Eiffel tower. Well obviously I couldn't do that, so I got him the next best thing. A glass Eiffel tower statue that lights up...woo hoo for tacky souvenirs!

After the most unbelievable day ever! We headed back to the Metro to catch it to the Arc de Triumph. This is located at the top of the Champs so we could walk home from there. You can really see why Paris is called the city of lights. Even the Arc was lit up and looking stunning.
We strolled down the Champs Elysees browsing at the store, that were still open at 10pm. We stopped in a wonderful little bakery that we had been eying since we got here. Paul's had the most delicious looking baguettes in the windows, we had to stop and get one for dinner. Sarah had a tomato, mozzarella and lettuce. While I got my fave, cheese and ham. We decided to head back to our room via the pay phone, a quick call to the boys back home. Then off to our room to enjoy our baguettes and the view! What a great way to end one of the best days EVER!!!